COMMISSIONER OF WEALTH TAX Vs. RAMNIWAS KARWA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference under S. 27(1) of the WT Act, 1957, by the Tribunal, Gauhati Bench, to this Court, on the following question of law :

(2.) THE brief facts of the case as stated in the statement of the case drawn up by the Tribunal and as available from the annexures to the said statement of case are that the assessees, Ramniwas Karwa and Shyam Sundar Karwa, claimed that they are entitled to exemption under S. 5(1)(iv) of the WT Act, 1957 ("the Act") in respect of their shares in the house property of the AOP of which they are members. In the assessment orders for the years 1981 -82 and 1982 -83 of the aforesaid two assessees, the aforesaid claims for exemption of the assessees were not discussed and appear to have been disallowed. Aggrieved by the assessment orders, the assessees preferred appeals before the AAC, Dibrugarh Range, who accepted the claim of the two assessees for exemption under S. 5(1)(iv) of the Act following his earlier order dt. 13th Nov., 1984, in the case of Shri Sandeep Kumar Karwa and directed the WTO to value the assessee's interest in the property in the manner stated in the said order. In the order dt. 13th Nov., 1984, in the case of Shri Sandeep Kumar Karwa, a copy of which is annexed to the statement of the case, the AAC had directed the WTO to value the assessee's interest strictly as per r. 2 of the WT Rules, 1957 ("the Rules"), and to allow the exemption provided under S. 5 to the extent permitted at the stage of determination of net wealth before (sic -after) its allocation amongst the members of the AOP.

(3.) AGAINST the said orders of the AAC, Dibrugarh Range, the Revenue went up in appeal before the Tribunal, Gauhati Bench, and contended that the AAC erred in directing the WTO to value the interest of the assessees in the AOP after allowing exemption under S. 5(1)(iv) of the Act at the stage of determination of net wealth before (sic -after) its allocation amongst the members. By a common order dt. 31st Aug., 1988, in the appeals for the years 1981 -82 and 1983 -84 in respect of the aforesaid two assessees, the Tribunal took the view that the matter should go back to the file of the WTO for fresh disposal after bringing all the basic materials on record and to dispose of the same in the light of the Pune (Special Bench) of the Tribunal in the case of N.R. Karia (supra).