COMILLA MOHAN Vs. ASSTT CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) COLONEL V. R. Mohan died on 28th Jan., 1973 leaving the petitioner as his widow. He also left behind two sons. The petitioner filed a return under the ED Act on 29th Nov., 1973. The Asstt. CED, Lucknow, passed an a assessment order on 20th April 1974 wherein he included the shares of lineal descendants of the deceased in the assessable estate for rate purposes. The value of such shares determined was Rs. 9,09,038,00/-. This was done in view of S. 34 (1)(c) of the ED Act.

(2.) THE petitioner challenged the validity of S. 34 (1)(c) of the Act on the ground that it is violative of the constitutional guarantee under Arts. 14 and 19 of the Constitution. For the petitioner reliance was placed upon V. D. Ammal vs. Asstt. CED (1973) 91 ITR 24 (Mad). In that case Madras High Court held that S. 34 (1) (c) of the Act voiated Art. 14 of the Constitution. On the other hand, a decision of our court in Badri Vishal Tandon vs. Asstt. CED 1975 CTR (All) : (1976) 103 ITR 468 (All) took a contrary view that the aforesaid provision did not violate Art. 14 of the Constitution.