Kerala act 012 of 1971 : Agricultural Income-Tax (Amendment) Act, 1971

Section 1. Short title and commencement

1. Short title and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Agricultural Income-tax (Amendment) Act, 1971.

(2) Section 2 shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of April, 1962, and the remaining provisions of this Act shall be deemed to have come into force on the 9th day of March, 1971.

Section 2. Amendment of section 2

2. Amendment of section 2.- In section 2 of the Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1950 (XXII of 1950) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), in clause (a),-

(i) for sub-clause (1), the following sub-clause shall be substituted, namely:-

"(1) any rent or revenue derived from land which is used for agricultural purposes;";

(ii) in sub-clause (3), for the proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely.-

"Provided that-

(i) the building is on or in the immediate vicinity of the land, and is a building which the receiver of the rent or revenue, or the cultivator, or the receiver of rent-in-kind, by reason of his connection with the land, requires as a dwelling house, or as a storehouse, or other out-building, and

(ii) the land is either assessed to land revenue or is subject to a local rate assessed and collected by officers of the Government as such or where the land is not so assessed to land revenue or subject to a local rate, it is not situated-

(A) in any area which is comprised within the jurisdiction of a municipality (whether known as a municipality, municipal corporation, notified area committee, town area committee, town committee or by any other name) or a cantonment board and which has a population of not less than ten thousand according to the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been published before the first day of the previous year; or

(B) in any area within such distance, not being more than eight kilometres, from the local limits of any municipality or cantonment board referred to in item (A), as may be specified by the Central Government under the proviso to sub-clause (c) of clause (1) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act, 1961;".

Section 3. Validation

3. Validation.- (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law or in any judgment, decree or order of any court, tribunal or other authority to the contrary, any assessment of agricultural income made or purporting to have been made under the principal Act before the date of publication of this Act in the Gazette, in respect of any land not assessed to land revenue in the State or not subject to a local rate assessed and collected by officers of the Government as such, shall be deemed to be as valid and effective as if such assessment had been made under the principal Act as amended by this Act, and accordingly.-

(a) all acts, proceedings or things done or taken of purporting to have been done or taken by any officer or authority in connection with such assessment shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be, and to have always been, done or taken in accordance with law;

(b) all taxes on agricultural income charged or collected or purporting to have been charged or collected in consequence of such assessment, shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be, and to have always been, charged or collected in accordance with law;

(c) no suit or other proceeding shall be maintained or continued in any court, tribunal or other authority for the refund of any such tax so collected;

(d) no court shall enforce any decree or order directing the refund of any such tax so collected;

(e) any such tax charged in consequence of such assessment before the date of publication of this Act in the Gazette, but not collected before that date, may be recovered in the manner provided under the principal Act as amended by this Act, and the rules made there under; and

(f) where no such tax was charged, before the date of publication of this Act in the Gazette, in consequence of such assessment, such tax may be charged and collected under the principal Act as amended by this Act and the rules made there under:

Provided that nothing contained in this section shall render any person liable to be convicted of an offence in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him before the date of publication of this Act in the Gazette if such act or omission would not be an offence under the principal Act but for the provisions of this Act.

(2) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that nothing in sub-section (1) shall be construed as preventing any person from claiming refund of any tax paid by him in excess of the amount due from him under the principal Act as amended by this Act.

Section 4. Repeal and saving

4. Repeal and saving.- (1) The Agricultural Income-tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 1971 (11 of 1971), is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Ordinance or the principal Act as amended by the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken under this Act or the principal Act as amended by this Act.