Wealth-tax treatment of trade unions as an "individual" affirmed, with no reference warranted where precedent already settled the point.

The term "individual" under the Wealth-tax Act was construed broadly to extend beyond a natural person and to cover a collective unit of persons with a common aim, joint interest and ownership of property. On that construction, a trade union registered under the Indian Trade Unions Act could be assessed to wealth-tax in the status of an individual. The article also notes that where the point was already governed by binding Division Bench precedent of the same High Court, no reference under section 27(3) was warranted, and the assessee's reference petitions were rejected.

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Issues: Whether the assessee-trade union could be assessed to wealth-tax as an "individual" under the Wealth-tax Act, and whether a reference to the High Court was warranted when the point was already covered by binding precedent.

Analysis: The expression "individual" in section 3 of the Wealth-tax Act was held to extend beyond a natural person and to include a plurality of individuals or a collective unit having common aim and joint interest and owning property. A trade union registered under the Indian Trade Unions Act was treated as such a body, and the Tribunal's view was supported by an earlier Division Bench decision of the same Court, which had already considered and accepted that construction. Since the questions sought to be referred were thus concluded by precedent, no case for directing a reference under section 27(3) was made out.

Conclusion: The assessee's petitions for reference were rejected, and the assessment of the trade union in the status of an individual was upheld.

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