9911796707
TMI Blog1964 (3) TMI 4X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is framed in these words: "Whether the assessee is entitled to exemption under section 5(1) of the Wealth-tax Act for the three assessment years in question 1957-58, 1958-59 and 1959-60?" The assessee is a public limited company carrying on business from its inception in the manufacture and sale of sugar under the name and style of K.C.P. Ltd., Vuyyur. Some time later, it decided to set up a cement factory as a separate unit described as Messrs. Ramakrishna Cements, Macherla. Pursuant to this resolution, the assessee purchased the machineries for installing the cement factory in the year 1954-55. The factory was actually setup and was ready for production in February, 1958. Meanwhile, the Act came into force on 1st April, 1957. Taking ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h by the Tribunal. It must be stated here that it is not disputed on behalf of the department that the unit was set up only after the commencement of the Act, having regard to the finding of the Tribunal and the agreed statement of facts. But what is urged is that the assessee would be entitled to exemption only from the date of the setting up of the unit and not from the date of the actual commencement of operations and that this should not extend beyond five years of the commencement of the operations for the establishment of the unit. We are not persuaded that this interpretation is warranted by the terms of the relevant provisions of the statute. It is section 5 of the Act which specifies the assets which are exempt under the Act. S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h the second proviso. The language of the second proviso to clause (xxi) does not give any room for doubt that the period of five years should be calculated from the date of the commencement of the operations for the establishment of such unit. That proviso also makes it plain that the relief can be claimed for five successive assessment years and not for any five assessment years from the date of the commencement of the operations. The proviso comes into play only when the conditions of clause (xxi) are satisfied, viz., that the new and separate unit should be set up after the commencement of the Act. If the new unit was set up prior to the commencement of the Act, no exemption would be granted notwithstanding that, at the time the claim i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t date would be the first assessment year under the Act, namely, 1st April, 1957, to 31st March, 1958. This means that the exemption will be available to the assessee only for a period of the first five assessment years under the Act, where, though the unit is set up after the Act, the operations for the establishment commenced earlier than the Act. " Although this reasoning seems to be quite plausible, it is not necessary for us to express any final opinion on this aspect of the matter, as the assessee itself has not claimed exemption for the previous assessment year 1956-57 and confined it for three years beginning with 1957-58. Sri Kondaiah invites our attention to section 45(d) and urges on its basis that the claim is referable only ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erned with the latter part of the proviso. The argument founded on the earlier part of the proviso by Sri Kondaiah is that, as it contemplates the period of five years commencing with the assessment year next following the date on which the company was established, the same effect should be given to the second proviso. In other words, what the learned counsel urges is that, if under the proviso to section 45(d), it is the actual establishment of the company, there is no reason why a different intent should be ascribed to the second proviso to clause (xxi). The reason for the difference is obvious. In section 45(d) in the second part of the proviso, the language used is "following the date on which the company is established " which is ana ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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