M CT MUTHURAMAN Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE assessee, Muthuraman and his uncle, Meyyappa, constituted a Hindu undivided family. One of the assets of that family was a 15/21 share in a partnership at Ipoh with the vilasam M. S. S. On December 29, 1948, Muthuraman's branch divided itself from Meyyappa's and, in the partial partition that followed, the share in the M.S.S. Firm was divided between Muthuraman and Meyyappa Though Muthuraman's status for purposes of assessment was itself that of a Hindu undivided family, for purposes of convenience, we shall refer to him in the rest of this judgment as the assessee. We shall refer to the joint family which included the branch of the assessee and his uncle, Meyyappa, as the Hindu undivided family

(2.) IN the assessment years that followed the partial partition of December 29, 1948, that is, 1949-50 and 1950-51, the assessee and Meyyappa each filed returns showing his share income from the M.S.S. Firm. But the INcome-tax Officer declined to give effect to that partition and included the income of both the assessee and Meyyappa in the assessment of the Hindu undivided family. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner allowed the appeals preferred by the Hindu undivided family and upheld the claim based on partition. That was confirmed on further appeal by the Tribunal in its order dated September 22, 1956, and the Tribunal recorded

(3.) AFTER the disposal of the appeals in relation to 1949-50 and 1950-51, the Income-tax Officer took steps to assess the assessee on his share income. He issued notices to the assessee under section 34(1) (a) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The notices for 1950-51 and 1951-52 were dated April 22, 1957/August 26, 1957. Notices for 1953-54 and 1954-55 were issued on August 21, 1957, and the notice for the assessment year 1952-53 was issued on September 7, 1957. In response to those notices issued under section 34(1)(a) of the Act, the assessee filed his returns on October 21, 1957 but he contended that section 34(1) could not be invoked and that he was not liable to be assessed for any of the assessment years. The Income-tax Officer overruled the objections of the assessee and completed the assessment for each of the five years on March 27, 1958. The appeals that the assessee filed successively to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and to the Tribunal failed. A consolidated reference with reference to all the five years was made by the Tribunal under section 66(1) of the Act, and the question referred to this court ran" Whether the reassessments under section 34 for all the assessments 1950-51 to 1954-55 are valid " "