Circular No. 353 — Section 50 l Relief Where Court FEE HAS Been Paid

What this is

Circular No. 353 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 2 February 1983. Its subject is Section 50 l Relief Where Court FEE HAS Been Paid.

What it does

Accepts that relief for court fee paid cannot be shut out by limitation. The Madras High Court had held in G.D. Narendra v. CED [1972] 85 ITR 647 that relief under section 50 of the Estate Duty Act in respect of court fee paid cannot be refused merely because the period for rectifying an estate duty assessment under section 61 has run out, since section 50 places a statutory obligation on the Controller to allow the relief and the time limit in section 61 has no application to it. The Board records that it has accepted that decision.

Why it was issued

The High Court had decided the point against the Department, and the Board settled the field position by accepting the decision rather than contesting it further.

Who it reaches

Accountable persons who paid court fee on a probate or succession matter
Controllers of Estate Duty asked to give relief after the rectification period
Advisers pressing a stale claim for section 50 relief

The provisions it speaks to

Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.

Under the 1961 Act	Now
s.50	s.74
s.61	s.97

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

SECTION 50 l RELIEF WHERE COURT FEE HAS BEEN PAID
1544. Whether the section casts statutory obligation to allow relief and whether time limit in section 61 has no application
1. The Madras High Court has, in the case of G.D. Narendra v. CED [1972] 85 ITR 647, held that relief under section 50 in respect of court fee paid, cannot be denied solely on the ground that the limitation under section 61 for rectification of estate duty assessment has expired. Section 50 casts a statutory obligation upon the Controller to allow such relief and the time limit specified in section 61 has no application in such cases.
2. The Board have accepted the Madras High Court decision.
Circular : No. 354 [F. No. 309/58/82-ED], dated 18-3-1983.

What to watch

This is Estate Duty Act material, not an Income-tax Act circular; sections 50 and 61 are those of the Estate Duty Act, 1953.
The reasoning is that section 50 imposes an obligation independent of the rectification machinery, so limitation under section 61 does not travel to it.
The Board's acceptance of the decision is what makes it usable before the officer, and the text before you carries it under a circular number and date of March 1983 different from the record heading.

Where you meet it

In an old estate duty matter where relief for court fee is refused on the ground that the time for rectification has expired.

On the same provision

Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.

Notification No. 117/2025 [F. No. 149/144/2015-TPL-Part(2)] / S.O. 3268(E) — Ministry of Finance 17 July 2025
Notification No. 67/2018 [F.No.149/144/2015-TPL(Pt.IV)] / SO 5323(E) — Ministry of Finance 16 October 2018
Circular No. 354 — Circular : No. 354 [F. No. 309/58/82-ED], dated 18-3-1983 18 March 1983
Notification No. 28 — Income-tax (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2009 - Insertion of rule 37BA and 37-I 16 March 2009

← Circular No. 355 · Circular No. 352 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.