TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2004 (12) TMI 19
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....aw under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), for opinion to this court: "Whether the Tribunal was right in holding that the amounts standing to the credit of the assessee in deposit account under the Compulsory Deposit Scheme (Income-tax Payers) Act, 1974, constituted an asset within the meaning of section 2(e) of the Wealth-tax Act and the same were includible in the net wealth of the assessee?" In Wealth-tax Reference No. 231 of 1987, which relates to the assessment years 1981-82 and 1982-83, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi, has referred the following question of law under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), for opinion to this court: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was justified in law in holding that the amounts of Rs. 5,93,833 and Rs. 8,08,094 standing to the credit of the assessee in deposits under the Compulsory Deposit Scheme (Income-tax Payers) Act, 1974, were includible in his net wealth for the assessment years in question?" In Wealth-tax Reference No. 232 of 1987 which relates to the assessment years 1979-80....
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....e includible in his net wealth for the assessment years in question?" In Wealth-tax Reference No. 236 of 1987 which relates to the assessment years 1979-80, 1980-81,1983-84 and 1984-85 the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi, has referred the following question of law under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), for opinion of this court: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the amounts standing to the credit of the assessee in bank account in respect of deposits made under the Compulsory Deposit Scheme (Income-tax Payers) Act, 1974, were not annuities within the meaning of section 2(e)(2)(ii) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and were to be treated as deposits with a banking company?" In Wealth-tax Reference No. 127 of 1988 which relates to the assessment year 1981-82, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi, has referred the following question of law under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), for opinion to this court: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal erred in law in holdi....
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....icular income is an annuity or not does not depend on the amount received in a particular year. What has to be seen is what exactly was the intention of the settlor in creating the trust. Did he intend to give the assessee a pre-determined sum every year or did he intend to give her an aliquot share in the income of a fund? On that question, there can be only one answer and that is that he intended to give her an aliquot share in the income of the trust fund. An income cannot be an annuity in one year and an aliquot share in another year. It cannot change its character year after year. He has further referred to a decision of the apex court in the case of CWT v. P.K. Banerjee [1980] 125 ITR 641. He submitted that in order to constitute an annuity, the payment to be made periodically should be a fixed or pre-determined sum and it should not be liable to any variation depending upon or on any ground relating to the general income of the fund or estate when is charged for such payment. He, thus, submitted that in the present case as the applicants received the amount of the compulsory deposits in 5 equal annual instalments, the amount was fixed and it could not be varied upon any g....
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....s also the rate of interest and its repayment had been specified. Section 7A of the 1974 Act, which was inserted by the Finance (No. 2) Act of 1980 with effect from April 1, 1975 had granted exemption under section 5 of the Act by treating the amount of compulsory deposit to be a deposit with a banking company to which the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, applies. Thus, a deposit made under the 1974 Act is to be treated for all purposes as a deposit with a banking company and is to be reckoned with other bank deposits under section 5 of the Act. The word "assets" has been defined under section 2(e) of the Act. The definition, as it stood during the relevant assessment years in question and is relevant for the purposes of the present references, is reproduced herein below: "2. Definitions.- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- ... (e) 'assets' includes property of every description, movable or immovable, but does not include,- (1) in relation to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1969, or any earlier assessment year- (i) agricultural land and growing crops, grass or standing trees on such land; (ii) any building owned or occupied b....