1972 (11) TMI 8

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....s by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Cochin Bench, under section 26(1) of the Gift-tax Act, 1958 (hereinafter called " the Act "), is in these terms : " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in holding that section 5(3) of the Gift-tax Act, 1958, applied to the gift under consideration and that the gift was liable to tax under the Gift-t....

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.... not relevant, was in these terms : "Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2), where either spouse makes any gifts out of any such gifts received by that spouse as fall within clause (viii) of sub-section (1), the gifts so made shall be deemed to be taxable gifts made by that spouse and nothing contained in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall apply in relati....

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....o the expression that we have quoted above. This, we consider, would not be justified, for, if we do so, in the guise of interpreting the section, we will be amending it. Counsel also emphasised the expression " as fall within clause (viii) " and it was contended that " as fall within clause (viii) " indicates something that had accrued in praesenti and not in the past as in that case the expressi....

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....nts or income-tax or gift-tax statutes, the unit of assessment will always be a definite period, most often confined to an year, and that everything said in the statute relating to such matters of taxation must be taken as referring to that period. When there is ambiguity and the wording is not clear, it may perhaps be possible to interpret the ambiguous provision by applying such notions. But, wh....