Wealth-tax exemption for paintings, drawings and manuscripts applied where the assets were not held for sale.

Paintings, drawings and manuscripts were treated as exempt from wealth-tax because they were not held for sale and therefore fell within the movable property exemption under section 5(1)(xii) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. The same position had already been accepted for earlier assessment years, and that factual basis governed the treatment of these assets in net wealth. On that footing, their value was not includible in the assessee's net wealth and remained outside wealth-tax.

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Issues: Whether the value of paintings, drawings and manuscripts was liable to be included in the assessee's net wealth or was exempt under section 5(1)(xii) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The question had already been decided in the assessee's favour for other assessment years on the footing that the paintings and related items were not held for purposes of sale. On that basis, their value could not be brought into the net wealth and was covered by the exemption for movable property of the relevant kind under section 5(1)(xii).

Conclusion: The value of the paintings, drawings and manuscripts was not includible in the assessee's wealth and remained exempt from wealth-tax.

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