REGISTERED VALUER UNDER WEALTH TAX ACT, 1957 – PART II

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

Procedure for registration as a valuer

The following is the procedure for registration of valuer under this Act-

• Any person who possesses the qualifications prescribed in this behalf may apply to the Chief Commission­er or Director General in the Form No. N for being registered as a valuer under this section;
• Every application shall be verified in the prescribed manner, shall be accompanied by fees of ₹ 1000;
• The fee will not be refunded if the application for registration is rejected;
• The application shall contain a declaration to the effect that the applicant will-

• make an impartial and true valuation of any asset which he may be required to value;
• furnish a report of such valuation in the prescribed form;
• charge fees at a rate not exceeding the rate or rates prescribed in this behalf;
• not undertake valuation of any asset in which he has a direct or indirect interest.

The Chief Commissioner or Director General shall maintain a register to be called the Register of Valuers in which shall be entered the names and addresses of persons regis­tered under sub-section (2) as valuers.

Restrictions on practice

Section 34AC of the Act provides that No person, either alone, or in partnership with any other person, shall practise, describe himself or hold himself out as a registered valuer for the purposes of this Act or permit himself to be so described or held out unless he is registered as a valuer or, as the case may be, unless he and all his partners are so registered under this Chapter.

No company or other body corporate shall practise, describe itself or hold itself out as registered valuers for the purposes of this Act or permit itself to be so described or held out.

Furnishing of information                                                                              

Section 34ACC of the Act provides that Where any person who is registered as a valuer under section 34AB or who has made an application for registration as a valuer under that section is, at any time thereafter,-   

• Where any person who is registered as a valueror who has made an application for registration as a valuer under that section is, at any time thereafter,-

• convicted of any offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment; or
• in a case where he is a member of any association or institution established in India having as its object the control, supervi­sion, regulation or encouragement of the profession of architec­ture, accountancy, or company secretaries or such other profes­sion as the Board may specify in this behalf by notification in the Official Gazette, found guilty of misconduct in his profes­sional capacity, by such association or institution,

he shall immediately after such conviction or, as the case may be, finding, intimate the particulars thereof to the Chief Commissioner or Director General.

Removal and restoration

Section 34AD provides that The Chief Commissioner or Director General may remove the name of any person from the register of valuers where he is satisfied, after giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after such further inquiry, if any, as he thinks fit to make,-

•  that his name has been entered in the register by error or on account of misrepresentation or suppression of a material fact;
• that he has been convicted of any offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment or has been guilty of misconduct in his professional capacity which, in the opinion of the Chief Commissioner or Director General, renders him unfit to be kept in the register.

The Chief Commissioner or Director General may, on application and on sufficient cause being shown, restore to the register the name of any person removed there from.

The Chief Commissioner or Director General shall, once in three years review the performance of all the registered valuers and may remove the name of any person from the Regis­ter of Valuers where he is satisfied, after giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after such further inquiry, if any, as he thinks fit to make, that his performance is such that his name should not remain on the Register of Valu­ers.

Guilty of misconduct

Rule 8E provides that for the purposes of section 34AD of the Act, a registered valuer shall be deemed to have been guilty of misconduct in his professional capacity if he has been found so guilty,-

•  in a case where he is a member of any association or institution established in India having as its object the control, supervision, regulation or encouragement of the profession of engineering, architecture, accountancy, or company secretaries or such other profession as the Board may specify in this behalf by notification in the Official Gazette, by such association or institution; or
• in any other case, by the Chief Commissioner or the Director General, in accordance with the procedure laid down in rule 8F and rules 8H to 8K.

Charge sheet

Rule 8F provides that Where the Chief Commissioner or the Director General, on the basis of information in its possession, is of the opinion that any registered valuer, or any other person, not being a person referred to in sub-clause (i) of clause (e) of sub-rule (13) of rule 8A, who has made an application for registration as a valuer under rule 8B, is guilty of professional misconduct in connection with any proceeding under any law for the time being in force, he shall frame definite charges against such person and shall communicate them in writing to him together with a statement of the allegations in support of the charges.

On receipt of the charge sheet and the statement referred to in sub-rule (1), the person shall be required to submit within thirty days of the receipt of the said charge sheet and the statement or, within such further time as the Chief Commissioner or the Director General may, on an application made by that person allow in this behalf, a written statement of his defence and also to state whether he desires to be heard in person.

