(1.) AT the instance of the CWT, Agra, the Tribunal (Delhi 'D' Bench, Delhi), has referred the following questions for the opinion of this Court under S. 27(1) of the WT Act, 1957 :
(2.) WE have heard Sri Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, learned counsel for the CIT. No one appeared on behalf of the assessee respondent in spite of service of notice.
(3.) UNDER S. 27 of the WT Act the Tribunal has no suo motu power of referring a question of law for the opinion of this Court. It is only such questions as the assessee or the CWT by making an application require it to refer to the High Court. The Tribunal has referred five questions observing that in the orders dt. 31st Aug., 1981 out of which reference arises, it had relied on an order dt. 17th Feb., 1981 made by the Special Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Shri Biju Patnaik in WTA Nos. 614 to 624 (Del) of 1979 and the questions that have been referred by the Special Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Biju Patnaik are being referred to the High Court for opinion. The Tribunal had no jurisdiction to refer the questions simply because they had been referred to the High Court in some other case. Out of the five questions referred by the Tribunal only question No. 2 corresponds to question No. 2 as required by the CWT. Therefore, we will answer only question No. 2 out of the five questions and we decline to answer questions 1, 3, 4 and 5 because the CWT had not required the Tribunal to refer them for the opinion of this Court.