Reference under Wealth-tax Act limited to specified orders; refusal to rectify under separate section 35 is not referable.

An application for reference under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act was not maintainable against an order refusing rectification under section 35. The reference provision was confined to orders passed under sections 24 or 26, and a rectification or miscellaneous order under section 35 did not fall within that scope. The analogy to section 254(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was rejected because that rectification power operates within the appellate provision itself, unlike the separately located rectification power in the Wealth-tax Act. Earlier authorities were relied on to confirm that a refusal to rectify remains a section 35 order and is not referable.

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Issues: Whether an application for reference under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 lay against the Tribunal's order refusing rectification passed under section 35 of that Act.

Analysis: Section 27(1) permits a reference only from orders passed under section 24 or section 26 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. An order made on a rectification or miscellaneous application under section 35 is not an order under section 24 or section 26. The analogous provision under the Income-tax Act, 1961, section 254(2), was distinguishable because the rectification power there operates within section 254 itself, whereas under the Wealth-tax Act the rectification power is separately located in section 35. Earlier authorities under the 1922 Income-tax Act and the Wealth-tax Act supported the view that an order refusing rectification remains a section 35 order and is outside the reference provision.

Conclusion: The application under section 27(1) was not maintainable and was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: A reference lies only from those orders expressly covered by the reference provision; an order refusing rectification made under the separate rectification power is excluded unless the statute specifically makes it referable.

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