9911796707
TMI Blog1985 (1) TMI 16X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of Surveyors (India). The petitioner started practising as a consulting engineer and valuation expert at Ahmedabad in Gujarat State since 1958-59. The petitioner immediately after his graduation joined the firm of M/s. Amin Desai as an Assistant Engineer somewhere in 1955 and in view of his ability and experience, he was taken as a partner in the said firm in 1959. It appears that the petitioner made an application on February 14, 1969, to the Government of India in the Department of Revenue and Insurance in the Ministry of Finance for being appointed as an approved valuer for taxation laws, namely, the Estate Duty Act and the Wealth-tax Act, for the purposes of valuation of real properties. The petitioner appears to have been appointed in pursuance of this application as an approved valuer under section 4(3) of the Estate Duty Act with effect from May 9, 1969, which appointment appears to have been communicated, vide letter of May 21, 1969. Pursuant to the amendment in the Wealth-tax Act somewhere in the year 1973 requiring the appointment of valuers for the purposes of the valuation of immovable properties for the purposes of the Wealth-tax Act, it became necessary for the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ome-tax Officer on January 29, 1982, along with the details of cases in which valuations had been made by the petitioner for direct tax purposes. A reminder was also received by the petitioner from the Income-tax Officer, vide his letter of February 23, 1982, requesting him further to furnish the details of valuation reports prepared by the petitioner for different assets which he might have submitted to the Income-tax Department. The petitioner, under cover of his letter of February 26, 1982, submitted the necessary details about the valuation made by the petitioner for purposes of taxation laws. He also submitted under cover of his letter of March 2, 1982, a separate list of cases wherein representations were made either before the Valuation Cell of the Income-tax Department and/or before the higher authorities by the firm of the petitioner since that information was also called for. Again, the said Income-tax Officer, by his letter of August 20, 1983, wrote to the petitioner to submit before him the details of property of City Survey No. 4225 known as (Borsali) the valuation of which was done by the firm of the petitioner, and he was required particularly to bring the valuation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... petitioner as valuer, which are respected by all authorities are not in accordance with law or in accordance with the laid down standards, the petitioner cannot be considered to be fit to be continued/appointed as departmental valuer. In fact, petitioner's attention was also drawn to this fact. I submit that the contention of the petitioner that there may be errors of judgment in the valuation reports submitted from time to time is not correct. Ordinarily, for valuation of movable and immovable properties, now several tests are laid down and guidelines are issued judgments are also available on the point and hence even if there may be variations in the assessments on other counts, there should be no variation in so far as the valuation of the property is concerned. The valuer is expected to adopt proper valuation methods, so that right up to the highest authority, the reports are sustained. In the instant case, the reports of the valuer, namely, petitioner, have been questioned and it is found that there is understatement in the valuations which has caused serious prejudice to the Revenue. Hence, the petitioner cannot be considered to be person fit to be continued/appointed as t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The Central Government shall, within twelve months after the commencement of this Act and may thereafter, from time to time, appoint a sufficient number of qualified persons to act as valuers for the purposes of this Act and shall fix a scale of charges for the remuneration of such persons. " Sub-section (5) of section 4 provides that all officers and persons employed in the execution of the said Act, other than valuers, shall observe and follow the orders, instructions and directions of the Board. The Board has been defined by sub-section (2) of section 2 to mean the Central Board of Direct Taxes constituted under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963. A notification has been issued by the Union of India bearing No. 5/77/68-Ed dated July 16, 1968, prescribing qualifications of persons who could be appointed as valuers and also about the provisions to be followed for the appointment of such valuers. Clause 2 of the said notification, inter alia, provided that for purposes of valuation of immovable properties other than agricultural lands and coffee estates, the category of valuers would be engineer, surveyor or architect, and mining engineer for mines and quarries. Clause 3 p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he person concerned is employed in Government or with any other employer or has been dismissed or removed from Government service, or has been convicted of any offence under the Direct Taxes Act or is an undischarged insolvent, or has been convicted of any offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment or has been found guilty of misconduct in his professional capacity which in the opinion of the Central Government renders him unfit to be registered as a valuer. Clause 5 of the subsequent notification prescribes as to how five years' experience prescribed in annexure I is to be computed. Annexure I which prescribes the qualifications and experience need not be set out in extenso since the case of the petitioner is covered by (1)(i) and (ii) (B). The relevant part of this annexure reads as under " (1) A valuer of immovable property (other than agricultural lands, plantations, forest, mines and quarries) shall have the following qualifications, namely: (i) he must either be a graduate in civil engineering, architecture or Town Planning of a recognised university or possess a qualification recognised by the Central Government for recruitment to the superior posts and services u ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as to whether a candidate possesses sufficient qualifications and experience is not purely subjective satisfaction but is one of objective facts. If it can be shown that the circumstances do not exist or that they are such that it was impossible for any one to form an opinion therefrom suggestive of the prescribed objective conditions, the opinion is challengeable on the ground of non-application of mind or perversity or on the ground that it was formed for a collateral purpose and was beyond the scope of the statute (see Barium Chemicals Ltd. v. Company Law Board [1966] 36 Comp Cas 639 (SC). The respondents also in their reply affidavit accept this position that the satisfaction of the Central Government about the qualifications and experience is not purely subjective satisfaction but is a satisfaction on objective conditions and the decision is subject to judicial scrutiny on permitted grounds. We will, therefore, deal with the three contentions cumulatively without going into the merits thereof individually. The reason which has been given by the Central Government for the impugned decision in its letter of September 12, 1983, is in the following terms: " the requisite co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... have been pronounced on the subject, there cannot be any variation in the matter of valuation. It is no doubt true that the valuer is expected to adopt proper valuation methods so that the judicial or quasi-judicial authorities requiring to examine them do not find difficulty in deciding about the propriety of valuation of the properties. Not a word has been stated in the entire reply affidavit that in the reports of valuation submitted by the petitioner, he had failed to adopt proper valuation methods or erred, on known or recognised principles of valuation. It is no doubt true that he was called upon to furnish the details and particulars of valuation of the properties which he had undertaken in the course of the assessments under the Wealth-tax Act as well as the Estate Duty Act and, therefore, he furnished all the necessary particulars in that behalf. Out of as many as 27 valuation works which he had undertaken as specified in annexure " A " to his letter dated February 26, 1982, and out of about 22 cases in which he represented assessees before the different authorities or the valuation cell, except one property, namely, property by name Borsali, belonging to Smt. Indumati Chi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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