Cross-examination rights in property valuation matter required fresh adjudication before relying on co-owner valuation reports.

Valuation of an assessee's share in house property could not be sustained on the basis of a valuation report prepared in proceedings relating to other co-owners, because the assessee was not given an opportunity to cross-examine the Valuation Officer or to adduce contrary evidence. The tribunal treated that procedural safeguard as essential to a proper determination of the valuation issue. The valuation orders were therefore set aside, and the matter was remitted for fresh adjudication in accordance with law after allowing cross-examination of the Departmental Valuation Officer and evidence in support of the assessee's valuation.

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Issues: Whether the valuation of the assessee's share in the house property could be sustained on the basis of a valuation report obtained in proceedings relating to other co-owners without giving the assessee an opportunity to cross-examine the Valuation Officer, and whether the matter required fresh adjudication.

Analysis: The valuation reference had not been made in the assessee's own case. The appellate relief granted below proceeded on an unsatisfactory shortcut, while the Revenue's reliance on a report prepared in the cases of other co-owners could not be accepted without affording the assessee an opportunity to test that valuation by cross-examination and by leading evidence in support of his own valuation. Since this procedural safeguard was not provided, the valuation issue had not been properly determined.

Conclusion: The valuation orders were set aside and the question of valuation was remitted to the Wealth-tax Officer for fresh decision in accordance with law after allowing the assessee to cross-examine the Departmental Valuation Officer and to adduce evidence, if any, in support of his valuation.

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