TMI Blog2002 (10) TMI 14X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on of law is referred under section 26(1) of the Gift-tax Act, 1958, at the instance of the Revenue: "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, and also in the light of the observation of the Kerala High Court in its Full Bench decision reported in 86 ITR 516 'there is no legal obligation on the part of Christian father to maintain or educate his minor children', the Tribunal is right in law and fact in holding: (i) Christian father is under a legal obligation to maintain his daughter? (ii) Maintenance of a daughter includes getting her married; (iii) A reasonable amount paid at the time of marriage cannot be considered a gift liable to gift-tax; (iv) The property worth Rs. 1,50,000 transferred by the assessee to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on by the Tribunal in Smt. B. Indira Devi's case [1992] KLJ (Tax Cases) 5 was reversed by this court in CGT v. Smt. B. Indira Devi [1999] 238 ITR 846 and that another Division Bench in CGT v. M.C. George [2002] 253 ITR 363 (Ker) followed the same. Standing counsel relying on the said two decisions submitted that the transaction in question is exigible to gift-tax as held by the assessing authority. Sri N. Venkitarama Iyer, learned counsel for the assessee, on the other hand, submits that none of the authorities including the Tribunal has considered the deed under which the assessee had transferred the property in favour of her daughter. Counsel submits that if the authorities perused the document it would have found that the transaction ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Hindu community or in the Christian community regarding the giving away of property to their daughters at the time of their marriage for their future maintenance. This court has clearly held that the obligation of a Hindu father or a Christian father to maintain his daughters ceases with the marriage of the daughter and thereafter it is the obligation of their husbands to maintain them. According to us, the said decisions squarely applies. In the light of the two decisions of this court mentioned above the third and the fourth limbs of the question specified in para. 1 of this judgment are answered in the negative, i.e., in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee. In view of the above answer it is unnecessary to answer the fi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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