P. B. MUKHARJI, J.

( 1 ) GODS in India are criticised as tax-dodgers because they are for the first time claiming immunity from income-tax in this reference. To soften this heresy the real culprits are said to be their human viceregents, the shebaits.

( 2 ) HINDU law of religious endowments, de-buttar, theology, metaphysics, the 'shastras', the Vedas, the Upanishads have all mixed inextricably with the Income-tax Act to produce this reference at the instance of the Commissioner of Income-tax, Calcutta under Section 66 (1) of the Act raising a fundamental question of large and far-reaching public interest, namely:"whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessments on the deities through the shebaits under the provisions of Section 41 of the Indian Income-tax Act were in accordance with law?"

( 3 ) NUMEROUS decisions, 'shastras' and text books have been cited at the bar for and against this contention. Strangely enough no reported case seems to have directly decided the points raised and asked on this reference, although there are many incidental observations on these and cognate points, all of which are not easily reconcilable. Before noticing the varieties

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