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TMI Blog2013 (9) TMI 716X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to 38(Asr)/13 2002-03 to 07-08 Paramjit Singh -do- -do- 29 to 34 39 to 44(Asr)/13 -do- Smt. Gurmit Kaur -do- -do- 35 & 36 45 & 46(Asr)/13 2006-07 & 07-08 Gurcharan Singh -do- -do- 37 & 38 47 & 48(Asr)/13 -do- Smt. Parkash Kaur -do- -do- 39 & 40 49 & 50(Asr)/13 -do- Mandeep Singh -do- -do- 41 & 42 51 & 52(Asr)/13 -do- Sirbeerinder Singh -do- -do- 2. The identical grounds taken in all the 42 appeals are reproduced as under: "1. The Ld. CWT (Appeals) erred on facts and law in dismissing the appeal and confirming the order of the Wealth Tax Officer, treating the agricultural land as urban land liable to wealth tax. 2. The Ld. CWT (Appeals) erred on facts and law in upholding the action of the AO of treating the land used for agricultural purposes and classified as agriculture land in the records of the govt., as Urban Land as defined u/s 2(ea) while disallowing the exemption claimed by the assessee. The law on this issue has been amended with retrospective effect from 1st day of April, 1993 and the land which has been classified as agricultural land in the records of the govt. and used for agricultu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... udgment of Hon'ble I.T.A.T., Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, in the case of ITO v. Khazan Singh in which it has been held that the agri. Land which is located within the jurisdiction of village which has not been notified in the notification dated 06.01.1994 is not a capital asset meaning thereby the same is not urban land as defined u/s 2(ea) of the Wealth Tax Act. 3. The levy of Wealth tax on agri. land is unconstitutional. 4. That the cash in hand is exempt because the same has been recorded in the books of account and reflected in the balance-sheet. " 3. Keeping in view of the above facts, the value of lands have been adopted on the basis of collector's rate as against the market rates. The contentions of the assessee in regard to claiming these assets as exempt are not acceptable because in the definition of assets liable for wealth tax, urban land has been included for the assessment year commencing on the first day of April, 1993 and in subsequent assessment years under the provisions of section 2(ea) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. The urban land has been defined in the Act itse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nition of "Urban Land" is given in clause to Expln. 1 to S. 2(ea) and as per the said Explanation any land situation in any area which is comprised within the jurisdiction of a municipality and which has a population of not less than 10,000/- is an urban land. In our opinion, no distinction is made in respect of agricultural and non-agricultural land. Though the legislature has excluded some of the lands though they are otherwise urban land, but agricultural land is not excluded. In our opinion, the A.O. has taken a correct view and the same is rightly confirmed by the CWT(A). Therefore, no interference is called for. Ground no. 2 taken by the assessee stands rejected'. 5. The Ld. CWT (Appeals) confirmed the action of the W.T.O. and his findings for the sake of convenience are reproduced as under: "I find that all the issues raised in the grounds of appeal are covered by the appellate order of my predecessor in the case of Sh. Gurcharan Singh S/o Kehar Singh Muktsar in appeal no. 136 to 140 -IT-CIT(A)/BTI/09-10 vide order dated 10/08/2009, which was confirmed by the Hon'ble I.T.A.T., Amritsar Bench, Amritsar, in WTA No. 28-32(ASR)/2009 vide order ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (SC), the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held as under:- "The principle of adopting a liberal interpretation which advances the purpose and object of beneficent cannot be carried to the extent of doing violence to the plain and simple language used in the enactment. It would not be reasonable or permissible for the Court to rewrite the section or substitute words of its own for the actual words employed by the legislature in the name of giving effect of the supposed underlying object. After all, the underlying object of any provision has to be gathered on a reasonable interpretation of the language employed by the legislature." I find that the intention of the Central Government legislature in notifying the area beyond the municipal limits to put the same in the definition of capital asset for levying capital gain tax and treating the same as urban land to levy wealth tax was on account of the urbanization of the area concerned and the simple and plain language has been used in the notification dated 06.01.1994. The notification provides that any area upto a distance of 1 km. from the municipal limits of Muktsar in all directions shal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or (III) not being more than eight kilometers, from the local limits of any municipality or cantonment board referred to in sub-clause (i) and which has a population of more than ten lakh, But does not include land classified as agricultural land in the records of the government and used for agricultural purposes or land on which construction of a building is not permissible under any law for the time being in force in the area in which such land is situated or the land occupied by any building which has been constructed with the approval of the appropriate authority or any unused land held by the assessee for industrial purposes for a period of two years from the date of its acquisition by him or any land held by the assessee as stock-in-trade for a period of ten years from the date of its acquisition by him. Explanation- For the purposes of clause (b) of Explanation-1, "population' means the population according to the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published before the date of valuation.' 7. From the perusal of the said substitution of the explan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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