TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1968 (2) TMI 1
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....icipal town limit, but more than five miles from the central point of the Tinsukia Municipality. It is admitted that Makum is a place with a population not exceeding 10,000 and the Tinsukia Municipality has a population exceeding 10,000. The only controversy is whether the assessee's house is situated at a distance of more than five miles from the area of the Tinsukia Municipality. The Wealth-tax Officer, who made the original order of assessment, refused to grant the exemption on the ground that the assessee's residence was less than five miles from the limits of the Tinsukia town. On appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner set aside the order of the Wealth-tax Officer and allowed the exemption holding that the assessee's residence wa....
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....miles distant from any area for which there is a municipality the population whereof exceeds ten thousand ; . . . . . ." This provision indicates that during the relevant time, a residential house within the municipal area was not under any exemption. A residential house in order to attract the exemption clause will have to be, firstly, in a place where the population does not exceed ten thousand, and, secondly, that it must be situated at a distance of more than five miles from the municipal area, and, thirdly, that the municipality from which the distance is calculated must have a population exceeding ten thousand. As noted above, there is no controversy regarding the population clauses. The only point that requires to be determined is w....
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....ncipal post office in any station should be considered as the chief public office and consequently as the fixed point, in respect of the commencement and end of the journeys of all officers of the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department. A perusal of this rule would clearly show that for the purposes of travelling allowances, a provision has been specifically made under this rule to indicate the point in any station from which the calculation has to be made. There is, therefore, no difficulty when such a provision has been made under the rule to make the necessary calculation, or to determine the place from where the journey commences and where it ends. The position under the Wealth-tax Act is, however, different. No rule has been pointed ou....
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....s it may determine, declare its intention--- (a) to constitute any town together with or exclusive of any railway station, village, building or land contiguous to any such town, a municipality under this Act ; (b) to include within a municipality any local area contiguous to the same ; (c) to exclude from a municipality any local area comprised therein or (d) to withdraw the whole area comprised in any municipality from the operation of this Act : Provided that no municipality under this Act shall include any military cantonment or part of a military cantonment. (2) Every notification published under sub-section (1) shall define the limits of the local area to which it relates. . ." Section 5(2) of the Assam Municipal Act may be noti....
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....ill cover the entire area of the municipality. There is nothing in section 5(1)(iv) of the Act to warrant the interpretation that the limit from which the distance exceeding five miles has to be determined, must be from the central point of the municipality. Mr. Choudhury argues that there is no warrant either for interpreting the section to mean only the limits of the municipality. This argument, however, is not tenable. The section clearly postulates that exemption is allowed in respect of a house situated in a place with a population not exceeding ten thousand and which house is more than five miles distant from the municipal area with a population exceeding ten thousand. Shorn of the unnecessary details for our purpose, in brief, the ho....
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....esult will follow if the central point in a municipal area is taken to be the point from which the distance has to be measured in the absence of a clear direction in that behalf. If a municipal area is sufficiently long from east to west and from north to south is very narrow, in that case if the central point is taken as the criterion for measuring the distance, then an assessee's house on the cast and west of the Municipality will be exempted even though perhaps it is close to the border of the municipality whereas an assessee on the north and south of the municipality, who is at the same distance from the border, will not be so exempted, because the area of the municipality in breadth is narrow, while in length it is not so. If, however,....