JUDGMENT

H.N. Seth, J. - At the instance of the Commissioner of Income Tax, Lucknow, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi Bench, has referred the following questions for the opinion of this court:

"1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was correct in holding that the firm as reconstituted within the meaning of Section 187(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, was entitled to choose its own accounting period, as a new assessee, from the date of its reconstitution, in its own right ?

2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was legally correct in directing exclusion from the assessment under consideration of the income relating to the period ending March 31, 1961, for making another assessment in respect of profits of the old firm on the basis of the previous year of that firm ?"

2. The assessee in this case is a partnership firm carrying on business under the name and style of Messrs. Shiv Shanker Lal Ram Nath. The two questions mentioned above arise in connection with its assessment for the year 1962-63. Earlier, seven persons carried on the partnership business under the name and style of Messrs, Shiv Shanker Lal R