Judgement

Appeal (No. 44 of 1940) from a judgment of a Full Bench of the High Court (April 18, 1939) delivered on a reference made under s. 66, sub-s. I, of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, by the Commissioner of Income-tax, Punjab, North-West Frontier and Delhi Provinces, Lahore.

The questions to be determined in this appeal, and framed by the Commissioner of Income-tax, were (1.) Whether the income of the impartible estate, to which the assessee has succeeded by rule of primogeniture prevailing in his family governed by the Mitakshara, is chargeable in his hands in the status of " individual " the assessee being the head of the family consisting of himself and his sons ? (2.) If the answer to the first question is in the affirmative, whether the income derived by the assessee other than that from the "impartible estate " and assumed as " personal " is to be clubbed together for a combined assessment ?

The assessee, the respondent Dewan Bahadur Dewan Krishna Kishore, was the holder of an impartible estate to which he had succeeded under the rule of primogeniture prevailing in his family. He had four sons, and with them formed a Hindu undivided family. The income of the impartible