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TMI Blog2016 (2) TMI 769X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . The assessee valued the land as on the valuation date at Rs. 83/- per sq.ft. Referring to a copy of the letter said to be received from Member Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, the Ld.counsel submitted that the land in question is situated in I.T. Corridor and Coastal Regulation Zone-II. The Ld.counsel further submitted that the land in question is 100 mtr from the Buckingham canal. There was street alignment proposed to the extent of Rs. 30.5 mtr road to ECR through this said land. Therefore, the Member Secretary, Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority clarified that till the proposed 100 ft. road is finalized, the construction cannot be made / permitted in the land. Since the construction cannot be made, according to the Ld. counsel, the land in question cannot be treated as urban land for the purpose of Wealth Tax Act. The Assessing Officer simply rejected the claim of the assessee and estimated the value at Rs. 1200 per sq.ft. on the basis of guideline value. According to the Ld. counsel, the guideline value is only to guide the Sub-Registrar to fix the market value. Since the road alignment was not finalized and it is not known on which part of the l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 4. We have considered the rival submissions on either side and perused the relevant material available on record. We have carefully gone through the provisions of Section 2(ea) of Wealth-tax Act. Section 2(ea) of Wealth-tax Act reads as follows:- "(ea) "assets", in relation to the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1993, or any subsequent assessment year, means- (i) any building or land appurtenant thereto (hereinafter referred to as house), whether used for residential or commercial purposes or for the purpose of maintaining a guest house or otherwise including a farm house situated within twenty-five kilometres from local limits of any municipality (whether known as Municipality, Municipal Corporation or by any other name) or a Cantonment Board, but does not include- (1) a house meant exclusively for residential purposes and which is allotted by a company to an employee or an officer or a director who is in whole-time employment, having a gross annual salary of less than 1[ten lakh rupees] ; Finance Act, 2012 : From April 1, 2013 : In a case where a house is allotted for residential purposes by a company to an employee or officer or director who is in wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... from gold, silver, platinum or other precious metals. Ordinarily speaking, when a person talks about jewellery, he includes ornaments which are made of gold, silver or any other precious metal also irrespective of whether these articles have precious stones imbedded in them or not. The term "jewellery" is not confined in ordinary parlance to only those ornaments which have precious stones imbedded in them. Explanation 1 in so far as it includes ornaments made of gold, silver, platinum or other precious metal or alloy, is merely clarificatory in nature. Such items were not excluded from the meaning of the term "jewellery" earlier : CWT V. BINAPANI CHAKRAVARTY [1995] 214 ITR 721. (b) "urban land" means land situate-- (i) in any area which is comprised within the jurisdiction of a municipality (whether known as a municipality, municipal corporation, notified area committee, town area committee, town committee, or by any other name) or a cantonment board and which has a population of not less than ten thousand ; or (ii) in any area within the distance, measured aerially,-- (I) not being more than two kilometres, from the local limits of any municipality or cantonment board ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ispute that the proposed 30.5 mtr road is not finalized and it is still in the proposal stage. The authorities concerned could not identify the area of the land through which 30.5 mtr road passes. Therefore, the exact land on which the proposed road passes through, could not be demarcated. In those circumstances, this Tribunal is of the considered opinion that unless the proposal of 30.5 mtr road is finalized by the concerned authority, the construction of the building on the subject land is not permissible for the present and under the existing law of the land. The local body and CMDA would not approve the building plan till the formation of road is finalized. Unless and until the building plan is approved, the assessee cannot put up any construction at all. Since the construction was not permissible till finalization of the proposed formation of the road and demarcation of land in question, this Tribunal is of the considered opinion that construction of the building in the subject land is not permissible. Once the construction is not permissible, the land in question cannot fall within the definition of "urban land" under Section 2(ea) of the Wealth-tax Act. 5. We have carefully ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aluation date. When there was a proposal for formation of road which is pending before the concerned authority and the roads are not clearly demarcated, this Tribunal is of the considered opinion that the judgment of Madras High Court also may not be of any assistance to the Revenue. 7. In the case before us, the assessee valued the land at Rs. 83 per sq.ft. taking into consideration of the reduction in value of the land. Therefore, this Tribunal is of the considered opinion that estimation of value on the basis of guideline value is not justified. It is well settled principle of law that guideline value is only to guide the Sub-Registrar to find out the market value of the land for the purpose of collecting stamp duty. The guideline value would not in all cases reflect the market value. The guideline value is not a mathematical or constant figure. The guideline value would fluctuate depending upon various factors such as the location, area, infrastructures available nearer to the land and future potential for development of the land, etc. Therefore, for valuing the market value as on valuation date, all the factors referred above have to be taken into consideration, including the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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