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Issues:
1. Whether the urban property used by a firm, in which sons of the coparceners of the assessee-Hindu undivided family are partners, should be treated as property used by the Hindu undivided family for the purpose of additional wealth-tax exemption. Analysis: The judgment dealt with a demand for additional wealth-tax on extensive urban land owned by a Hindu undivided family, contested on the grounds that the business conducted on the premises by a firm consisting of partners who are also coparceners in the family should be considered as business carried on by the family. The Tribunal upheld the assessee's claim, prompting the Revenue to question whether the urban property used by the firm should be exempt from additional wealth-tax, considering that the share income from the firm belonged to individual members and not the Hindu undivided family. The Wealth-tax Act stipulates that additional wealth-tax is payable on urban assets unless used for "his business or profession." The court emphasized that the firm conducting the business was a separate entity from the family, and the family could not be a partner in the firm as per legal precedents. The judgment referenced the apex court's observations regarding the inability of a Hindu undivided family to be a partner in a firm, highlighting the distinct legal identities of the family and the partnership entity. The court rejected the argument that the business conducted by the firm should be considered as the family's business since the partners were utilizing the family's assets, emphasizing that the partners had chosen to form a separate partnership entity. The court noted that the exemption from additional wealth-tax was limited to the entity conducting the business on the urban asset it owned, not to individual members or a partnership firm. The judgment clarified that the business must be "carried on" by the assessee entity, not by individual members or a partnership firm. Ultimately, the court found the Tribunal's decision erroneous in considering the business carried on by the firm as business conducted by the Hindu undivided family that owned the land, ruling in favor of the Revenue and against the assessee. The judgment concluded that no costs would be awarded in the case.
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