9911796707
TMI Blog1998 (3) TMI 71X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ore, is assessable in the hands of the assessee as an individual ?" The assessee one V. Sundararaj was assessed in the status of individual. The assessee had three brothers, viz., V. Gurusamy, V. Duraisamy and V. Ramasamy. The assessee's father, Venkataswamy Naidu, by a will executed on June 6, 1964, bequeathed to the assessee three properties, viz., 9/48, Cross-Cut Road, Coimbatore, 9/50, Cross-Cut Road, Coimbatore, 4/220 and 221, K. K. Pudur, Coimbatore. It would appear that his father, Venkataswamy Naidu, settled certain properties on Guruswamy and Duraiswamy prior to the execution of the will. By the will, the testator devised certain properties firstly in favour of his son, V. Ramasamy, and then in favour of the assessee herein and a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndividual properties and the income from the said properties was liable to be assessed in his individual hands. He rejected the contention raised on behalf of the assessee that the properties belonged to the Hindu undivided family. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner, on appeal preferred by the assessee, accepted the case of the assessee and held that the income from the property No. 9/48, Cross-cut Road, Coimbatore, should be assessed in the hands of the assessee's minor son, Arun, and in so far as the income from other properties are concerned, they should be assessed in the hands of the Hindu undivided family. The Department challenged the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner before the Appellate Tribunal and the Appellate Tr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er the partition, the assessee got the properties and, therefore, the properties should be regarded as joint family properties. He also referred to the family arrangement dated April 1, 1976, and submitted that the family arrangement clearly shows that the properties were joint family properties and, therefore, the Tribunal was not correct in holding that the properties should be regarded as individual properties of the assessee. He strongly relied upon a decision of the Supreme Court in the case of N. V. Narendranath v. CWT [1969] 74 ITR 190 and submitted that on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court, the properties should be regarded as joint family properties as the properties were allotted on partition and the income should be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es and the freedom with which he imposed restriction on the enjoyment of the properties clearly show that the properties were his absolute properties. The restrictions imposed are consistent with his holding the properties as absolute properties. The will, if read as a whole, indicates that the properties covered under the will were the absolute properties of Venkataswamy Naidu, and they were not his joint family properties. It is not the case of the assessee that the properties originally belonged to the Hindu undivided family of which Venkataswamy Naidu was the karta. Though a case was sought to be made that Venkataswamy Naidu bequeathed his properties to his other two sons also under another settlement, described as partition, the assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the properties were not joint family properties and when the properties were not ancestral properties, the alleged family arrangement cannot improve the case of the assessee to show that the properties were joint family properties. We are of the opinion that the Tribunal has come to the correct conclusion in holding that the properties were the individual properties of the assessee and there was no pre-existing right in favour of the assessee to create a family arrangement dated April 1, 1976. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the Tribunal has committed no error in holding that the income of the properties was liable to be assessed in the hands of the assessee as his individual income and not in the character of the Hindu undivide ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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