Reasonable cause for delayed wealth-tax return filing is a factual finding, leaving no referable question of law.

A finding that the assessee had reasonable cause for delay in filing the wealth-tax return was treated as a pure question of fact, not a referable question of law. The Punjab and Haryana High Court noted that its earlier decisions had already settled that no question of law arises on this issue, and a Tribunal cannot seek a reference on a point governed by binding High Court authority. The proposed reference was therefore not entertainable and was returned unanswered.

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Issues: Whether the question referred for opinion disclosed any referable question of law arising from the finding that the assessee had reasonable cause for the delay in filing the wealth-tax return.

Analysis: The finding on reasonable cause for delayed filing was treated as a pure question of fact. Existing decisions of the same High Court had already settled that no question of law arises on that issue, and a Tribunal cannot seek a reference on a question already covered by a binding decision of the High Court.

Conclusion: The reference was not entertainable and was returned unanswered.

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