( 1 ) THIS is a reference under S. 27 (1) of the Wealth Tax Act (27 of 1957) in respect of the assessment of the respondent for the assessment years 1957-58, and 1959-60. The question of law referred to us is "whether the status of the assessee was rightly determined as Hindu undivided family. "

( 2 ) THE material facts are briefly these: The respondent, Shri N. V. Narendranath, furnished returns setting forth his net wealth for all the three years claiming the status of a Hindu undivided family. The other members of his undivided family and his wife and his two minor daughters, Pratima Devi and Manjula Devi. His father, N. V. Rangarao, was the holder of an impartible estate called "munagala Estate" in the District of Krishna in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The father had also inherited certain agricultural lands in the districts of Warangal and Nalgonda in the erstwhile State of Hyderabad. Between the years 1928 and 1938, the father purchased some agricultural lands in the names of the respondent and the respondents brothers. The Munagala estate was abolished under the Madras Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1948. The compensation in respect of