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TMI Blog1974 (6) TMI 14X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... de on October 11, 1957, through an instrument in respect of acres 7 28 in favour of his minor sons and the third gift on January 26, 1959, in respect of acres 7.46 in favour of his fourth minor daughter. The first two gifts fell for consideration for assessability to gift-tax in the assessment year 1958-59, the accounting year of which was the financial year 1957-58. The third gift in favour of the fourth minor daughter fell for assessability in the year 1959-60, the relevant accounting year of which was the financial year 1958-59. The Gift-tax Officer held that there were completed gifts in respect of those transactions and they were chargeable to gift-tax for the relevant assessment years and accordingly levied gift-tax on those gifts. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd part was whether the assessee is liable to tax under the Act in respect of the said transactions irrespective of their legal effect. After discussing the legal position this court held that irrespective of their legal effect the transactions under the settlement deeds were gifts within the meaning of the Act. In regard to the second part of the question this court did not agree with the Tribunal's view that the legal effect of a gift within the meaning of the Act was beyond the purview of the Act. This court held that the taxability of a gift under the Gift-tax Act depended on the legal effect of the gift which had to be determined by the Tribunal. When the file went back to the Tribunal for passing a consequential order in view of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts and in the circumstances, of the case, the Tribunal was correct in holding that the gifts made by the karta of the assessee-family to his minor unmarried daughters by means of the settlement deeds did not transmit any title to the donees and that since there was no value to such gifts, the gifts could not be charged to gift-tax ? " The facts have already been stated in the preceding paragraphs. Recapitulating the facts, it is obvious that the family owned acres 44.44 of land in all. Out of the total holding of acres 44.44 the father who was the karta of the Hindu joint family gifted about 25 acres and odd in favour of his minor daughters in the assessment years 1958-59 and 1959-60. The short question that arose for consideration by the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is not confined to the marriage occasion. It is a moral obligation and it continues to subsist till it is discharged. Marriage is only a customary occasion for such a gift. But the obligation can be discharged at any time, either during the life-time of the father or thereafter. " The learned judge further observed : " The manager has no absolute power of disposal over joint Hindu family property. The Hindu law permits him to do so only within strict limits. The scope of the power cannot be extended on the basis of the wide interpretation given to the words 'pious purposes' in Hindu law in a different context. What emerges from a consideration of the decided cases is that the father cannot gift away the properties in favour of his mi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fore us for the revenue was that if the gifts were beyond reasonable limits, the Tribunal should have considered the facts of the case and ascertained what were reasonable limits in the case and should have accordingly taxed the value of the reasonable gifts. We are unable to agree with this contention. The gifts effected by the father should be considered as a whole. Whether the gifts so made by the father were reasonable or not has to be considered with reference to the properties that have been gifted under the concerned instruments and the total assets. The gifts made by such instruments cannot be split up and new gifts created by the Tribunal or the assessing authorities to consider them for taxability. We, therefore, agree with the vi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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