COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX Vs. PUTHIYA PONMANICHINTAKAM WAKF

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Madras Bench, under S.27(1) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. The assessment years concerned are 1957-58 to 1961-62, both years inclusive; and the question referred is:

(2.) S.5(1)(i) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957, provides that wealth tax shall not be payable by an assessee in respect of any property held under trust or other legal obligation for any public purpose of a charitable or religious nature in India; and that such assets shall not be included in the net wealth of the assessee. It is common ground that this exemption is unavailable to the case before us.

(3.) The only contention urged on behalf of the assessee is that the owner of the assets in the case of a wakf is the Almighty and that the Almighty does not come within the purview of S.3, the charging section of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. That section reads as follows: