DALMIA A H Vs. COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this batch of fifteen references, at the instance of the assessees, the following two questions arising out of its consolidated order have been referred by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal under section 27(1) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), for the opinion of this court :

(2.) ALL the references relate to the assessment year 1981 -82 corresponding to the valuation date 31 -3 -1981. The first question involved is as to whether the amounts paid by the assessees as additional demands on completion of assessment under the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Wealth Tax Act and the Gift Tax Act and a part of it becoming due for refund to them in pursuance of the appellate orders passed after the relevant valuation date, constituted an asset within the meaning of section 2(e) and thus formed part of the assessor's net wealth within the meaning of section 2(m) of the Act on the relevant valuation date.

(3.) WE have heard learned counsel for the parties. Mr. Harihar Lal, learned counsel for the assessee, has contended that the view taken by the Tribunal is not legally sustainable. He contends that once an amount has been paid as tax in response to a notice of demand, as on the relevant valuation date, the assessed has no legal right to claim its refund. In other words, the contention is that the amount so paid ceases to be an asset 'belonging to the assessee' within the meaning of section 2(m) of the Act and, thereforee, cannot be included in his net wealth. His submission is that the expression 'belonging to the assessee' postulates a legal domain of an assessed over the asset as explained by the Supreme Court in Nawab Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan (Late) v. CWT . Learned counsel has also invited our attention to a decision of the Gujarat High Court in CWT v. Arvind bhai Chinubhai and of the Rajasthan High Court in CIT v. Rangnath Bangur , holding that on the mere possibility of getting income -tax refund in future, of the excess advance -tax paid, on finalisation of the assessment proceedings, it would not form part of the asset of the assessed on the valuation date.