Kolkata Court April 1967 Judgments

Commissioner of Wealth-tax, West Bengal Vs. Bally Jute Co. Ltd.

Court: Kolkata

Reported in: [1968]67ITR188(Cal)

BANERJEE J. - In this reference, under section 27 (1) of the Wealth-Tax Act, we are concerned with three assessment years, namely, 1957-58, 1958-59 and 1959-60. The relevant valuation dates are March 31, 1957, March 31, 1958, and March 31, 1959.The assessee is a limited company and owns certain depreciable assets, to wit, buildings, plant and machinery. For the assessment years 1957-58 to 1959-60, the assessee-company respectively claimed deduction of Rs. 12,27,992, Rs. 11,95,070 and Rs. 9,37,339 from the book value of its depreciable assets.The claim for deduction was made on the theory that depreciation had not been provided in the books according to the rates as in the Income-tax Act but at rates less than that. The Wealth-tax Officer repelled the claim with the following observation :'I am of opinion that the assessee is not entitled to make this type of adjustment. Under section 7 (2) (a) of the wealth-tax Act, the choice between valuing separately each asset of the assessee or de...