Satyanarayana Rao, J. - The short question that arises for consideration in this reference is whether the managing agency commission earned by one Murugappa Chettiar is assessable to income-tax as the joint family income of Murugappa and his sons. The question formulated in this reference is as follows: “Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case the Tribunal was right in holding that the proportionate income of the managing agents Messrs M. Nanjappa Chettiar and Sons was the income of the Hindu undivided Family of Murugappa Chettiar and not the individual income of the karta?”,

The facts relevant for the disposal of this reference may be shortly stated: On the 12th of May, 1932, Murugappa Chettiar and his brother Chikkanna Chettiar entered into a managing agency agreement with the Dhanalakshmi Mills, Ltd., whereunder Messrs. Nanjappa Chettiar and Sons, the name of the firm of which the two brothers are partners was appointed managing agents of the company subject to certain conditions and rights enumerated in the agreement. The two brothers, at the time when the agreement was entered into, were admittedly members of a Hindu joint undivided family. On the 7th February

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