P N SIKAND Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE references under S. 256(1) of the INCOME TAX ACT, 1961, raise a very short point in regard to the computation of property income. They relate to the asst. yrs. 1962 -63, 1963 -64, 1964 -65 and 1965 - 66, the previous years being the relevant calendar years.

(2.) P .N. Sikand, the assessee, obtained plot No. 12, Block 39, Diplomatic Enclave, New Delhi, on perpetual lease from the President of India. Though it appears that a lease deed was executed in favour of the assessee by the President, that lease is not on record and the matters up to this stage have proceeded on the footing that the lease is subject to the terms and conditions set out in a memorandum of agreement dt. 30th Dec., 1954, between the President of India and one Vashesharan Devi. We shall, therefore, only refer to the terms of this agreement in deciding the question at issue.

(3.) THE assessee put up a bungalow on the above plot of land and let out the property to the trade representative of the German Democratic Republic. The said tenant used only the first floor of the bungalow for his residence while the ground floor was being used by him as an office. The Land and Development Officer, New Delhi, raised an objection to the user of a part of the premises for non -residential purposes in view of cl. XIII of the agreement of lease earlier referred to. However, subsequent correspondence shows that the Land and Development Officer was willing to "regularise temporarily the change of purpose" on certain payments to be made by the assessee. This correspondence may now be referred to.