CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY Vs. ILA DAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) One Debendra Nath Das died on the 26th December, 1957. To the misfortune of whoever are his heirs--we are, however, not actually concerned as to that--he left certain properties. The question of valuation of his estate still lingers on in 1980, twenty-three years after his death and may perhaps linger on for an ultimate solution for a decade more.

(2.) The original account in respect of his estate was filed on 9th April, 1959. The assessment was completed under the E.D. Act, 1953, on 29th of January, 1960. The accountable person preferred an appeal before the CBR and it must be stated that the question of valuation of the two properties which are the subject-matter of this reference was not a matter in appeal before the CBR. The appeal was disposed of by the CBR on 30th August, 1961. The deceased during his lifetime was the owner of several premises including, inter alia, premises Nos. 95 and 96, Ultadanga Main Road, and the said premises had been acquired by acquisition proceedings by the Collector on the 27th September, 1957, that is to say, during the lifetime of the deceased. The compensation amounting to Rs. 5,76,119 awarded by the Collector had been received by the deceased during his lifetime and formed part of the balance in the bank account which was considered in the assessment proceedings under the E.D. Act. It is stated in the order of the Deputy Controller of Estate Duty dated 31st of July, 1962, that after completion of the assessment, information was received to the effect that certain further amounts forming part of the estate of the deceased which had been left out from the assessment, required to be included in the estate and charged to duty. A notice under Section 59 of the E.D. Act as amended by the E.D. (Amendment) Act, 1958, was accordingly issued on the 16th of December, 1961, calling upon the accountable person to deliver an account of all the properties including which the Deputy Controller described in his order, "further assets ascertained after completion of the original assessment ". The accountable person filed an account in Form E.D.-I on 18th July, 1962, declaring the value of the various assets at the amount originally assessed but not including the further amounts which had accrued to the estate since the date of the original assessment. The Deputy Controller in his order stated, inter alia, as follows :

(3.) He went on to observe that as the right to receive compensation rightly due under the Land Acquisition Act, including the enhancement in the sum which might be awarded by the higher judicial authorities, accrued to the deceased during his lifetime, the further amount subsequently awarded by the President of the Tribunal formed part of the estate. His attention was drawn by the learned advocate on behalf of the accountable person to Section 34(5) of the E.D. Act. According to the Deputy Controller, the section provided that no property should be aggregated more than once nor should estate duty in respect thereof be levied more than once on the same property. The Deputy Controller expressed his inability to understand the relevancy of the section in the context of the facts of the case. The compensation of Rs. 5,76,119 received by the deceased during his lifetime had no doubt been included in the estate and had already been assessed. Subsequent enhancement by the President, Improvement Tribunal, the Deputy Controller observed, could not be treated as the same property as the original compensation of Rs. 5,76,119.