TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (5) TMI 888
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....5-06, the assessee/respondent herein had planned to set up a state of the art international education institution with world class affiliation and as such purchased a plot of land called "CONO" situated at Siridao, Palem, Tiswadi Taluka on 08.03.2004. The said land was converted into stock in trade during the Financial Year ending 31.03.2006. However, as on 31.03.2005, the assessee was in possession of this vacant urban land, which according to the respondent is within 8 kms from the limits from the municipal limits of Panaji and as such, the asset is within the meaning of Section 2(ea) of the Wealth Tax Act and based on the cost of the land, the market value was assessed at Rs. 40 lakhs by the Assessing Officer for the purpose of Wealth Ta....
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....ommittee or cantonment board etc. The notification has to take into account the extent of, and scope for urbanization of that area and other relevant considerations. The reckoning of urbanization as a factor for prescribing the distance is of significant which would yield to the principle of measuring distance in terms of approach road rather than by straight line on horizontal plane. If principle of measurement of distance is considered straight line distance on horizontal plane or as per crow's flight then it would have no relationship with the statutory requirement of keeping in view the extent of urbanization. Such a course would be illusory. It is in pursuance of the aforesaid provision that Notification No.9447, dated 6-1-1994 has....
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....quired to be included in his net wealth as on the date under this Act, is in excess of the aggregate value of all the debts owned by the assessee on the date of value which have been incurred in relation to the said assets. The net wealth is chargeable to tax. In the assessee's case the net wealth tax that a land situated in any area which is comprised within jurisdiction of a Municipality or a cantonment board and which has a population of not less than ten thousand according to the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published before the valuation date and land situated within 8 kms from the local limits of such municipalities or cantonment as the Central Government may specify. In the case of assessee the va....
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....case the Hon'ble Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is correct in holding that the land in question situated at Siridao, Goa, bearing Survey Nos. 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21 and 22 of the assessee is not urban land as per Section 2(ea) of the W.T. Act and therefore, it is not an asset ? 5. The only question as such is whether any error was committed by the learned Tribunal while coming to the conclusion that the subject land is not urban land. In this connection, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent has brought to our notice the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court reported in (2015) 126 DTR ( Bom) 116 in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax v/s Nitish Rameshchandra Chordia & Ors wherein the Division Bench of this Court whi....
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.... answered by the Delhi Court in paragraph 9 of the ruling under consideration, which reads thus : ".......This Court further held that, in other words the agricultural lands purchased originally by the assessee for urbanisation or conversion into building plots remained agricultural land till the acquisition and payment of compensation, and in view of the said finding this Court held that the first question has to be answered in the negative, i.e. the profits were not business profits. With regard to the second question, this Court found that as the compensation had been paid for the acquisition of agricultural land, the question really involved a determination as to whether the price paid for the land by way of compensation could be inclu....
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.... norm. This exercise to clear the confusion, therefore, shows that benefit thereof must be given to the assessee. It is settled law that, in such matters, when there is any doubt or confusion, the view in favour of the assessee needs to be adopted. The Circular No.3 of 2014, dt. 24.01.2014 [(2014) 98 DTR (St) 37 : (2014) 265 CTR (St) 1] shows vide clause no.4 - amendment in the definition of 'Capital Asset' and clause 4.5 dealing with applicability expressly stipulates that it takes effect from 1.4.2014 and, therefore, prospectively applies in relation to the assessment year 2014-15 and subsequent assessment years. Hence, the question whether prior to the said assessment year 2014-15 the Authorities erred in computing the distance b....