JUDGMENT

H. N. SETH J. - One Babu Lal Kedia died intestate on May 4, 1963. Vijai Kumar Kedia, one of the grandsons of the deceased, filed the necessary estate duty return. The relationship between the accountable person and the deceased would be evident from the following pedigree :

Case of the accountable person was that the deceased formed a joint Hindu family with his widowed daughter-in-law, Smt. Prakashwati Devi and his three grandsons, Krishna Kumar, Vijai Kumar and Munni Lal. He had thrown all his property in the common hotchpotch of the family. Thus, the only property that passed on the death of Babu Lal Kedia was his interest in the joint Hindu family property. Total value of such joint Hindu family property was Rs. 4,16,240 out of which the interest of the deceased was only one-half.

The Assistant Controller of Estate Duty, Kanpur, held that according to the Hindu law the deceased could not form a joint Hindu family with his daughter-in-law and the three grandsons.