(1.) The petitioner is a member of a Hindu undivided Namboodiri family. He questions the assessment to agricultural income tax and supertax imposed on his family for the year 1959-60 by the assessment order, Ext. P5. The main complaint is that S.3(4) of the Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1950, has not been complied with in computing the tax. That section is in these terms:
(2.) This family consisted of eleven members. It is admitted that apart from brother or brothers and their sons, there are female members in the family. In the case of a Namboodiri family, the females in the family are full members of the family like male members. S.3(4), I think, will apply only to cases where the family consists of brother or brothers and the son or sons of a brother or brothers alone and not when there are other members who do not fall within the category of members mentioned in the section. But reliance has been placed on a decision of this Court in O. P. Nos. 519, 818, 1260, 1409 & 1411 of 1959 and 82 of 1960. The order in that decision is a very short one and reads as follows:
(3.) I am unable to accept the contention that S.3(4) can apply when there are members other than brother or brothers and the son or sons of a brother or brothers in the family. S.3(4) is, therefore, not applicable.