1982 (12) TMI 80

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....se of his powers under section 25(2) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 ('the Act'). 2. The order of the Commissioner sets out the computation of the figure of wealth as under : " 1977-78 Gross value of assets, movable and immovable : Rs. 10,90,846.97 Less : Exemption under section 5(iv) and (xxvi) Rs. 2,50,000.00 ------------------------------- Rs. 8,40,846.97 ------------------------------- 1978-79 Gross value of assets, movable and immovable : Rs. 11,00,371.77 Less : Exemption under section 5(iv) and (xxvi) Rs. 2,50,000.00 ------------------------------- Rs. 8,50,371,77 " ------------------------------- The Commissioner has stated that the WTO granted exemption of the net amount in each year under section ....

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....he Commissioner, therefore, held that the WTO was not justified in granting exemption under section 5(1)(xxxiii) and he, therefore, set aside the assessments and directed the WTO to re-do them bearing in mind his observations. 4. In the appeals before us, the learned counsel submitted that the requirements of section 5(1)(xxxiii) were satisfied and the WTO was justified in granting the exemption. He pleaded for the orders of the WTO being restored. The learned departmental representative, on the other hand, stated that on the facts enumerated in the order of the Commissioner, it was clear that exemption had wrongly been granted by the WTO, and it, therefore, had to be withdrawn and that was what the order of the Commissioner sought to ac....

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....a new section (xxxiii) in section 5(1) of the Wealth-tax Act to provide for exemption from wealth-tax of the money and value of assets brought into India by persons of Indian origin who are ordinarily residing in foreign countries in cases where such persons return to India with the intention of permanently residing therein. The value of assets acquired by them out of the moneys brought into India will also qualify for this exemption. The exemption will be available only for seven assessment years commencing with the assessment year next following the date on which such person returns to India. For this purpose, a person shall be deemed to be of Indian origin if he, or either of his parents or any of his grand-parents, was born in undivided....

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....h inclusive. Since the provisions of section 5(1)(xxxiii) had not come into being for the assessment years 1975-76 and 1976-77, the assessee obviously could not get exemption for those two years. The unexpired period in terms of the proviso would cover the assessment years 1977-78 to 1981-82 alone. The WTO has granted exemption only for the assessment years 1977-78 and 1978-79 as at present. For both these years, on a plain reading of the section, the assessee is entitled to the exemption. At this stage, we may state that we are unable to agree with the Commissioner that because there was some delay in bringing the money into India, the assessee would forfeit the exemption, because the section does not require that the money should be broug....