TMI Blog1991 (7) TMI 60X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5-76 ?" Briefly stated, the circumstances giving rise to this reference are as follows : The assessee is an individual. In the course of finalising the assessment for the accounting period ending on March 1, 1975, relevant to the assessment year 1975-76, the Income-tax Officer sought to include, in the assessment of the assessee, the income from a property known as Kottai House and some agricultural lands. The assessee maintained that that income belonged to the assessee in the status of a Hindu undivided family and was, therefore, not includible in his individual hands. The Income-tax Officer negatived the stand of the assessee and included the income from the property referred to above in the hands of the assessee in his individual asse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the settlor and their heirs equally in three shares. Neelambal died on November 18, 1974 and as deceased Neelambal had not disposed of sub-item B of item I at the time of her death, the assessee and his two brothers and their heirs became entitled to sub-item B of item of the properties. The assessee claimed that one-third share of income from sub-item B of item I could not be subjected to tax in his hands as an individual but that that income should be treated as the income of the Hindu undivided family consisting of himself and his sons and other heirs. The Income-tax Officer rejected this claim. But the Appellate Assistant Commissioner as well as the Tribunal accepted the same. Whether the income from sub-item B of item I mentioned in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ons of the settlor and their heirs equally. Learned counsel for the Revenue, referring to the use of the word "heirs" submitted, that what was intended to be conveyed by the use of that word was only an alienable and heritable estate and not that the gift was for the benefit of sons of the settlor and their heirs as three different branches. We are, however, unable to agree with this contention urged by learned counsel for the Revenue. The wife of the settlor, under the terms of the settlement deed, has been given power to sell and enjoy the sale proceeds with absolute right in regard to sub-item B of item and the further provision is to the effect that, if the wife of the settlor did not sell or dispose of the property during her lifetime, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ome from the properties could be assessed only in the hands of the Hindu undivided family of the assessee and not in his individual hands. We may, however, observe that we ought not to be understood as having subscribed to the view of the Tribunal as regards the theory of revival of the ancestral character of the properties in terms of the settlement deed or the transitional shedding of the ancestral character owing to the settlement deed. Thus, on a due consideration of the provisions in the settlement deed, we are of the view that the Tribunal was right in its conclusion that the income from sub-item of item I of the properties which devolved on the assessee on the death of his mother cannot be included in the assessment of the individual ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|