Inquiry

The Chief Commissioner or Director General may himself conduct the inquiry referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (3) or appoint an Inquiry Officer not below the rank of a Commis­sioner to conduct such inquiry, and for the purposes of such inquiry, the Chief Commissioner or Director General. The Inquiry Officer so appointed shall have the same powers as are vested in a court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, when trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely:-

• discovery and inspection;
• enforcing the attendance of any person including any officer of a banking company and examining him on oath;
• compelling the production of books of account and other documents;
• issuing commission.

Proceeding before Inquiry Officer

Rule 8H provides that the following procedure is to be followed in the inquiry before the Inquiry Officer-

•  On receipt of the written statement of defence, or if no such statement is received within the time specified, the Inquiry Officer shall inquire into such of the charges as are not admitted;
• The Inquiry Officer shall, in the course of the inquiry, consider such documentary evidence and take such oral evidence as may be relevant or material in regard to the charges;
• The person who has made an application for registration as a valuer, or, as the case may be, the registered valuer, shall be entitled to cross-examine the witnesses examined in support of the charges and to give evidence in person;
• If the Inquiry Officer declines to examine any witness on the ground that his evidence is not relevant or material, he shall record his reasons in writing;
• At the conclusion of the inquiry, the Inquiry Officer shall prepare a report of the inquiry, recording his findings on each of the charges together with the reasons therefore.

Change of Inquiry Officer

Rule 8K provides that If a change of an Inquiry Officer becomes necessary in the midst of an inquiry, the Chief Commissioner or the Director General may appoint any other Inquiry Officer not below the rank of a Chief Commissioner or Commissioner and the proceedings shall be continued by the succeeding Inquiry Officer from the stage at which they were left by his predecessor.

Order

• The Chief Commissioner or the Director General shall consider the report of the Inquiry Officer and record his findings on each charge and, where he does not agree with the finding of the Inquiry Officer shall record the reasons for his disagreement.;
• If theChief Commissioner or the Director General is satisfied on the basis ofhis findings on the Inquiry Officer's report that the registered valuer or, as the case may be, the person who has made an application for registration as a valuer, is guilty of misconduct in connection with any proceeding under any law for the time being in force,he shall pass an order  under section 34AD of the Act removing the name of the registered valuer from the register of valuers or, as the case may be, directing that the person shall not be registered as a valuer.

Procedure where no Inquiry Office is appointed

Rule 8J provides that The procedure prescribed in the aforesaid rules shall, mutatis mutandis, apply when the Chief Commissioner or the Director General himself conducts the inquiry without appointing an Inquiry Officer

Report of valuer

The report of valuation by a registered valuer in respect of any asset specified shall be in the Form specified thereof and shall be verified in the manner indicated in such Form-

• immovable property (other than agricultural lands, plantations, forests, mines and quarries) – Form No. O-1;
• Agricultural lands (other than coffee, tea, rubber and cardamom plantations) – Form No. O-2;
• Coffee, tea, rubber or cardamom plantations – Form No. O-3;
• Forests – Form No. O-4;
• Mines and quarries – Form No. O-5;
• Stocks, shares, debentures, securities, shares in partnership, firms and business assets including goodwill but excluding those referred to in any other item in this para – Form No. O-6;
• Machinery and plant – Form No. O-7;
• Jewellery – Form No. O-8;
• Works of Art – Form No. O-9;
• Life interest, reversions and interest in expectancy – Form No. O-10.

Fees chargeable by valuer

Where two or more assets are required to be valued by a registered valuer at the instance of an assessee all such assets shall be deemed to constitute, a single asset for the purposes of calculating the fees payable to such, registered valuer.  The lees to be charged by a registered valuer for valuation of any asset shall not exceed the amount calculated at the following rates, namely:-

• On the first ₹ 5.00.000 of the asset as valued – 0.5% of the value;
• On the next ₹ 10 lakhs of the asset as valued – 0.2% of the value;
• On the next ₹ 40 lakhs of the asset as valued – 0.1% of the value;
• On the balance of the asset as valued – 0.05% of the value.

Where the amount of fees calculated is less than ₹ 500, the registered valuer may charge ₹ 500 as his fees.