Get This Book If You Are Looking For The Meaning Of Words And Phrases

When you practice income tax law, or any other law for that matter, the one aspect that will strike you is the emphasis placed by Courts on words and phrases. For instance, if you see the latest judgement of the Supreme Court in CIT vs. Calcutta Knitwears, you will find that out of 46 paragraphs, the learned Judges have devoted nearly half of the judgement to an explanation on what the term “undisclosed income” means and how that expression should be interpreted in a fiscal statute. Judges, at all levels, have a fascination for delving deep into the subject of interpretation of statutes and the meaning of words and phrases.

Now, what this means is that if you have a practice before the judicial bodies, you can’t afford to be ill-prepared on the subject. You are expected to be well versed with all the nuances of the law, including the judicial meaning of specific words and phrases.

This is where the treatise, “Direct Taxes Glossary”, by Hon’ble Shri. Rajendra, Accountant Member of the Tribunal, comes very much in handy. It is probably the only book where you will find all the words and phrases used in the Income-tax Act, the Wealth-tax Act and the Gift-tax Act, in one place.

For instance, lets’ say you are looking for the meaning of the expression “On or before” a “month”, a controversy that engaged the attention of the Special Bench in Alkaben B. Patel vs. ITO. A glance at the “Direct Taxes Glossary” gives you a listing of all the judgements where these expressions have been considered. A short passage from the judgement is also given to enable you to understand the context in which the said expression has been used.

The other unique aspect of the Glossary is that it reflects the rich experience that Hon’ble Rajendra has gained in his three avatars. He was a tax gatherer for several years, then he became a departmental representative and now he is a Judge.

In his foreword, Hon’ble Justice R. V. Easwar says that the Glossary fulfils the long-felt need of tax practitioners for a handy digest of case laws. Here, one has to agree with the learned Jurist.