S. Rajendra Babu, J.

1. The petitioner in these two petitions is an assessee under the Karnataka Agricultural Income-Tax Act, 1957 ("the Act" for short). For the assessment years 1979-80 and 1980-81, the petitioner filed his returns accompanied by a letter which, inter alia, stated that he was, prior to the said letter, assessed to tax in his individual capacity, but on August 10, 1978, he having impressed his agricultural estate known as "Cotacadu and Jeynacadu Coffee Estates", with the character of joint family property, he was not liable to pay any tax. In these circumstances, he requested the authority to conclude the assessment holding the petitioner as not liable to pay tax.

2. The petitioner was the karta of his undivided Hindu joint family consisting of himself, his wife, Banumathi, minor son, Vishwanathan, and a minor daughter. On August 14, 1978, the petitioner affected a partial partition which was registered on August 17, 1978, in which no share was allotted to the wife or the daughter with the result that his status after the partition in question was that of a member of a joint Hindu family. He stated that the act of impressing the estate with the character of