VED PRAKASH NARANG Vs. COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AT the instance of the assessee, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad Bench, has referred the following two questions for our opinion under Section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (briefly the Act, 1957):

(2.) THE facts as stated by the Tribunal, briefly, are that one Keshav Ram Narang died on January 19, 1969. On January 22, 1969, a partition of his property was made between his heirs. THE assessee, being one of the heirs, applied for obtaining a succession certificate in respect of some of the assets to the civil court on November 24, 1969, and the certificate was granted on January 17, 1970. THE dispute relates to the assessment years 1969-70 and 1970-71, the relevant valuation dates for the said assessment years being March 31, 1969, and March 31, 1970, respectively. For both the years, the due dates for filing the returns were June 30, 1969, and June 30, 1970, but they were filed on May 1, 1972.

(3.) THE assessee carried the dispute in appeal to the Appellate Tribunal. THE latter also rejected the legal contention of the assessee that since Section 18 does not find a berth in Section 19(3), no penalty proceedings could be initiated against the legal representatives. THE Tribunal took the view that to the case of the assessee, Section 19A is applicable and not Section 19, that Section 19A is not a sub-section of Section 19, but the two sections, Section 19 and Section 19A, are distinct and they have been enacted for different purposes. THE Tribunal also held that when an assessment was made on the assessee, then to take it to a logical end, it would be within the powers of the Wealth-tax Officer to levy penalty for not having filed the returns for both the years within time. In short, the finding of the Tribunal is that when an assessment can be made on the assessee, penalty proceedings can also be initiated against the legal representatives. Coming to the question of sufficient cause, the Tribunal observed that the assessee was prevented by sufficient cause for not having filed the returns for the assessment year 1969-70 till January 17, 1970, when the succession certificate was obtained. THE Tribunal condoned the delay of two months observing: