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TMI Blog1998 (10) TMI 82X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e adoption took place on 23-5-1966 and till the death of the deceased. It was the contention of the accountable person that no property passed on to him on the death of the Channamma P. Jabin and hence the inclusion of the property in the dutiable estate was incorrect. The Assistant Controller was of the view that property did pass on the death of the Channamma P. Jabin as she was in a position to dispose of the property in any manner she liked till such time she adopted a son. Invoking the provisions of section 9 of the Estate Duty Act, the Assistant Controller included the entire property in the dutiable estate of the deceased. The accountable person appealed. 3. The Appellate Controller took note of the judgment of the Supreme Court in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e direction of the Appellate Controller to delete the properties from the dutiable estate of the deceased is not justified. At the time of death of Channamma P. Jabin on 12-4-1971, she had a right to dispose of the property and, therefore, the property passed on to the accountable person as per the provisions of Hindu Women's Right to Property Act. He contended that as per section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, a widow, after the death of her husband will be the absolute owner of the properties left by her husband and the adoption of a son will not vitiate the provisions of Hindu Succession Act. Accordingly, the deceased was the absolute owner of the entire property left by her husband. He also contended that as per section 12 of the Hi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rovisions of section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. Section 14(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, reads as follows : "Property of a female Hindu to be her absolute property - (1) Any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner". Therefore, it is clear that before the adoption on 23-5-1966, by virtue of section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the deceased Channamma P. Jabin had become full owner of the property devolving on her as the sole heir of her husband on his death in the year 1944. It is, therefore, the contention of the learned departmental representative that the right of the deceased C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... claration that the gift of properties made before coming into force of the Act by the widow who had only life interest was not binding, a compromise decree was passed and it declared that the gift was ineffective, the effect of that declaration was that the widow continued to be the limited owner of the properties after the decree until 1956 when the Hindu Succession Act came into operation and by virtue of section 14 her limited estate became absolute estate and, as such, will of the properties made by the widow subsequent to the coming into force of the Act was a valid will. In our opinion, the above will go to show that after the commencement of the Hindu Succession Act, the widow will become the absolute owner by virtue of section 14(1) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6, there is a cesser of her interest and by reason of the inclusive part of section 7(1) her interest must be deemed to pass on her death and would be exigible to estate duty. Such interest has to be valued in accordance with section 39. Under section 39 the value of the benefit accruing or arising from the cesser of her coparcenary interest has to be determined by taking the principal value of the share in the joint family which would have been allotted to her had there been a partition immediately before her death. Section 40 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, is not applicable to such a case." 9. On a careful consideration of the arguments of the learned departmental representative and perusal of the case laws relied on by him, we hold that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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