JUDGMENT - M. C. CHAGLA, C. J. :

The assessee is a direct descendant of Shri Vallabhacharya who founded a Faith known as Val­labh Sampradaya. It has been found as a fact by the Tribunal that he is not a sanyasi, that he has married and has children and that he will be succeeded by his sons who would inherit and divide his proper­ties. He resides at Porbandar and keeps an idol of Lord Krishna in his house. Offerings are made to him from time to time by his devotees and these offerings are not made to the idol but to the assessee himself. The offerings are made usually at the time of the prayers. It has also been found as a fact that the assessee by virtue of the office he holds has to perform some obligations as the head of this faith and that he is looked upon by his devotees as "Guru" and he gives "mantras" to his disciples. As a matter of fact a person can only be initiated into this faith by the assessee chanting certain "mantras". Now, it was found by the In­come-tax authorities that the assessees income from these gifts for the year 1953-54 was Rs. 9,228/- and for 1954-55 was Rs. 17,591/-. The contention of the assessee was that these amounts were not sub­ject to tax. The Tribunal held that these amounts constituted an income and were liable to tax under S. 10 or 12 of the Indian Income-tax Act.

(2) Now, every receipt that a man receives is either a revenue receipt or a capital receipt, and in tins case there can be little doubt that the receipts which have been subjected to tax are revenue and not capital receipts. The source of these receipts is the abiding faith that the disciples have in their Guru and the receipts come in with a fair regularity. But even if a receipt is a revenue receipt, it may not be subject to tax if the assessee establishes that the receipt is exempted from tax under one of the provisions of the Income-tax Act, and Mr. Thakkar, on behalf of the assessee, has strongly pressed upon us that these particular receipts are personal gifts made by the devotees to the assessee and, therefore, are exempted from payment of tax. Now, it is per­fectly true that a personal gift is exempted from tax on the ground that it is casual and. non-recurring. But the essence of such a gift is that it should be personal. It should be voluntary; the person mak­ing the present should have no obligation to make it and it should be made by the person out of perso­nal considerations for the donee. Mr. Thakkars contention is first that in this case there is no obligation upon the disciples to make these gifts. Now, it is true that in the sense of a legal obligation, there is none upon the disciples to make these gifts. The disciples could not be sued in a court of law if they failed to make these offerings to the assessee. But the Tribunal has taken judicial notice of the fact j that it is customary on the part of the followers of a faith to make presents to the head of the faith. Therefore, that is the compelling motive, and in India fortunately or unfortunately nothing is more compelling than the dictates of a faith. It is that compelling motive that leads the devotees to make these presents to the assessee. It is not in that sense therefore a present purely voluntary dependant upon the whim or caprice of the person making the pre sent. It is a gift made by a member of the community practising a particular faith because he feels that as a member of that faith it is incumbent upon him to make a present to the head of his faith.

(3) Mr. Thakkar then argued that this was a gift personal to him and it is made out of personal con siderations. That contention is belied by the re cord. It is clear that the presents are made to the assessee by virtue of the office held by him. Now, an office may not depend upon any law, or any contract, or any mandate from the State or any other authority. An office means a position which re quires the person holding it to perform certain duties and discharge certain obligations, and in this sense the

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