1987 (3) TMI 25

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....s under section 17(1)(a) of the Act was justified ? (2) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in holding that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had jurisdiction to direct the Wealth-tax Officer to refer the matter to the Valuation Cell, as provided by section 16A of the Act ? " The material facts giving rise to this reference, briefly, are as follows: The assessee is a Hindu undivided family and the assessment years in question are 1967-68 to 1973-74. The assessments framed for these years were reopened by the Wealth-tax Officer under section 17(1)(a) of the Act on the ground that at the time of the original assessment, the assessee had not shown the capitalised value of rent rece....

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....essee and against the Department. As regards the first question, the contention advanced on behalf of the assessee was that the assessee had disclosed all primary-facts necessary for the purpose of assessment and that failure on the part of the Wealth-tax Officer to seek further information from the assessee would not justify reopening of the assessments under section 17(1)(a) of the Act. To appreciate this contention, it is necessary to refer to the relevant facts. In the return filed by the assessee for the relevant assessment years, the assessee had appended a note as follows: " The sale price of the plot, which is deposited in the bank, is also not shown as it is already included in the price of the immovable property." The ....

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....erial facts. What facts are material would depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case and there must be escapement of tax or underassessment due to such failure or omission. In the instant case, the assessee had disclosed that a plot of land was sold and that the price thereof was deposited in a bank. This value was not separately shown as the assessee had returned the value of the entire land which included the plot sold by the assessee. If the Wealth-tax Officer doubted the correctness of the valuation, it was open to him to discard that value and determine the market value in accordance, with law. For arriving at the market value, the assessee could have been directed to furnish further details with regard to the plot of land s....