Unrealised rent deduction may be claimed in later assessment years; earlier allowance does not bar a fresh claim.

Unrealised rent under the 1922 Government notification was held deductible in successive assessment years where statutory conditions were satisfied. The phrase "rent payable for a year" was construed as setting only the yearly ceiling on the deduction, not restricting the relief to a single assessment year. A prior allowance for an earlier year therefore did not bar a fresh claim for later years, because the exemption addresses taxation of income not actually realised and may operate again while the rent remains unrealised.

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Issues: Whether the assessee could claim deduction in successive assessment years for unrealised rent under the 1922 Government notification, even though a similar deduction had already been allowed for an earlier year.

Analysis: The exemption in item No. 38 of the Government notification was held to be limited only by the amount of rent payable for one year in any given assessment year. The words "rent payable for a year" were construed as fixing the ceiling for the deduction in a single year, not as confining the relief to one assessment year only. The allowance for unrealised rent in one year is, in substance, a recognition that the landlord should not be taxed on assumed rental income that has not been realised, and that principle can operate again in later years where the unrealised rent continues. The existence of a prior allowance for 1956-57 therefore did not bar a fresh claim for the later assessment years, provided the statutory conditions were otherwise satisfied.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to claim the deduction for the subsequent assessment years, and the earlier allowance did not preclude the fresh claim; the answer was in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A deduction for unrealised rent under the relevant house-property exemption may be claimed in successive assessment years if the statutory conditions are satisfied, and the phrase limiting relief to rent for one year only restricts the quantum for each year rather than confining the exemption to a single assessment year.

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