9911796707
TMI Blog1985 (6) TMI 10X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... numbers. It appears that the State Government acquired S. No. 225/2 wholly while out of the land of S. No. 225/4, it acquired three acres of the land. The relevant notifications under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in respect of the two pieces of land were issued on September 5, and October 15, 1959. The dates of the notifications under section 6 are not available on record. The possession was taken over by the Government of these two pieces of land on August 15, 1960. The Land Acquisition Officer by his award dated July 18, 1962, awarded compensation of Rs. 24,293 to the assessee for the land acquired. The assessee being aggrieved by the offer made by the Land Acquisition Officer, sought reference under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, which was granted and, accordingly, the reference was made to the Court of Civil judge (S.D.), Jamnagar. The learned Civil judge, on appreciation of the evidence adduced before him, found that the offer of the Land Acquisition Officer was inadequate and the fair market value of the land should be fixed at Rs. 1,25 per sq. foot which would give a price of Rs. 54,449 per acre. The learned Civil judge, therefore, awarded additional compe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er of fact, the learned Civil judge has awarded additional compensation of Rs. 5,04,824,12 which included the solatium amount at the statutory rate together with 4% interest on the additional amount of compensation. This additional amount of compensation was over and above the amount of compensation of Rs. 24,293 awarded by the Land Acquisition Officer. At this stage, we must revert to the development which took place in respect of the assessment years 1961-62 to 1963-64 which are the subject-matter of Wealth-tax Reference No. 5 of 1977. The Wealth-tax Officer had, in respect of these three assessment years, accepted the return of the assessee and assessed him accordingly for the purposes of wealth-tax. The assessee had shown the value of the wealth equivalent to the amount of compensation offered by the Land Acquisition Officer, that is, Rs. 24,293. However, in view of the order of the Wealth-tax Officer passed on February 24, 1983, in respect of the assessment year 1964-65, the Commissioner thought it fit to exercise his revisional jurisdiction and directed the Wealth-tax Officer to reassess the wealth of the assessee on the same lines as has been done by the Wealth-tax. Office ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erence under section 18 of the Land Acquisition Act, since it is a statutory obligation for the purposes of assessing the value of the wealth of the assessee that the authority has to determine as to what fair market value it would have realised, if the assets had been sold in the open market and, therefore, the Tribunal could not have accepted the value of the assets as valued by the Land Acquisition Officer. In any case, it was urged that it was the statutory obligation of the Wealth-tax Officer to carry out this exercise by fixing the fair market value of the assets by finding out as to what price it would have realised, if sold in the open market, and since there is no material on the record collected by him to undertake that exercise, the court should decline to answer the question after pointing out the relevant legal position in respect of fixing the fair market value of the asset for the purposes of wealth-tax. In support of this alternative contention, the learned counsel relied heavily on the decision of the Supreme Court in Mrs. Khorshed Shapoor Chenai v. Asstt. CED [1980] 122 ITR 21. On behalf of the assessee, it was urged that having regard to the provision of the La ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tification, which right is quantified by the Collector under section 11 and by the civil court under section 26 of the said Act. The award of the Collector is merely an offer which, on acceptance, will extinguish the right to compensation. The on acceptance of the offer, or the acceptance under protest with a prayer for reference, will keep the right of compensation alive which a claimant can prosecute in the civil court. The right which a claimant pursues in the civil court is not merely a right to litigate the correctness of the award. The correctness of the award is a collateral question in the course of the reference, since the right to compensation is not fulfilled. The evaluation of this right made by the civil court in a reference would not be the valuation of the asset for the purposes of either the Estate Duty Act or the Wealth-tax Act on the specified date. The estimated value of the right to receive compensation, which is a property, is equal to the Collector's award but can never be equal to the tall claim made by the claimant in the reference, nor equal to the claim actually awarded by the civil court, since the hazard of litigation is a detracting factor in assessing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gard to the constitutional provision then standing, namely, the value of the subject-matter of appeal. The learned advocate also emphasised that having regard to the fact of the substantial period exceeding twenty years has elapsed since the relevant date on which the fair market value was to be assessed, and also having regard to the time which the Supreme Court is likely to take before the appeal from the order of the High Court reaches for an effective hearing, if the assessing authority applies the correct multiplier for discounting the best value which the assessee would get in the Supreme Court, which in no circumstances can exceed the value assessed by the civil court, the value on the relevant valuation date of every financial year cannot exceed the value offered by the Land Acquisition Officer, since the assessing authority will have to discount some percentage for every year which has passed since then. In his submission, if the exercise as indicated by the assessee is undertaken, on the facts and in the circumstances of the present case, the value may be less than the value offered by the Land Acquisition Officer. He repeatedly emphasised by taking us through the decisio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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