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TMI Blog1992 (5) TMI 173X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... i Achi, their son, Karuppan Chettiar, and their daughter-in-law, constituted a Hindu undivided family. There was a partition in this family on March 22, 1954, under which Palaniappa Chettiar was allotted certain properties as and for his share and he got separated. This partition was recognised by the Income-tax Department under section 25A of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922. Thereafter, Karuppan Chettiar, son of Palaniappa Chettiar, and his wife and their subsequently born sons and daughter constituted a Hindu undivided family which is the assessee in the present reference and has been assessed in that status. Palaniappa Chettiar, the father, died on September 9, 1963, leaving behind his widow, Anandavalli Achi, and Karuppan Chettiar, his ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d in CIT (Addl) v. P. L Karuppan Chettiar [1978] 114 ITR 523. The question referred at the instance of the Commissioner to the Madras High Court was as under (at page 525) : " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in holding that the properties inherited by Karuppan Chettiar from his divided father constituted his separate and individual properties and not the properties of the joint family consisting of himself, his wife, sons and daughters and hence the income therefrom is not assessable in the hands of the assessee-Hindu undivided family? The High Court in its judgment answered the question in the affirmative, in favour of the assessee and against the Department. For the assessmen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a direct reference may be made to the Supreme Court as provided for in section 257 of the Act. The Allahabad High Court in CIT v. Ram Rakshpal Ashok Kumar [1968] 67 ITR 164 held, on a detailed consideration of the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1,956, particularly sections 4(1), 6 and 8, that the rule under the Mitakshara School of Hindu law that all properties inherited by a male Hindu from his father, father's father, or father's father's father are ancestral property in which sons, grandsons and great grandsons of the person inheriting the property acquire an interest in it by birth right from the moment of birth and therefore such person cannot deal with the property as an absolute owner is superseded by the provisions of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... taries to section 6 of the Act which deals with survivorship and the saving by that section of that principle to the extent to which it had been done. It was observed that this passage is of no assistance in determining the impact of section 8 on the principles of devolution of property on the death on the principles of inheritance. In view of the clear conflict of views among the High Courts on the subject and as it is a question of immense public importance (it is likely to arise in a number of cases), we deem it fit to make a direct reference through the President to the Supreme Court in respect of the following question : " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in holding that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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