Judgement

NARASIMHAM, C.J. :- These two references were made by the Appellate Tribunal under Section 27 of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957, and the question for the opinion of this Court has been formulated as follows :

"Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the status of the assessee has been rightly determined as that of an individual in the assessment to Wealth tax - for the assessment years 1957-58 and 1958-1959."

2. The following genealogical tree of the asssessees family will be useful.

The parties are Hindus governed by the Mitakahara.

3. On 18-10-44 the assessees husband effected partition with his father and was allotted a share of the assets belonging to the family. Thereafter, Jaisingh managed the business of his own family consisting of himself his wife Rukmani (assessee) and their minor unmarried daughter Hemalata till his death on 14-8-1949. Jaisingh was assessed as an individual by the Income-tax authorities. After his death, his widow (assessee) was also assessed as an individual in the Income-tax proceedings since 1952-53. When the Wealth Tax Act was brought into force on 1-4-1957, the assessee contended that she must be assessed as a Hindu Undivided Family and n