Judgment

P. N. BHAGWATI, J.:- These five appeals by special leave raise a short but interesting question of law relating to the applicability of Section 171, sub-section (6) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the new Act). The facts giving rise to these appeals are few and may be briefly stated as follows:

There was at all material times a Hindu Undivided Family consisting of one Gulabdas, his wife and five sons. The Hindu Undivided Family had considerable movable properties consisting of shares in limited companies and jewellery and it was also a partner through its manager and Karta in two firms which may for the sake of convenience be referred to as the "Export Firm" and the Mining Firm. It appears that besides these movable properties, the Hindu Undivided Family also owned some immovable properties. On 15th November, 1955 there was a partial partition among the members of the Hindu Undivided Family and the movable properties were divided including the credit balances after taking into account the debit balances in the Export Firm and the Mining Firm. These movable properties, which formed the subject-matter of partial partition, were of the value of Rs. 4,87,