9911796707
TMI Blog1968 (2) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , 1958-59, 1959-60 and 1960-61. Briefly the facts are that the assessee's residence is situated at a place known as Makum at a distance of less than five miles from the Tinsukia municipal town limit, but more than five miles from the central point of the Tinsukia Municipality. It is admitted that Makum is a place with a population not exceeding 10,000 and the Tinsukia Municipality has a population exceeding 10,000. The only controversy is whether the assessee's house is situated at a distance of more than five miles from the area of the Tinsukia Municipality. The Wealth-tax Officer, who made the original order of assessment, refused to grant the exemption on the ground that the assessee's residence was less than five miles from the limits ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iv) one house belonging to the assessee exclusively used by him for residential purposes and situate in any place with a population not exceeding ten thousand and which is more than five miles distant from any area for which there is a municipality the population whereof exceeds ten thousand ; . . . . . ." This provision indicates that during the relevant time, a residential house within the municipal area was not under any exemption. A residential house in order to attract the exemption clause will have to be, firstly, in a place where the population does not exceed ten thousand, and, secondly, that it must be situated at a distance of more than five miles from the municipal area, and, thirdly, that the municipality from which the distan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ins and ends at the actual residence of the Government servant concerned . . . . . . . ." It also appears that for the purpose of this rule, the Government of India's orders are that the principal post office in any station should be considered as the chief public office and consequently as the fixed point, in respect of the commencement and end of the journeys of all officers of the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department. A perusal of this rule would clearly show that for the purposes of travelling allowances, a provision has been specifically made under this rule to indicate the point in any station from which the calculation has to be made. There is, therefore, no difficulty when such a provision has been made under the rule to make th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e for instance the provisions of the Assam Municipal Act, 1956, section 4 is as follows : " 4. (1) The State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, and by such other means as it may determine, declare its intention--- (a) to constitute any town together with or exclusive of any railway station, village, building or land contiguous to any such town, a municipality under this Act ; (b) to include within a municipality any local area contiguous to the same ; (c) to exclude from a municipality any local area comprised therein or (d) to withdraw the whole area comprised in any municipality from the operation of this Act : Provided that no municipality under this Act shall include any military cantonment or part of a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l defined and there can be no doubt or vagueness about the area. Once a particular distance is to be determined, the two termini, as noted above, have got to be clearly known. The limit of the municipality will cover the entire area of the municipality. There is nothing in section 5(1)(iv) of the Act to warrant the interpretation that the limit from which the distance exceeding five miles has to be determined, must be from the central point of the municipality. Mr. Choudhury argues that there is no warrant either for interpreting the section to mean only the limits of the municipality. This argument, however, is not tenable. The section clearly postulates that exemption is allowed in respect of a house situated in a place with a population ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sufficiently exclusive to exclude the entire area of the municipality in measuring the distance from the limit thereof to the residence of the assessee. In this context we may also notice that some curious result will follow if the central point in a municipal area is taken to be the point from which the distance has to be measured in the absence of a clear direction in that behalf. If a municipal area is sufficiently long from east to west and from north to south is very narrow, in that case if the central point is taken as the criterion for measuring the distance, then an assessee's house on the cast and west of the Municipality will be exempted even though perhaps it is close to the border of the municipality whereas an assessee on the n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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