1976 (11) TMI 65

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....SHARMA J.--The assessee made a gift of rupees one lakh in favour of his wife in 1958. The Wealth-tax Officer included this amount in the total wealth of the assessee under section 4(1) of the Wealth-tax Act (hereinafter called " the Act "). The assessee went in appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Wealth-tax, A Range, Patiala, and argued "that proviso to section 4 is not happily w....

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....aised on behalf of the assessee, allowed the appeal and excluded a sum of rupees one lakh from the return of the assessee filed under the Act. The appeal filed by the department was dismissed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi Bench "D". However, at the instance of the Commissioner of Wealth-tax, the Appellate Tribunal has referred the following question to us for our opinion : " Wheth....

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....geable to gift-tax under the Gift-tax Act, 1958 (18 of 1958), or is not chargeable under section 5 of that Act, for any assessment year commencing after the 31st day of March, 1964, but before the 1st day of April, 1972, the value of such assets or part thereof, as the case may be, shall not be included in computing the net wealth of the individual ;........" A reading of this section shows tha....

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.... thought that the property gifted during this period should not be further subjected to taxation under the Act. The punctuation has never been regarded as a safe guide in the interpretation of a legislative enactment. The appearance of the comma after the words, "under section 5 of the Gift-tax Act", does not alter the true meaning of the section. The words "is not chargeable under section 5 of th....