BALASUBRAHMANYAN J.

These two tax cases bear on the same assessment year of the same assessee under the I.T. Act, 1961. The following questions of law have been referred for our opinion by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal :

"(1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee was entitled to the benefit of registration till December 7, 1969, for the assessment year 1970-71 ?

(2) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the assessment should be made in the status of a registrated firm till December 7, 1969, and thereafter till March 31, 1970, the assessment should be made in the status of an unregistered firm ?" *

The facts bearing on these two questions may be shortly stated : The assessee is a partnership firm, assessed to income-tax in the status of a registered firm till the assessment year 1969-70. The firm had four partners. One of them, Velayutha Nadar, died on December 7, 1969, in the midst of the firm's account year, which would normally have ended on dissolved on December 7, 1969. The surviving partners, however, did not proceed to an accounti