COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX Vs. K.R. USHASREE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE connected wealth -tax appeals are filed by the Revenue against the order of the Tribunal holding that cash in hand in excess of Rs. 50,000 in the hands of the assessees who are all individuals, does not form part of the asset under Section 2(ea)(vi) of the WT Act. We have heard senior counsel Sri P.K.R. Menon appearing for the appellants and various counsel appearing for the respondents.

(2.) ALL the respondent -assessees are individuals who have, in the books of accounts, cash in hand on the valuation date, in the case of some of the assessees, above Rs. 30 lakhs, in some cases above Rs. 50 lakhs and in few cases it is above a crore of rupees and in one case cash in hand held by an individual assessee is as much as Rs. 2.6 crores. According to the assessees all of them are engaged in business and the cash in hand is nothing but business asset which is a productive asset not forming part of asset as defined under the provisions of the WT Act, 1957. Since the sole question pertains to scope of meaning of Section 2(ea)(vi) of the Act, we extract hereunder the said provision for easy reference:

(3.) THE WT Act was amended by Finance Act, 1992 to implement the recommendations of the Chelliah Committee. The Committee's recommendations are extracted in the Budget Speech of the Finance Minister, relevant portion of which is extracted hereunder: