COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX Vs. CHIRANJILAL AGARWALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are eighteen applications under Section 27(3) of the W.T. Act of 1957 (hereinafter called "the Act"), at the instance of the Revenue. By order dated 19th of February, 1979, made in these cases, this court directed the Wealth-tax Appellate Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, to state a case and refer the following common question of law for the opinion of the court:

(2.) THESE 18 cases relate to three persons, Chiranjilal Agarwala, the father, and the two sons being Rajkishore Agarwala and Sanwarmal Agarwala, Six assessment years are involved being 1964-65, 1965-66, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69 and 1969-70. The parties were assessees under the I.T. Act for several years past. Returns under the W.T. Act for the aforesaid years were, however, not filed until 18th of March, 1972. Before any notice under Section 14(2) of the Act had been issued, voluntary returns for all these six years by all the three assessees were filed before the WTO. The WTO initiated penalty proceedings for delayed submission of returns. The returns were substantially accepted. As against Chiranjilal, a tax of Rs. 12,071 was demanded for the six years, but the penalty worked out at Rs. 7,42,365. As against Rajkishore, the tax demand for all these six years came to Rs. 5,488. He was visited with a penalty of Rs. 3,34,426. Sanwarmal was asked to pay a tax of Rs. 5,629 and suffered a penalty of Rs. 3,01,113. Assessment of tax was not in dispute. Imposition of penalty was seriously challenged.