Judgment

SEN, J.:- This appeal on certificate under Section 65 (1) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) arises from a judgment of the Allahabad High Court* delivered on a case stated under Section 64 of the Act by which the High Court answered two of the questions against the accountable person and in favour of the Controller of Estate Duty but the third in the negative, against the Controller of Estate Duty and in favour of the accountable person. We are not concerned with the first two questions, but only the third, which reads :

* Reported in 1971 Tax LR 1112.

"Assuming that the shares in dispute really belonged to Sri K. M. Mitra deceased, whether those shares in the circumstances of the case constituted property which passed on the death of Sri K. M. Mitra for the purposes of Sec. 5 of the Estate Duty Act".

2. The facts giving rise to the reference are these: The late Sri K. M. Mitra died on February 11, 1957 leaving a large and extensive estate. On his death his son Aloke Mitra, the accountable person, filed a return of estate duty valuing the estate of deceased at 3,75,235. This included 502 shares of Rs. 100/- each in Mitra Prakashan Pvt. Ltd. and 2