Law:

Section:

Section 59 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 - Limitation for commencing proceedings for levy of estate duty - Original estate duty assessment was made on basis of CBDT Circular No. L-D/ED of 1968 which provided that value of assets for purposes of estate duty should be same as adopted in Wealth-tax assessment - Subsequently a notice for reopening of assessment was issued on ground that shares in certain companies had to be valued in view of instruction No. 771 dated 29-10-1974 issued by CBDT - Whether instruction No. 771 of 1974 merely represented opinion of Central Board and therefore, there was no 'information' on basis of which a notice for reassessment could be given under section 59(b) - Held, yes - Whether, consequently, impugned notice was rightly held to be invalid by Single Judge - Held, yes Circulars and Clarifications : CBDT Circular No. L-DED of 1968 FACTS Original estate duty assessment on the accountable person was made on the basis of CBDT Circular No. L-D/ED of 1968 which provided that value of assets forming part of the dutiable estate of a deceased individual for the purpose of estate-duty should be taken at the same value as was determined for the purpose of Wealth-tax in the year referred to in the circular. Subsequently pursuant to an objection of the auditors that certain shares should have been valued according to provisions of section 37 in view of Instruction No. 771 of 1974 issued by CBDT, thus, there was under valuation, the estate duty officer issued a notice for reassessment. On writ petition filed by the assessee, the Single Judge found the notice to be invalid. On appeal : HELD A note of an audit party or an auditor which conveys information as to certain provisions of law can be regarded as information within the meaning of section 147(b) of the Income-tax Act, but in so far as the audit note contains an opinion on the interpretation of certain provisions of law or their applicability, it cannot constitute "information" as contemplated within the aforesaid provisions. The instruction No. 771 of 1974 does not represent the decision of the CBDT on any appeal or other like proceedings but merely represents an opinion of the Central…

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