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TMI Blog1980 (7) TMI 22X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... il either with the AAC or with the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench. At her instance, the Appellate Tribunal has referred the following question of law for our opinion : Whether, on the recorded findings in the case, the Tribunal has been right in law in holding that the gold ornaments were not exempt under s. 5(1)(viii) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 ? " It has been argued on behalf of the assessee that these gold ornaments were articles of her personal use and did not fall within the meaning of assets exigible to tax. Section 5(1)(viii) of the Act, as it stood before the promulgation of the Finance Act (No. 2 of 1971), on August 10, 1971, read as under: 5. (1) Wealth-tax shall not be payable by an assessee in respect o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ereas section 5(1)(viii) takes in only such jewellery as are intended for the personal use of the assessee. We think the contention advanced on behalf of the assessee is the correct one. It is well known that jewellery is widely used as articles of personal use by the ladies in this country, specially by those belonging to the richer classes. That being so, jewellery intended for the personal use of the assessee comes within the scope of section 5(1)(viii). But the jewellery mentioned in section 5(1)(xv) need not be articles intended for the personal use of the assessee. That provision deals with jewellery in general. The two provisions deal with different classes of jewellery that is made further clear by section 5(1)(xiii) which says that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pective effect and the result of this amendment is that " jewellery " cannot, be termed as articles of personal use regarding which an assessee can claim exemption under s. 5 (1)(viii) of the Act. By virtue of the Finance (No. 2) Act of 1971, the words " but not including jewellery " were added towards the end of cl. (viii) of s.. 5(1) of the Act and two Explanations were also added to this clause. It has been contended on behalf of the revenue that this amendment was clarificatory in nature and the gold ornaments always fell within the definition of the word " jewellery ". 'According to Mr. Awasthy, " jewellery " had been dealt with in some other clause of s. 5 and as such it did not fall under s. 5(1)(viii) of the Act. In support of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... It appears to us that the dictionary meaning of the word 'jewellery' is not so wide or clear as to bring in all valuable ornaments within its told. On the contrary, it appears to us that in the popular parlance 'jewellery' connotes use of stones, precious, semi-precious or even imitation in the ornament concerned. Furthermore, in construing this word, it will not be safe to go only by the original or modern English meaning. We have to keep in view the widespread use of ornaments and jewellery in our country and the specific connotation of various types of jewellery in use in the country and described in the various local languages. In Hindustani and Bengali at least a clear distinction is made between ornaments which are made of gold or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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