GANGAMMA Vs. AGRICULTURAL INCOME TAX OFFICER HASSAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Kartha of the Hindu Undivided Family (the HUF) one E.G. Gurappa consisting himself and his wife, died on 12-5-1980. There was a partition in the family between the father Gurappa and his son, on 25-4-1973. Subsequent to the said partition the late Gurappa and his wife Smt. Gangamma constituted a smaller HUF and this HUF was assessed for the year 1974-75 onwards.

(2.) After the death of E.G. Gurappa on 12-5-1980, the respondent issued notices to Smt. Gangamma, the widow of Sri E.G. Gurappa and E.G. Gurudev the son of late Gurappa treating them as legal heirs of the deceased. The two notices issued are produced as Annexures A and B and the respondent proposed to make an assessment on the agricultural income for the year 1979-80 in their hands. These two notices are challenged by the petitioners Smt. Gangamma and Gurudev in these writ petitions.

(3.) It is the contention of the petitioners that after the death of E.G. Gurappa there was no 'family' and the income for the year 1979-80 cannot be brought to tax either in the hands of his widow or in the hands of his divided son. The argument is that there is no provision in the Agricultural Income-tax Act to assess a sole surviving member of the family treating him/her as a family. The petitioner has relied upon the decision of Madras High Court in the case of Seethammal v Commissioner of Income Tax, 130 ITR 597.