Abatement of proceedings before Settlement Commission

Section 22HA of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 deals with abatement of proceedings before Settlement Commission. Where,— (i) an application made under section 22C on or after the 1st day of June, 2007 has been rejected under sub-section (1) of section 22D; The Act came into force on 01 Apr 1957.

(1) Where,—

(i) an application made under section 22C on or after the 1st day of June, 2007 has been rejected under sub-section (1) of section 22D; or (ii) an application made under section 22C has not been allowed to be proceeded with under sub- (iii) an application made under section 22C has been declared as invalid under sub-section (2C) of section 22D; or (iv) in respect of any other application made under section 22C, an order under sub-section (4) of 22D, the proceedings before the Settlement Commission shall abate on the specified date.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, “specified date” means—

(a) in respect of an application referred to in clause (i), the date on which the application was rejected;

(b) in respect of an application referred to in clause (ii), the 31st day of July, 2007;

(c) in respect of an application referred to in clause (iii), the last day of the month in which the application was declared invalid;

(d) in respect of an application referred to in clause (iv), the date on which the time or period specified in sub-section (4A) of section 22D expires.

(2) Where a proceeding before the Settlement Commission abates, the Assessing Officer, or, as the case may be, any other wealth-tax authority before whom the proceeding at the time of making the application was pending, shall dispose of the case in accordance with the provisions of this Act as if no application under section 22C had been made.

(3) For the purposes of sub-section (2), the Assessing Officer, or, as the case may be, other wealth-tax authority, shall be entitled to use all the material and other information produced by the assessee before the Settlement Commission or the results of the inquiry held or evidence recorded by the Settlement Commission in the course of the proceedings before it, as if such material, information, inquiry and evidence had been produced before the Assessing Officer or other wealth-tax authority or held or recorded by him in the course of the proceedings before him.

(4) For the purposes of the time-limit under sections 17A, 32 and 35 and for the purposes of payment of interest under section 34A, in case referred to in sub-section (2), the period commencing on and from the date of an application to the Settlement Commission under section 22C and ending with “specified date” referred to in sub-section (1) shall be excluded.

Section 22HA, The Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (Act 27 of 1957).