TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1979 (2) TMI 6
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....opted in the estate duty assessment ? The estate duty assessment came to be made on the death of one Smt. K. Vijayammal on 1st April, 1970. She died possessed of 43.06 acres of land in two villages, viz., Vadakaravayal and Rajappianchavadi, in Mannargudi Taluk, Thanjavur District. In the return submitted for the E.D. assessment, the value of these lands was shown to be Rs. 95,170. For the assessment year 1970-71, a certificate from the village karnam regarding the value of these lands had been produced before the WTO, and the certificate showed their value to be Rs. 1,35,980. The chartered accountant, appearing on behalf of the accountable person, stated before the Asst. Controller that the certificate given by the karnam did not represe....
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....ribunal was justified in holding that the deceased was not the owner of the land to the extent of 19 acres which was considered to be in excess of the ceiling under the amended Act. It is in this context that we have to refer to the provisions of the Tamil Nadu Act, 58 of 1961, as amended by the Tamil Nadu Act, 17 of 1970. The amended Act came into force on 15th February, 1970. In the amended Act, there is a reference to the notified date and this notified date is defined in s. 3(31) thus : " 'Notified date' means the date specified by the Government in notification, which shall be a date after the date of the publication of this Act." This Act was published on October 2, 1970. under s. 5, as it was then in force, the ceiling area in ....
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....nder s. 11 power to decide the question of title in certain cases of dispute and there was to be a final statement prepared and published under s. 12, specifying therein the entire land held by the person, the land to be retained by him within the ceiling area and the land declared to be surplus land and such other particulars as were prescribed. Section 18 provides: " After the publication of the final statement under s. 12 or 14, the Government shall, subject to the provisions of sections 16 and 17, publish a notification to the effect that the surplus land is required for a public purpose." Sub-section (2) of s. 18 provides: " As soon as may be after the publication of a notification under sub-section (1) the authorised officer ....
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..... The several provisions set out clearly go to show that only after the notification under s. 18 there is a vesting in the Government. The land continues in the ownership of the person until it actually vests in the Government. There can be no doubt about the fact that the deceased continued to be the owner of the land until actually action under ss. 10, 12 and 18 was taken, which was after her death. The Tribunal has relied on the decision of a learned single judge of this court in K. S. Balakrishnan v. Commr. of Agrl. I.T. [1972] 86 ITR 263. In that case a person filed an application for the composition of agricultural income-tax on 16th June, 1966. He included in his return an extent of 29.37 acres of land which was in excess of the c....
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....of the Land Reforms Act did not by itself have the effect of extinguishing the ownership of the holder of land. It was pointed out that the said action merely made a declaration that from the commencement of the Act, no person shall be entitled to hold land in excess of the ceiling area. The vesting with reference to s. 18(3) took place only on the date of the publication of the notification under s. 18(1) and only then, it was held, the title of, the person who held the excess land, would stand extinguished. It was also pointed out that s. 7 will not have the operation of extinguishing the ownership of a holder thereof, as vesting only followed a notification under s. 18(1). In view of the decision by the appellate Bench, it follows that t....