9911796707
TMI Blog1980 (12) TMI 28X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... th of the deceased under section 13 of the Estate Duty Act ?" Mrs. Nand Rani Mathur has three sons-Mr. Mohan Behari Lal, Mr. Rajbans Behari Lal and Mr. Gopal Behari Lal. She also owned 6,067 shares of the Delhi Cloth and General Mills Co. Ltd. In November, 1971, she divided these shares equally into three blocks of 2,022 shares each and got each block registered jointly in the name of herself and one of her sons. The remaining extra share was, however, registered jointly in her name and that of her youngest son. About eight months thereafter, Mrs. Nand Rani Mathur died on 25th June, 1972. On 20th December, 1972, the estate duty return was filed. The accountable persons claimed that these shares valued at Rs. 2,80,053 were outside t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to by the deceased did not involve the creation of a trust nor was there any direction that the shares should pass by survivorship on her death. None of the provisions of the Act were attracted and these shares could not, therefore, be held to be a part of the estate. In order to appreciate these contentions it is necessary to examine the provisions of the Act. The preamble states that this is an Act to provide for the levy and collection of estate duty. Section 5 is the charging section. It provides, inter alia, that estate duty is to be levied and paid at rate fixed in accordance with s. 35, upon the principal ascertained value of all property passing on the death of a person. The expression " property " has been defined in s. 2( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h July, 1973. Unless and until all the shareholders of the shares sign and transfer deed, the shares in question cannot be transferred in the name of any other person. We hope this would meet with your requirement." On a perusal of s. 6 set out above, it is clear that it can be attracted only in a case where it is shown that the deceased had disposing capacity over the property. But from the letter of the company it is clear that the deceased could not have transferred these shares of her own volition without the consent of the joint owner. It is, therefore, apparent that she was not competent to dispose of these shares at the time of her death and these shares cannot be deemed to have passed on her death in terms of s. 6. Secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mother, the beneficial interest in the shares passed to the accountable persons. The Tribunal was, therefore, justified in rejecting the contention of the accountable persons for exclusion of this amount from the value of the estate. A reference was made to some case law. However, there appears to be no case dealing with the joint holding of shares. But there are cases of joint bank accounts and National Savings Certificates jointly held. In Smt. Denabai Boman Shah v. CED [1967] 66 ITR 385, the Andhra Pradesh High Court held that the amounts standing in the joint account of the deceased, his wife and his daughters were property passing on the death of the deceased in the absence of proof that any of the joint holders contributed funds ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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