Judgment-

HEGDE

( 1 ) THE common question of law which arises for decision in these appeals by certificate, is whether the interim payment received by a former holder of an estate under Section 50 (2) of the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948 (Madras Act 26 of 1948) (to be hereinafter referred to as the Act) whose Estate vested in the Government under Section 3 of the Act was of capital nature and not liable to tax?

( 2 ) THE material facts bearing on the point in issue are identical in all these appeals. Hence it would be sufficient if we set out the facts of Civil Appeals Nos. 1309 to 1312 of of 1968 which were filed by the same assessee. The assessee in those appeals is a Hindu Undivided Family and that family was the holder of the Estate of Devarkota and Challappalli. This Estate vested in the Government under the Act. During the assessment years 1953-54, 1954-55, 1956-57 and 1958-59, the assessee received some interim payments. The Income-tax Officer sought to include those payments in the assessment of the assessee in those years. The assessee contended that those receipts were not Revenue receipts and hence not taxable. He based his plea firstly o