1987 (2) TMI 15

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....rence under section 27(i) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as " the Act "), the Income-tax; Appellate Tribunal, Indore Bench, has referred the following question of law to this court for its opinion : " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessments for the assessment years 1971-72, 1972-73 and 1973-74 were ....

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..... 205 for 1970-71, the Board has accepted that this Kothi is not exempt. Hence, the value of this Kothi is to be included in the net wealth of the assessee. Therefore, to bring to tax the escaped value of the above property, action under section 17(1)(b) is necessary. " Thereafter, the Wealth-tax Officer proceeded to assess the assessee afresh for the assessment years in question. Aggrieved by ....

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....o the conclusion that the reference has to be answered in the negative and in favour of the assessee. The only reason recorded by the Wealth-tax Officer for reopening the assessment was that the Central Board of Direct Taxes was of the view that the value of Shriniwas Kothi was not exempt from wealth-tax. It is now well settled as a result of the decision of the Supreme Court in Indian & Eastern N....

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.... of the case. He had exempted this property on the ground that it was exclusively used for residential purposes and was not put to any other use. It is quite obvious that while taking this decision, he considered the fact of the assessee actually living in Lal Bagh Palace as irrelevant. That palace did not belong to him. He was allowed to reside there merely as a result of an administrative arrang....