Law:

Section:

Section 20 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, read with section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 - Hindu undivided family - Assessment after partition - Assessee - HUF's karta died - His share of property devolved on his widow and son - Widow was a female relative specified in Class I of Schedule to Hindu Succession Act - Whether, on facts, partition was deemed to have taken place under Explanation 1 to section 6 of aforesaid Act and half share of deceased which devolved on heirs could not be included in net wealth of HUF notwithstanding provisions of section 20 - Held, yes - Whether partial partition is contemplated under section 20 - Held, no Interpretation of statutes - Ut res magis valeat quam pereat FACTS The assessee - HUF consisted of A, his wife E and his son M. On 11 4-1974, A died. His share of property devolved on his widow E and his son M. M filed a return of wealth declaring half of the wealth as belonging to the family in the status of HUF and the other half as belonging to the individual. The WTO accepted the returns and assessed only half of the wealth as that of the HUF. On appeal, the Commissioner, however, reversed the WTO's order and directed the WTO to redo the same bringing to tax the entire wealth in the hands of the family. On further appeal, the Tribunal found that the deceased had left surviving a female relative specified in Class I of the Schedule to the Hindu Succession Act, that is, the widow of the deceased, and hence, the proviso to section 6 of the said Act would apply. Thus, a partition was deemed to have taken place under Explanation 1 to section 6 and it was held by the Tribunal that the half share of the deceased which devolved on his heirs could not be included in the net wealth of the HUF. On reference: HELD On the death of a male member, whenever the proviso to section 6 applies, the joint family is not disrupted but to compute the share of the deceased which will devolve on the heirs, a notional partition is resorted to by virtue of the said provision of law. The share that is succeeded to by the heirs is not by virtue of any partition but by virtue of operation of law. The share of the deceased that devolved on others…

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