Law:

Section:

JUDGMENT Banerjee, J.-This is a reference under section 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. The assessment year is 1959-60, the corresponding valuation date being March 31, 1959. The reference has been made in the circumstances hereinafter stated in brief. One Prafulla Chandra Bhar, a Hindu governed by Dayabhaga school of law, died intestate on April 27, 1956. His mother, widow, three sons and one daughter survived him. Since the death had taken place before the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, came into operation, he was succeeded by his widow, Sm. Radha Rani Bhar, and his three sons, namely, Uma Sankar, Gouri Sankar and Durga Sankar, each inheriting one-fourth share in the estate. Gouri Sankar, a son of the deceased, took out letters of administration and filed the wealth-tax return, in his capacity as the administrator to the estate of the deceased, therein describing the status of the assessee as a Hindu undivided family. The Wealth-tax Officer also treated the status- of the assessee as a Hindu undivided family. He took the net value of the assets at Rs. 8,39,125 and calculated the tax payable thereon at Rs. 4,391 25 P. Gouri Sankar, as the administrator to the estate, filed an appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and contended : (1)that the Wealth-tax Officer was wrong in proceeding on the basis that the assessee was a Hindu undivided family and in charging tax on that basis; (2)that the family being governed by the Dayabhaga school of law and the share of the coparceners in the properties left by the deceased being definite and ascertained, the assessment should not have been made in their status as a Hindu undivided family and each member of the family should have been assessed separately upon the value of his or her respective share in the inherited property ; (3)that under the provisions of section 21 of the Wealth-tax Act, the assessment should have been made on the individual members and not on the Hindu undivided family, because some of the members of the family were not at all owners of the property. The objections on the aforesaid grounds, we need notice, were taken up, for the first time, before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The…

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