PRAKASH KAUR Vs. CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) UPON the assessee's application under Section 64(2) of the E.D. Act, 1953, this court by order dated January 11, 1979, called upon the Appellate Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, to state a case and refer the following questions for the opinion of the court:

(2.) ONE Joginder Singh along with Jai Singh took a lease of certain lands located at Rourkela from Birabar Naik and others who happened to be members of the Scheduled Tribes and the lease was for a term of 99 years. Smt. Prakash Kaur purchased a portion out of the leasehold from Joginder Singh during her lifetime and constructed a building on the said property between 1966 and 1968 by investing Rs. 39,618. The original lease in favour of the vendors and the sale in favour of Smt. Prakash Kaur were not evidenced by any registered document. Smt. Prakash Kaur died on October 22, 1974, and the assessee, her husband, being the accountable person, came to be assessed to estate duty. The Asst. Controller included the value of the house as a part of the estate of the deceased and estimated it at Rs. 80,416 on the basis of sixteen times the net rental income receivable from the property. The Appellate Controller upheld the order of the Asst. Controller. The assessee thereupon preferred a second appeal to the Tribunal and maintained that the deceased had acquired no valid title to the property in the absence of a registered document and had no right to transfer the same. Mere possession did not tantamount to ownership. Therefore, the property was not includible in the estate of the deceased. Alternatively, it was claimed that the valuation determined was excessive particularly when the property was not free from encumbrance an no justification for adopting a valuation different from the valuation taken for wealth-tax purposes for the same period.

(3.) I agree.