T K SINGARAM Vs. CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE questions referred to us arise out of the order of the Tribunal in an appeal under the Estate Duty Act, 1953.

(2.) THE duty was levied on the accountable person in respect of the estate of the late Smt. Jayalakshmi who died on December 21, 1976. She had during her lifetime acquired in terms of a settlement deed executed by her father on April 8, 1929, and a release deed executed by him in April, 1937, the right to collect for herself the rents and income from the property bearing 84, Purasawalkam High Road, Kilpauk, Madras. THE right given to the assessee was described in the release deed in which late Smt. Jayalakshmi is referred to as a releasee, in these terms :

(3.) SECTION 7 of the Act deems that property in which the deceased or any other person had any interest and which interest ceases on the death of the deceased, to pass, on the deceased's death, to the extent to which a benefit accrues or arises by the cesser of such interest. In this case, the right to enjoy the income of the property was a right which the children of the deceased did not have during the lifetime of the mother. That right is a benefit which accrued to them on the mother's demise. It cannot, therefore, be said that no benefit accrued to the accountable persons after the interest of their mother in the property, which interest was the right to receive the whole of the income from the property ceased, on her death.