TMI Blog1977 (2) TMI 23X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aim for exemption in respect of agricultural land, which claim he should have made at the time of original assessment but omitted to make, is admissible ? " The assessee is one late Shri C. Koru. After his death, proceedings had been taken against his legal representatives by the Wealth-tax Officer. The deceased was a partner in a firm by name, C. C. Transport Co., which owned an agricultural property by name Mangundimala Estate. In the books of the firm there were the capital account of the assessee as well as the current account. The balance in the capital account and the current account were shown as the value of interest from the partnership in the return filed by the assessee for the assessment year 1968-69, which is the relevant ass ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ax Rules and excluding the agricultural assets of the firm. The assessee, accordingly, claimed a deduction of Rs. 51,596 representing the assessee's share in the value of the agricultural estate owned by the firm. The Wealth-tax Officer rejected the claim (vide annexure " A "). On appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, that officer held that the assessee himself had not claimed any such deduction in the original assessment, that the said assessment had become final, and it was, therefore, not open to the assessee to take up this new claim when the Wealth-tax Officer reopened the assessment to net in some other items of wealth which had escaped assessment (vide annexure " B "). The assessee took the matter in further appeal before ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... part of any person to make a return under section 14 of his net wealth or the net wealth of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act for any assessment year or to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment of his net wealth or the net wealth of such other person for that year, the net wealth chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for that year, whether by reason of under-assessment or assessment at too low a rate or otherwise ; or (b) has, in consequence of any information in his possession, reason to believe, notwithstanding that there has been no such omission or failure as is referred to in clause (a), that the net wealth chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any year, whet ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... b) of the section is satisfied ; and we think that the said jurisdiction enables him to reassess only such net wealth as satisfied the requirements under clause (a) or (b) of section 17(1) of the Act. This seems to us to follow from the language of the section itself. That being the limited nature of the jurisdiction conferred on the officer, we see nothing in the provisions of the section or in the scheme of the Act to enlarge the limited scope of the power and jurisdiction of the officer in assessing to tax the escaped net wealth, by allowing the assessee to ask for a recomputation of net wealth and a re-doing of the assessment, especially when the assessment of net wealth of the assessee had become final. We are unable to accept the view ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... das v. Commissioner of Income-tax [1968] 68 ITR 842 (Bom), a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court observed that a recomputation under section 34(1)(a) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 (which was the predecessor section to section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961), can take place only with a view to gathering in the income escaping assessment and that it was clear from the section itself that it was not intended for the benefit of the assessee but only for the benefit of the revenue. In Sir Shadi Lal and Sons v. Commissioner of Income-tax [1973] 92 ITR 453, 456 (All) a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court observed as follows with respect to section 147(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 : " In computing the income from house property ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d re-embarked on reassessment. The disallowance of these expenses in the original assessment had become final, and this being so, it was not open for the assessee to make a claim for these items of expenditure. " We have not had the advantage of hearing counsel for the assessee. But, in the light of the rulings noticed above, and the provisions of the section which we have extracted earlier, we are not persuaded that a different principle from what is applicable under the provisions of the Income-tax Act would apply under section 17 of the Act. We are unable to discern any distinction between the limited jurisdiction for the purposes of assessing escaped income under the provisions of the Income-tax Act and the Wealth-tax Act. We may clos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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