TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1995 (7) TMI 120
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....for levying Wealth-tax. 4.1 The brief facts in this case are that the assessee filed the return of wealth on 28-6-1985 declaring net wealth of Rs. 25,74,000. The said return was later on revised declaring wealth at Rs. 9,37,000. The WTO issued notice under section 16(2) and fixed the hearing for 16-2-1990. However, none attended. The WTO, therefore, computed the wealth at Rs. 33,73,640 as per last year. 4.2 On appeal before the CWT(A), the learned counsel for the assessee submitted that the value of cars should not be included in the assets and that the value of the cars as per last year was not justified because the cars were one year old. The CWT(A) observed that the contentions of the assessee that the cars were being used for offi....
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.... assessee. In this connection the learned counsel further invited our attention to the Budget speech of the Finance Minister delivered by him at the time of introducing the Finance Bill, 1983, wherein the Finance Minister mentioned that " as companies are not chargeable to Wealth-tax, and the value of the shares of such companies does not also reflect the real worth of the assets of the company, those who hold such unproductive assets in closely-held companies are able to successfully reduce their Wealth-tax liability to a substantial extent. With a view to circumventing tax avoidance by such persons, I propose to revive the levy of Wealth-tax in a limited way in the case of closely held companies. Accordingly, I am proposing the levy of We....
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....he assessee for the assessment year 1985-86 and the value of the tourist cars which operated as taxis on hire to the extent of Rs. 16,37,000 should be excluded from the computation of net wealth. He further urged that the words " Motor cars " should otherwise exclude taxis, as the popular meaning of an expression should be adopted where the said expression " Motor cars " in this case, is not defined by the statute. In support of this contention he relied on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT v. Taj Mahal Hotel [1971] 82 ITR 44. In the said case the assessee, which ran a hotel, installed sanitary and pipeline fittings in one of its branches. In respect of these fittings it claimed depreciation allowance under the he....
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...., in the present times. If the partitions in Jarrold's case could be treated as having been used for purpose of the business of the trader, it is incomprehensible how sanitary fittings can be said to have no connection with the business of the hotelier ". He further relied on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of C.W.S. (India) Ltd v. CIT [1994] 208 ITR 649 for the proposition that literal interpretation should not be adopted if it leads to discriminatory or incongruous results or unintended results as in the present case. In this context he submitted that the tourist taxis were not unproductive assets as contemplated by the Legislature for the purposes of levy of Wealth-tax. He further relied on the decision of the Hon'b....
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....ered the rival submissions in the light of case law relied upon by the learned counsel and the intention underlying the introduction of the provisions of section 40 of the Finance Act, 1983 and the amendment made by the Finance Act, 1988 in the said section 40. We feel that the submissions made by the learned counsel have force as it is clear from the extracts from explanatory memorandum to the Finance Bill, 1988 (as reproduced above) that the intention of the Legislature was clearly to exclude motor cars registered as taxis and used for the business of running of motor cars on hire from the assets liable to be included in computing the wealth for the purpose of levy of Wealth-tax and that the said amendment had been brought with a view to ....