JAYANTILAL AMRITLAL Vs. COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Income -tax Appellant Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal') has, at the instance of the assessee, referred the following two questions for our opinion under s.27 of the W.T. Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') :

(2.) FACTS giving rise to this reference are as follows : The I.T. authorities searched the premises of the assessee known as 'Shree Sadan' between November 18 and November 21,1964. In the course of the search, a large quantity of gold in various forms was recovered from the strong room in the cellar. The gold which was recovered was in the form of 154 gold coins and 8 gold bars. The value of the gold found was Rs. 2,83,320. The Central Excise officials seized the gold on December 17, 1964. Proceedings under r. 126L(16) of the Defence of India Rules, 1963 (Gold Control) were initiated against the assessee. The assessee unsuccessfully challenged the seizure of the gold and the proceedings taken against him by the Central Excise Dept. before this court and the Supreme Court. The Collector of Central Excise, Baroda, passed the following order against the assessee on September 30, 1975, in the proceedings taken out against the assessee :

(3.) THE WTO, however, rejected the assessee's contention that the value of the gold articles was 'Nil' on account of their seizure and liability to confiscation. He assessed the market value of the gold bars and gold coins and included that value in the net wealth of the assessee in each of the assessment years. The AAC and the Tribunal confirmed the view taken by the WTO in the appeals preferred by the assessee. It is in the background of these facts that the questions as set out above have been referred to us for our opinion.