The Gift-tax Act, 1958, levies tax on the totality of gifts made by a person during the previous year, and the exemptions under sections 5(1) and 5(2) apply to the aggregate value of gifts, not to each individual gift.

SRINIVASAN J.

In W. P. No. 957 of 1958, the petitioner seeks the issue of a writ of prohibition prohibiting the Gift-tax Officer from enforcing a notice calling upon the petitioner to submit the prescribed return under the Act. In W.P. No 217 of 1960, the petitioner prays for the issue of a writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ for quashing an order of assessment made by the Gift-tax Officer. Since the same question of the proper construction of the provisions of the Act is raised in the two petitions, they are dealt with together. The facts relating to each case are however different and they will be set out briefly The petitioner in the first of these writs had made five gifts, four of which were of either Rs. 10, 000 or below and one of Rs. 20, 000. By a notice dated October 30, 1958, the Gift-tax Officer called upon the petitioner to submit a return for the assessment year 1958-59. In the form of return which was enclosed to the notice, the petitioner was required to aggregate the value of the taxable gifts made during the account year relating to the assessment year 1958-59. The petitioner's contention is that under the charging provisions of the Act, the tax is payable on each gift subject to the exceptions and exemptions provided in the Act and that there is no provision in the Act for aggregating the value of all gifts made by a person during the previous year. It is claimed that rule 3 of the Gift-tax Rules of 1958 framed by the Central Board of Revenue in exercise of the powers conferred by section 46 of the Act travels beyond the provisions of the Act, in seeking to aggregate all the gifts made during the previous year and in levying tax on the basis of such aggregation. According to the petitioner, only the gift of Rs. 20, 000, is taxable to the extent it exceeds the maximum laid down in section 5(2) of the Act. The proceedings of the Gift-tax Officer calling for the return in the manner stated above are attacked as beyond jurisdictionIn W. P. No. 217 of 1960, the validity of the assessment order for the assessment year 1958-59 is in question. The petitioner therein had made gifts to a total of Rs. 65, 250 in favour of his sons in the relevant account year. From the counter affidavit filed by the department, it appears that in favour of each of his four sons, the petitioner had made two gifts. Of these eight gifts made on various dates during the previous year, four are each below Rs. 10, 000 ; the remaining are each either Rs. 10, 000 or above. The petitioner contended before the Gift-tax Officer that the gifts were not liable to tax under section 5(1)(xii) as they had been made for the purpose of education of the sons. The Gift-tax Officer refused to accept the claim that the whole of the amounts so gifted could be taken out of the operation of the Act as reasonable expenses for the education of the children. He allowed only an estimated sum of Rs. 1, 000 each. The petitioner made the further claim that the gifts should not be aggregated and that section 5(2) of the Act could be so applied as to exempt any gift which was not more than Rs. 10, 000 in value. This contention was also rejected and an assessment was made on the total value of the taxable gifts fixed at Rs. 51, 250. It will be noticed that in arriving at this figure, the Gift-tax Officer allowed a sum of Rs. 10, 000 as exemption under section 5(2) of the Act as well as a sum of Rs. 1, 000 for each of the sons under section 5(2)(xii) of the Act. It may be mentioned that in the course of the hearing of the petition, the finding of the Gift-tax Officer that in so far as section 5(1)(xii) was concerned, the allowance of Rs. 1, 000 was the reasonable expense for the education of each son, was not challenged. The petitioner only attacked the validity of the aggregation of the gifts, contending that such an aggregation is not permitted by any of the provisions of the ActThe Gift-tax Act of 1958 is styled as " an Act to provide for the levy o