1986 (11) TMI 112

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....fferent assessees are being disposed of together. 2. The respondent-assessees have each one-sixth interest in the godown. They claimed exemption under section 5(1)(iv) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 ('the Act') the WTO disallowed the claim. On appeal, the AAC held that the godown could be regarded as house for the purpose of granting exemption and, therefore, the assessee would be entitled to exempt....

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....(iv) one house or part of a house belonging to the assessee to the tune of Rs. 1 lakh shall not be included in the net wealth of the assessee. The question for consideration is whether a godown would come within the description of 'house'. There is no definition of house in the Act. In Corpus Juris Secundum, Vol. 41, p. 364 it is stated that in a legal sense, the word 'house' is more comprehensive....

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....nder : " The weight of judicial opinion is conclusively in favour of the view that the word 'house' extends to a building which is used for business and should not be restricted to a mere dwelling house (See Land Law, Cases and Materials by R.H. Mandsley and E.H. Burn, Third Edition, page 832). " It was also observed as under : " It may be stated generally that the word 'house' is a structure o....

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....exemption to house provided under section 5(1)(iv) is available even for houses used for commercial purposes. In the Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, the meaning of the word 'house' includes auditorium, workhouse. Following with respect the above decision of the Supreme Court we hold that godown would come within the description of 'house'. Thus, the AAC was justified in holding that godown ....