Wealth-tax exemption for trust-held shares under section 5(1)(xxiii) turned on the scope of section 21A.

Section 21A of the Wealth-tax Act was considered in relation to exemption for shares under section 5(1)(xxiii). On a plain reading, the Tribunal viewed section 21A as charging wealth-tax on trust property without excluding assets covered by section 5(1), and therefore as displacing the exemption under clause (xxiii) as well as clause (i). It treated the contrary view in J.E. Chenoy Charitable Trust as inconsistent with the statutory language, while noting that later orders in the assessee's own case had followed that approach. The text concludes that the assessee was entitled to the exemption under section 5(1)(xxiii).

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to exemption under section 5(1)(xxiii) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 in respect of shares held on the valuation date, and whether section 21A displaced that exemption.

Analysis: The Tribunal noted that section 21A was invoked by the Wealth-tax Officer on the footing that the property was held under trust for a public charitable purpose and that wealth-tax was to be charged as if the property were held by an individual resident citizen, without excluding assets under section 5(1) of the Act. On a plain reading, the Tribunal held that this meant the exemption under clause (xxiii) was also excluded, not merely the exemption under clause (i). It therefore viewed the earlier contrary view in J.E. Chenoy Charitable Trust as inconsistent with the statutory language, but also noted that subsequent orders in the assessee's own case had followed that view.

Conclusion: The assessee was held entitled to exemption under section 5(1)(xxiii) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957.

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