Case Law Details
The appellant-assessee is an individual and is a member of the erstwhile royal family of Vadodara. The assessee owned a horse chariot popularly referred to as This Baggi had substantial gold contents. The case of the assessee was that Baggi was a work of art and was, therefore, exempt from wealth tax under Section 5 (1) (xii) of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957. The case of the assesse is that he had inherited the said article as a member of the royal family. The Baggi was used by his father and grandfather on important ceremonial occasions. That the Baggi was otherwise operational. It contained gold panels on the sides of the seat for the royalty. According to the assessee, there was exquisite engraving and embossing on these gold panels, which contained figures of animals like elephants and horses. The Baggi was made specially for the use on ceremonial occasions with extensive art work on the gold panels and elsewhere also.
In the present case itself, the assessee has been pointing out that the Baggi was not meant for ordinary or daily use. Though functional, it would be used on rare ceremonial occasions. That fact that it can be put to such a use was wholly incidental to the article being a “work of art”. The Tribunal, in our opinion, therefore committed an error in holding that even if the article was one of “work of art”, since it is possible to be put to personal use, it would get ejected from Clause (xii) and would fall only under Clause (viii) of Sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Act. The question framed is answered in favour of the assessee.
CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE BIREN VAISHNAV
Date : 07/06/2017
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