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TMI Blog1967 (12) TMI 18X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ased husband of the deceased, were correctly included in the estate of the deceased as property passing on her death under the provisions of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 ? " A person named P. K. Pillai died in 1935 leaving his widow, Parvathi Pillai Karthyayani Pillai, and six sons, one of whom is the applicant before us, one of the persons accountable. P. K. Pillai left a will (annexure "C") dated 30th September, 1933, under which his widow obtained possession of the properties left by him, movable and immovable, in Travancore State. Regarding the properties of P. K. Pillai in Malaya there was another will dated 7th February, 1935 (annexure "E"), with which we are not concerned in this reference. Karthyayani Pillai died on 27th October, 195 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e the bulk of the immovable properties were taken in the name of the testator on mortgages, hypothecations, etc., for their collection and investment and consequential litigation for their realisation, Karthyayani Pillai shall have full freedom to do everything as the testator himself had. Then comes clause 5, which states that the properties and assets shall not be encumbered or alienated ; and for all income and expenditure true accounts shall be maintained in continuation of the accounts kept by the testator himself. Clause 6 provides that after the death of Karthyayani Pillai, if necessity arises, the properties may be divided equally among the children ; and that the properties so obtained on partition shall not be encumbered or aliena ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... shottam Chatterjee J. of the Calcutta High Court in Baidyanath Banerjee v. Assistant Controller of Estate Duty. In view of the attitude taken by Sri Surianarayana Iyer we proceed to consider only the last contention raised by him. From the provisions of the will summarised above, it is clear that on the death of P. K. Pillai the estate vested in his widow and his six sons as tenants-in-common, and not in the widow alone exclusively. The right of the widow was only to manage the properties during her lifetime. This is clear from clauses 3 and 5. Clause 3 says that she shall have full freedom of management; and clause 5 makes it imperative that she shall keep true accounts for all income and expenditure in continuation of the accounts the t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... i Pillai was still alive ; and they were all within two years prior to her death in 1955. Under these documents the enjoyment of the income of the properties was to remain with her during her lifetime. In interpreting a will what we have to find out is the intention of the testator, and if his intention was to give his estate equally to his wife and six sons as tenants-in-common and to retain the wife only as the manager of the entire estate during her life, the question how the wife and children understood that intention is not of any consequence. At the most, what can be said about annexures " D-1 " to " D-3 " is that under these documents the sons allowed the mother to enjoy the income of their shares also during her lifetime, probably ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... absolute estate vested in him on the death of Nagendra Nath in 1930; and that no property passed to him on the death of Sudhir Bala. This argument was rejected by Purshottam Chatterjee J. Sudhir Bala had a life-estate, which meant that she had an interest in the properties which extended to the whole of the income thereof. Naturally, section 40 of the Act applied ; and therefore, on the death of Sudhir Bala the petitioner had to pay estate duty. This was what Purshottam Chaterjee J. held in that case. But, there are some observations in that judgment, which may indicate that the expression " property passes " means " possession of property passes " and not " title to property passes ". The learned judge has considered the decision in Earl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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