CHAKRAVARTTI, C.J.

1. THIS is a reference under s. 66 (1) of the Indian IT Act by the Calcutta Bench of the Tribunal of three questions of law, arising out of the assessment of a part of the income of a trust fund. The assessment was made in the hands of the trustee who is the Official Trustee of West Bengal and it is at his instance that the reference has been made. His learned counsel stated before us that if he had been assessed at the appropriate rate applicable to the income, he would have submitted to the tax without question; but since the Department assessed him at the maximum rate, he thought he could retaliate by raising some fundamental questions which were open to him under the law. Accordingly, he raised three questions all of which have been referred.

2. THE facts are as follows. On 21st Sept., 1943, the Maharajadhiraj of Darbhanga conveyed certain shares and securities unto a trust for the benefit of his step-mother, Maharani Rameshwarlata Saheba, shortly known as the Senior Rajmata. THE terms of the deed will have to be referred to in some detail later and it will be sufficient at this stage to say that, by the deed, the trustee was directed to pay the Mahara