JUDGEMENT
M.A. Ajinkya, Accountant Member -
(1.)THESE are six appeals by the assessee. The facts leading to these appeals may be briefly stated.
(2.)One Mr. R.D. Patel died on 13-2-1939. He left behind a will. The Bombay High Court granted a probate of the last will and Testament of the late R.D. Patel on 10-8-1939. Thereafter, the assets left behind by the late Shri R.D. Patel were realized, liabilities paid and distributions made between the persons entitled to the estate, namely, the beneficiaries under the will. However, one piece of agricultural land situated at Andheri-Versova and admeasuring approximately 20 acres was not distributed between the persons entitled to the estate.
It appears that the Trustees of the Estate of the late Shri R.D. Patel filed a return of net wealth declaring net wealth at 'nil' on 30-1-1980. The WTO first passed an order under Section 16(5) read with Section 17 of the Wealth-tax Act on 20-7-1980. This order was set aside by the CIT(Appeals) on 19-10-1980. Another assessment was made Under Section 16(3) of the Wealth-tax Act by the WTO on 18-3-1982 which was again set aside by the CWT(A) by his order dated 6-ll-1982.The assessments so set aside for all these years, i.e. for assessment years 1967-68 to 1973-74, were completed by the WTO on 31-3-87. The assessee's legal representative argued before the WTO that the assessments should be made Under Section 21 of the W.T. Act on the Trustees in the like manner and to the same extent as the beneficiaries. The WTO invoked the provisions of Section 19A(5) and held that the assessments will have to be made on the Executors up to the complete distribution to the beneficiaries of the estate according to their several interests. The WTO held that a vast and valuable piece of land belonging to the estate had remained undistributed and therefore the assessments in respect of the land could only be made under Section 19A of the Wealth-tax Act and not Under Section 21. Since the Executors of the estate had not completed the distribution of the land, they were liable to be taxed. The WTO rejected the argument of the assessee's representative that the Executors had realised and recovered all assets except the land under construction as per the probate granted by the Bomaby High Court and that they should be treated as the Trustees of the residue of the estate in law. The WTO observed that by holding to the plot of land and not distributing it, the Trustees under the will continued to be Executors of the Estate and therefore the provisions of Section 19A would apply. In this view of the matter, he adopted the value of the land at Versova as wealth of the Trustees of the estate and taxed it in their hands for all the years under appeal.
(3.)IN appeal, the CWT(Appeals) in a consolidated order dated 2-2-88 for the assessment years 1967-68 to 1974-75 and 1981-82 confirmed the orders of assessment for substantially the same reasons as are stated by the WTO. He referred to the order of CWT(A) dated 16-3-1984 for the assessment year 1978-79. It is against this order that the present set of appeals has been filed by the Executors of the estate.
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