Wealth-tax Act 1957 s.20A — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section Wealth-tax Act 1957 s.20A, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Union of India v. M.V. Valliappan — a five-Judge Bench upholds s.171(9), and holds that a partial partition after the cut-off has no significance even if an earlier assessment recognised it
Supreme CourtHelps department
The department is ignoring a partial partition my client's family made in April 1979, even though the Income-tax Officer recognised it and gave the family the benefit of it in that very assessment year. Is there any authority that the recognition once given must stand?
No — the Supreme Court has held the opposite, and by a Constitution Bench. In Union of India v. M.V. Valliappan the Court allowed the Revenue's appeals, set aside the judgments of the Madras and Karnataka High Courts which had struck down s.171(9) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and s.20A of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and dismissed the writ petitions challenging the sub-section. Dealing directly with the argument that a partial partition of 13 April 1979 had been recognised in the assessment year and the benefit given to the assessee, the Court held that this "has no significance in view of crystal clear language used in the sub-section that partial partition taking place after the cut off date is not to be inquired into and if inquired the findings would be null and void."
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.