(1.) THE revenue contends that because the assessee was born, though long prior to the independence of this country, in the area that subsequently formed the State of Kerala, the assessee is bound by all the enactments passed by the State of Kerala in the field of his personal law, more than 25 years after independence. THE statute on which the revenue relied is the Kerala Joint Hindu Family System (Abolition) Act, 1975.
(2.) THE facts noticed by the Tribunal show that the assessee had, when the princely States of Cochin and Travancore had existed and the composite Madras Presidency was also in existence prior to Independence, obtained a certificate of naturalisation on 17-9-1940, by which he became a British subject, which status he had till the country gained independence. THE assessee joined the Madras Government Service in 1941 and retired from that service in 1969. Throughout his service he had worked within the Madras Presidency, State of Tamil Nadu only. After his retirement, he had settled down in the city of Madras.