CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY Vs. SULTAN ALAM KHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AT the instance of the Revenue, the following question has been referred to this Court under S. 64 (1) of the ED Act, 1953:

(2.) ONE Mahumuden Nissa Begum died on 28th Oct., 1961. She along with her husband had created a waqf alal aulad by a deed dt. 21st Feb., 1938, constituting the settlors as the trustees and the waqf was for the benefit of their children. The material clause, on the construction of which the decision of the question referred depends, reads as follows :

(3.) AFTER the death of the husband, the deceased was occupying as a trustee the second floor of the property called "Belha Court". In proceedings relating to the assessment of estate duty, the Asst. CED invoked the provisions of S. 11 of the ED Act and held that since the deceased resided in "Belha Court" rent free and her household expenses were met by her son, who was one of the releasors, after the release deed, the deceased derived some benefit referable to the trust property and S. 11(2)(a) was, therefore, infringed. He took the view that if the deceased had taken another residence of similar type, the rent of such a flat would have clearly exceeded Rs. 150 per month. Consequently, the Asst. CED added the value of the property of Rs. 3,10,297 to the estate of the deceased under S. 11(1) of the ED Act.