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Section 5(1)(vi) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 - Exemptions - House property - Assessment years 1973-74 to 1978-79 - Whether a hotel can be considered to be 'house' so as to qualify for exemption under section 5(1)(iv) - Held, no Words and Phrases : 'house' as appearing in section 5(1)(iv) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 FACTS The WTO referred the hotel belonging to the assessee to the valuation cell of the department. The Valuation Officer valued the interest of the assessee in the said property and the WTO included same in the wealth-tax assessment of the assessee. On appeal, the AAC upheld the order of the WTO. On second appeal, the Tribunal granted the benefit of exemption under section 5(1)(iv) to the assessee. On reference : HELD A factory building, hotel or a cinema house are different and distinct things and cannot fall within the definition of 'house'. A hotel cannot be considered to be 'house' so as to qualify for the exemption under section 5(1)(iv). [Para 10] JUDICIAL ANALYSIS The delivered in CWT v. Tulsi Dass [2002] 256 ITR 73 / 123 Taxman 790 (Raj.) is mainly based on the Circular Letter F. No. 317/231/73-WT, dated 24-7-1973 of the Department. The circular letter had been issued to seek confirmation as to whether the word 'house' or 'part of the house', which is referred to in section 5(1)(iv) of the Wealth-tax Act means the house used for commercial purposes and whether the assessee would be entitled to get the benefit of exemption. In the said circular letter, doubt was raised where some observation was recorded by the concerned officer of the department and he sought confirmation with regard to his observation as to whether the benefit of exemption can be extended to the assessee. It has not been shown that the issue raised in the circular was clarified and confirmed. Thus, such observation seeking clarification has no statutory force and cannot be applied for determining exemption and otherwise it was only a circular letter. CASE REVIEW Prakash Chand Modi v. CWT [1997] 225 ITR 541 /[1996] 86 Taxman 501 (Raj.) approved [Para 10]; CWT v. Tulsi Dass [2002] 256 ITR 73 / 123 Taxman 790 (Raj.) [Para 10]; CWT v. Smt. Sushila Devi Tamakuwala [1995] 212 ITR…

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