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1997 DIGILAW 99 (MAD)

Commissioner of Gift Tax v. K. Krishnakumari

1997-01-28

ABDUL HADI, N.V.BALASUBRAMANIAN

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Judgment :- N. V. BALASUBRAMANIAN, J. At the instance of the Revenue, the following question has been referred for the opinion of this Court under s. 26(1) of the GT Act. "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the gift of Rs. 1, 85, 024 made by the assessee to M/s. PSG Naidu Charities during the financial year relevant to the asst. yr. 1979-80 is not a taxable gift and should not be taken into account for aggregation with the value of the taxable gift returned for the asst. yr. 1980-81 ?". 2. The assessment year involved is 1980-81. The assessee made taxable gift for the previous year 1979-80 and she submitted return for the said assessment year. The GTO noticed that in the earlier asst. yr. 1979-80, he has held that the value of the gift made to PSG Naidu & Sons Charities was a taxable gift, and taking into account of the value of taxable gift made to the said trust made in the earlier assessment year applied the provisions of aggregation found in s. 6A of the GT Act and aggregated the same with the value taxable during the year 1980-81 and levied gift-tax for the asst. yr. 1980-81. The assessee filed an appeal challenging the aggregation made of the earlier year's gift on the ground that the taxable gift to the said charities was the subject-matter of the appeal before the Tribunal and the Tribunal had found that the gift made to the said charities was not taxable gift. The CIT(A) followed the order of the Tribunal for the asst. yr. 1979-80 and held that the gift made to the said charities could not be treated as taxable gift and the value of the gift made by the assessee during the previous year cannot be aggregated. The Revenue preferred an appeal before the Tribunal on the ground that the earlier order of the Tribunal had not become final. The Tribunal followed its earlier order for the assessment year and held that the gift to the said Trust was not a taxable gift and hence the said gift cannot come in for the purpose of aggregation under the provisions of s. 6A of the GT Act. 3. The Tribunal followed its earlier order for the assessment year and held that the gift to the said Trust was not a taxable gift and hence the said gift cannot come in for the purpose of aggregation under the provisions of s. 6A of the GT Act. 3. The earlier year order of the Tribunal was the subject-matter of tax case reference in Tax Case No. 1943 of 1984 and we have held in the said tax case, which came before us this day that the order of the Tribunal holding that the gift made by the assessee to PSG Naidu & Sons Charities during the preceding asst. yr. 1979-80 was not a taxable gift is correct and there was no taxable gift made by the assessee during the said assessment year. In view of our judgment in the said tax case, the order of the Tribunal in the instant case holding that the value of the said gift could not be taken into account for the purpose of aggregation is in order. Hence, we answer the question referred to us in the affirmative and against the Department. There will be no order as to costs.