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TMI Blog1985 (1) TMI 121X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essee submitted before us that the fact of acquisition was claimed by the accountable person even before the Assistant Controller and only the specific order of the acquisition authority was being produced now. It was submitted that this is an official document and it should have been taken into consideration by the learned Appellate Controller. The learned counsel relied on the certificate of the Land Acquisition Officer (LAO) stating that this land was acquired on18-2-1977and a compensation of Rs. 5,780 was fixed. It was also pointed out that there was no appeal against this decision of the LAO. It was contended that the value of the land could not exceed the compensation available to the assessee under the law prevalent at the time of death. 4. It is true that in this case the certificate of the LAO was not before the Assistant Controller and the fact that compensation was fixed at a particular amount was not put up before him. However, considering the fact that this is a case of estate duty and the claim of the assessee was there that this was an acquired piece of land, we would direct that the Assistant Controller should verify the amount of compensation determined for the l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act had not been taken into consideration and provisions of that Act had a definite impact on depressing the value of land. In this connection, he drew our attention to some of the provisions of theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act and particularly the provisions contained in sections 11, 20 and 21 of the said Act. He also drew our attention to the fact that the husband of the deceased. Shri Radha Kishan, had filed a statement under section 6(1) of theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act and along with this he had made an application under section 20 for exempting the land belonging to the family of Shri Radha Kishan from the operation of the said Act. However, this request had not been accepted by the Delhi Administration. It was also submitted that under section 11, a compensation of Rs. 10 per sq. metre only is contemplated and this too is not fully payable in cash and a part of it is payable in a deferred manner in the form of bonds. The learned counsel also drew our attention to section 26 of the said Act which provides that no person holding vacant land within the ceiling limit shall transfer such land by sale, mortgage, gift, lease or otherwise, except after giving not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he limits are according to the areas where the land is situated. We are concerned with the UnionterritoryofDelhiand for this area the ceiling limit has been fixed at 500 sq. metres. There is also provision for computation of ceiling where a person holds vacant land in different categories or urban agglomeration. 'Family' is also defined in relation to a person, that particular individual, his/her spouse and their unmarried minor children. Various exceptions are provided and there are certain exemptions regarding the land used for a dwelling house or the land appurtenant to it. Section 5 of the above Act prohibits certain transfers of vacant land in a certain period even prior to the commencement of the above Act and section 6 of the said Act provides for persons holding vacant land in excess of the ceiling limit to file a statement under that section. It is under this section that the statement was filed by Shri Radha Kishan. Section 10 of the said Act provides for the manner of acquisition of vacant land in excess of the ceiling limit. This section provides for a notification by competent authority giving the particulars of the vacant land held by such person in excess of the ceil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve already made reference to section 26 where a notice has to be given before the transfer of vacant land within the ceiling limit and it requires a notice to be given to the competent authority, who has to decide within 30 days whether the land has to be acquired. 12. Now in view of the above provisions of theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act, one has to determine : 1. Whether any part of the land belonging to the deceased could be considered as excess land under theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act ? 2. Whether the provisions of that Act have the effect of depressing the value of such land ? 3. What should be the principle to be followed for valuing such excess land ? 13. The first question which has to be considered is whether any portion of the land belonging to the deceased could be considered to be excess under the provisions of theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act. From the application of Shri Radha Kishan, it appears that he has mentioned the following pieces of vacant land owned by Shri Radha Kishan or his family : 1. One-third out of plot No. W-145, Greater Kailash, Part-II,New Delhi. The assessee's share in this property is stated to be 111 sq. me ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... est is called vacant land which is subject to ceiling. He has also clarified that a person will not be required to surrender a built-up residential house even though the area occupied by it plus the land appurtenant to it may exceed the prescribed ceiling limit. 15. Now we are concerned with the land which was owned by the firm Lachhminarain Radha Kishan. Though the facts are not very clear, it appears that this firm consisted of Shri Radha Kishan and his two married sons. If the land in question belongs to the firm and if it was carrying on any business, it has to be seen whether according to the terms of the agreement between the partners the land was to be the property of the firm or of the partners individually. Only in case where the property belongs to the individual partner, the question of considering of that under theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act would arise. This aspect of the matter requires further verification. We may, however, state that in case that piece of 111 sq. metres is found to be owned by Shri Radha Kishan, there would be some excess of the vacant land if that piece is taken along with the Punjabi Bagh land. The excess of 500 sq. metres in that case ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ressed land on the basis of compensation receivable under the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, and this was upheld by the High Court. 18. Though we may seek guidance from the above decision, we have mainly to depend on the provisions of theUrbanLand(Ceiling and Regulation) Act as it was another law which was being considered in that case. We have already referred to the provision under which the competent authority can declare a particular piece of land in excess and they have a right to acquire it as if it was land in excess under the Land Acquisition Act. It would, therefore, be reasonable to hold that in respect of this excess piece of land a proper value should be as if that excess land was being acquired under the Land Acquisition Act. There are certain principles fixed for that Act but on the facts of the present case, we consider it unnecessary to go into that aspect as the excess land found in the present case would not be much and we see no reason why the plea of the counsel of the assessee that so much of excess land should be valued on the basis of cost to the deceased should not be accepted. 19. Having discussed the above legal position, we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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