N.V. BALASUBRAMANIAN, J.

At the instance of the assessee, the following five questions of law have been referred to us for the asst. yr. 1981-82 for our opinion,

"1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the interest paid to partners representing the small HUFs should be disallowed under s. 40(b) of the IT Act, 1961 ?

2. Whether the Tribunal was right in holding that the decisions of the Madras High Court in Venkatesh Emporium vs. CIT and T.M.N.M. Somasundaram Nadar & Sons vs. CIT relied on by the assessee were not applicable to the assessee's case ?

3. Whether the Tribunal had any material to come to the conclusion that the HUF (minors) were not creditors of the assessee ?

4. Whether the Tribunal was right in its inference that the details furnished in the statement of accounts of the assessee-firm did not reveal that the HUF (minors) were the creditors inasmuch as the interest to such entries were not shown along with the category of interest paid to others notwithstanding the fact that in the accounts placed before it the payments of the interest accounts had been shown only as such ?

5. Whether the Tribunal had