HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
Bhagwan Dass Jain v. Union of India and Others
Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 8720 of 1979
[1981] 2 SCR 808 ·
Income-tax Act, 1961: sections 4, 14, 22-27 and historical section 23(2) · Constitution of India: Article 136; Lists I Entry 82 and II Entry 49
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
2-judge bench; reasoned order delivered by E. S. Venkataramiah, J. · A. P. Sen, J. · E. S. Venkataramiah, J.
Assessment years: Historical self-occupied-property assessment
01 · Facts of the case
The assessee occupied his own residence and challenged inclusion of statutory annual value, arguing that no cash receipt arose and that the levy was really a State-field tax on buildings rather than income tax (SCR pp.810-811; PDF pp.3-4).
Source: Primary judgment: facts
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
Legislative entries include ancillary matters and receive liberal construction. Income is not confined to cash receipts; self-use creates an economic benefit capable of statutory measurement. Legislative history supported treating bona fide annual value as income, so the levy addressed income from property rather than the building itself (SCR pp.811-816; PDF pp.4-9).
Source: Primary judgment: discussion
03 · Judicial decision
The Court refused special leave and dismissed the petition (SCR p.816; PDF p.9).
Source: Primary judgment: decision
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
In favour of the Union/Revenue on the constitutional issue; no disputed numerical annual-value computation was adjudicated (SCR p.816; PDF p.9).
Source: Primary judgment: outcome
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
AKHB analysis: distinguish the subject of a levy from its computational measure. A notional measure does not itself turn an income tax into a property tax; verify the statutory version governing the year (based on SCR pp.815-816; PDF pp.8-9).
Source: Primary judgment: review point
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
Full 9-page SCR source asset read in page-preserving text and visually inspected; adjacent-report boundaries were checked.
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Statutory scope
Section 23(2) has been materially amended; the judgment does not state current self-occupied-house computation rules.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-11. Later judicial treatment and current statutory applicability have not been comprehensively checked; no current-law or citator clearance is represented.
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