U.N. Bhachawat, J.

1. This is a reference under Section 256 (1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, (for short, herein after referred to as 'the Act'), at the instance of the assessee, whereby the following questions have been referred by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi Bench (C) for our opinion:--

"1. Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case the Appellate Tribunal was justified in holding that Income Tax Officer had the option to assess individually the members of the AOP, which was formed in the account year relevant to the assessment year 1956-57 and continued upto the assessment year 1956-57 and continued upto the assessment year 1964-65. ?

2. Whether the shares of the two members of the AOP were rightly held by the Tribunal to be half and half in the income or it should have been held that the shares were undefined and consequently no assessment could be made on the members of the AOP individually ?

3. Whether the Tribunal was right in holding that the members of the AOP took the subject matter of the gift dated 28-12-51 and 23-8-52 as tenants-in-common and not as joint tenants ?

4. Whether the gifts made by the two deeds of gift-deeds dated 28-12-1951 and 2