Section 34 - Amendment of Act 27 of 1957 - Finance (No. 2) Act, 1967

CHAPTER IV OTHER DIRECT TAXES 34. Amendment of Act 27 of 1957 In the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, - (a) in section 2, in clause (h) - (i) in sub-clause (i), the word and occurring at the end shall be omitted; (ii) in sub-clause (ii), the word and shall be inserted at the end; (iii) after sub-clause (ii), the following sub-clause shall be, and shall be deemed always to have been, inserted, namely :- (iia) a corporation established by or under a Central, Provincial or State Act, which is declared by the Central Government, by general or special order, to be a company for the purposes of this Act. . (b) in section 8, for the Explanation, the following proviso and Explanation shall be substituted, namely :- Provided that where two or more Income-tax Officers have jurisdiction or exercise powers under the Income-tax Act in respect of any individual, Hindu undivided family or company, they shall have concurrent jurisdiction and perform such functions of a Wealth-tax Officer under this Act in respect of such individual, Hindu undivided family or company, as the case may be, as the Commissioner or the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner of Wealth-tax authorised by him in this behalf may, by general or special order in writing, specify, for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed. Explanation : For the purposes of this section, the Income-tax Officer or the Income-tax Officers having jurisdiction in relation to a person who is not an assessee within the meaning of the Income-tax Act, shall be the Income-tax Officer or Income-tax Officers in respect of the area in which that person resides. ; (c) for section 8A, the following sections shall be substituted, namely :- 8A. Power of Commissioner respecting specified areas, cases or persons. - (1) The Commissioner may, by general or special order in writing, direct that such of the functions assigned to the Wealth-tax Officer by or under this Act as are specified in any such order may, in respect of any specified area or specified cases or classes of cases or specified persons or classes of persons, be performed by an Inspector of Wealth-tax or any member of the ministerial staff, appointed to work under the Commissioner or any other Wealth-tax authority subordinate to him, and specified in such order, subject to such conditions, restrictions or limitations as may be specified therein : Provided that the Commissioner shall not, unless he is authorised in this behalf by the Board by general or special order in writing, make an order under this sub-section in relation to the functions of a Wealth-tax Officer mentioned in the following provisions of this Act, namely, sections 15B, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 32, 37 and 37A. (2) For the purposes of any case or person or proceeding under this Act in respect of which or whom any order under sub-section (1) applies, references in this Act or in any rule made hereunder to the Wealth-tax Officer shall be deemed to include references to the Inspector of Wealth-tax or the member of the ministerial staff specified in such order. 8B. Power to transfer cases. - (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 8, the Commissioner may, after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter, wherever it is possible to do so, and after recording his reasons for doing so, transfer any case from any Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers subordinate to him to any other Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers also subordinate to him and the Board may similarly transfer any case from any Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers to any other Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers : Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall be deemed to require such opportunity to be given where the transfer is from any Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers to any other Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers and offices of all such Wealth-tax Officers are situated in the same city, locality or place : Provided further that where any case has been transferred from any Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers to two or more Wealth-tax Officers, the Wealth-tax Officers to whom the case is so transferred shall have concurrent jurisdiction over the case and shall perform such functions in relation to the said case as the Board or the Commissioner (or any Inspecting Assistant Commissioner of Wealth-tax authorised by the Commissioner in this behalf) may, by general or special order in writing, specify, for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed. (2) The transfer of a case under sub-section (1) may be made at any stage of the proceedings, and shall not render necessary the re-issue of any notice already issued by the Wealth-tax Officer or Wealth-tax Officers from whom the case is transferred. Explanation : In this section and in section 8A, the word case , in relation to any person whose name is specified in any order made thereunder, means all proceedings under this Act in respect of any year which may be pending on the date of such order, or which may have been completed on or before such date, and includes also all proceedings under this Act which may be commenced after the date of such order in respect of any year.; (d) in section 10, for the words subject to such orders, if any, as the Board may make for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed , the following words shall be substituted, namely :- and shall perform such functions in relation to the said area or persons or classes of persons as the Board may, by general or special order in writing, specify, for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed ; (e) in section 11, for the words they shall perform their functions in accordance with such orders as the Commissioner may make for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed , the following words shall be substituted, namely :- they shall have concurrent jurisdiction and shall perform such functions in respect of the said areas or persons or classes of persons as the Commissioner may, by general or special order in writing, specify, for the distribution and allocation of the work to be performed ; (f) for section 11A, the following section shall be substituted, namely :- 11A. Inspector of Wealth-tax. - A Commissioner may empower any Inspector of Income-tax within the meaning of the Income-tax Act to work as an Inspector of Wealth-tax under any other Wealth-tax authority subordinate to him; and when he is so empowered, he shall perform such functions in the execution of this Act as are assigned to him by the Commissioner by an order, whether made under sub-section (1) of section 8A or otherwise, or by any other Wealth-tax authority under whom he is appointed to work. ; (g) after section 11A, the following section shall be inserted, namely :- 11B. Wealth-tax Officer competent to perform any function or functions. - In respect of any function to be performed by a Wealth-tax Officer under any provision of this Act, in relation to any assessee, the Wealth-tax Officer referred to therein shall, - (a) in a case where only one Wealth-tax Officer has jurisdiction over such assessee, be such Wealth-tax Officer; (b) in a case where two or more Wealth-tax Officers have concurrent jurisdiction over such assessee, be the Wealth-tax Officer empowered to perform such function by the Board, or, as the case may be, the Wealth-tax Officer to whom such function has been assigned by an order of the Commissioner or of the Inspecting Assistant Commissioner of Wealth-tax authorised by the Commissioner in this behalf. .