HILAL K Vs. APPELLATE CED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner herein is aggrieved by the order of the first respondent (Appellate Controller of Estate Duty, Southern Zone, Madras) dated 31st March, 1975, levying a penalty of Rs. 34,000 under Section 60(1)(c) of the E. D. Act, 1953, for concealing the particulars of the property of the deceased and deliberately furnishing inaccurate particulars thereof.

(2.) THE petitioner's father, one G.S.A. Kareem, died in or about December, 1970. Even before his death, on March 1, 1970, he had executed a settlement deed in favour of his son and daughter, in respect of house sites in 14, Balakrishna Pillai Road, Teynampet, Madras, also known as 85-A, Mount Road, Madras-18. THE petitioner herein, as an accountable person, filed a return to the Asst. CED in respect of the properties left by the deceased. In the return filed by him, he gave the value of the property at No. 85-A, Mount Road, Madras-18, as Rs. 1,72,600. This value was returned on the basis of the approved valuer's report fixing the market value of the land at Rs. 7,000 per ground. THE Asst. CED, Madras, rejected the value of the land at Rs. 7,000 per ground, and adopted the value at Rs. 11,000 per ground and completed the assessment on that basis. THE petitioner took the matter in appeal to the first respondent contending that the value of Rs. 11,000 per ground, adopted by the second respondent, was not justified.

(3.) MR. Jayaraman, learned counsel for the revenue, would say that the property of the deceased should be so understood as to include the property deemed to pass on the death of the deceased under Section 9. No doubt, Section 9 says that the property taken under a disposition made by the deceased purporting to operate as an immediate gift, inter vivos, within two years of the death of the deceased shall be deemed to pass on his death. According to Section 9, though the property has already passed from the deceased to the donee, for the purpose of the E. D. Act, the property shall be deemed to pass only on the death of the deceased. But this fiction created for the purpose of assessment cannot be extended for the purposes of levy of penalty under Section 60(1)(c), for that provision does not attract the deeming provision contained in Section 9.