Govinda Bhat, J.—The common question of law raised in these writ petitions is :

"Whether an individual partner has the right to set off his share of the unregistered firm's loss against his share of income of registered firms of the same year under the same head ?"

2. It arises in this way. The petitioners in Writ Petitions Nos. 3417 and 3419 of 1968 were partners in four firms during the accounting period relevant to the assessment year 1961-62. The petitioner in Writ petition No. 3418 of 1968 was a partner during the said year in three firms. They were assessed by the assessment by the assessment orders made on February 27, 1962, on the basis of the returns furnished and also on the basis that the firms in which they were partners were all registered firms. At the time of the assessment of the petitioners in Writ Petitions Nos. 3417 and 3419 of 1968, an application for registration of one of the firms in which the said petitioners were partners, viz., Messrs. Srinivasa Textiles, was pending. Similarly, the application for registration of Messrs. Lalitha Silk Throwing Factory in which the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 3418 of 1968 was a partner was also pending. The appl