P.D. Mulye, J. - (1.)THIS order shall also govern the disposal of M.C.C. No. 253 of 1987 (CWT v. Babulal Agrawal) and M.C.C. No. 254 of 1987 (CWT v. Babulal Agrawal) as the petitioner has proposed a common question of law in all these petitions relating to the same party.
(2.)BY these reference applications under Section 27(3) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, the applicant has prayed that the Tribunal be called upon to refer the following question of law for the opinion of this court :
"Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is justified in law in holding that in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in Maya Rani Punj's case [1986] 157 ITR 330, the penalty for default under Section 18(1)(a) was required to be computed in accordance with the provisions of the amended law even in respect of default for the period prior to the amendment made with effect from April 1, 1976?"

The statement of facts may be stated, in brief, thus : The assessee is an individual. As returns of wealth were not filed, the Wealth-tax Officer issued notices under Section 17 of the Wealth-tax Act, which were served on December 15, 1981. In response to these said notices, the assessee filed wealth-tax returns for the assessment years 1973-74 to 1975-76 on March 18, 1983.

As the assessee's wealth was liable to tax, he ought to have filed the returns as per Section 14(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, according to which these were due by June 30, 1973, June 30, 1974, and June 30, 1975. While completing the assessments on February 10, 1984, in respect of these years, the Wealth-tax Officer initiated penalty proceedings and imposed penalties of Rs. 21,030, Rs. 29,905, and Rs. 6,566, respectively.

(3.)AGAINST the imposition of penalty, the assessee preferred appeals before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner held that the Wealth-tax Officer issued notices under Section 17 for filing wealth-tax returns on December 15, 1981, in response to which the returns were filed on March 18, 1983. As per the provisions of Section 18(1)(a)(i) as amended by the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1975, with effect from April 1, 1976, penalty is imposable on a sum equal to 2 per cent. of the assessed tax for every month during which the default continued. For all the assessment years in question, the assessee furnished wealth-tax returns after April 1, 1976 and, therefore, in view of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Maya Rani Punj [1986] 157 ITR 330, penalty has to be levied at 2 per cent. of the assessed tax and not at the rate of 1 1/2. per cent. of the net wealth.
Aggrieved by the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, the Wealth-tax Officer filed an appeal before the learned Tribunal, which held that it cannot interfere for the obvious reason that the impugned finding is based on the ratio of the judgment of the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal filed by the Department. Aggrieved by the order of the learned Tribunal, the Department filed a reference application under Section 27(3) of the Wealth-tax Act seeking reference on the question of law referred to above for the opinion of this court.