SUGGALA VEERA RAGHAVIAH Vs. CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) TWO questions have been referred by the Central Board of Direct Taxes for the decision of this court and the said questions are as follows :

(2.) THE brief facts relevant for the purpose of this case are as follows ;

(3.) SRI T. Ananta Babu, the learned counsel for the revenue, on the other hand, contends that there was no positive declaration of intention by the deceased to convert his self-acquired property into joint family property and that even from the recitals of the partition deed, no such declaration could be gathered, but on the other hand the recitals go to show that the deceased treated the property only as his separate property, that his subsequent conduct disclosed that the deceased retained complete control over the entire property though the income was being credited to the sons which was being utilised by him, that the recitals in the Will also disclose that the deceased treated the property as his separate property and that there was sufficient material for the estate duty authorities coming to the finding that the shares given to the sons under the partition deed could only be by way of a gift. SRI Ananta Babu further contends that the act of conversion of separate property into joint family property or the act of throwing the separate property into the common hotchpot itself constitutes a gift as it involves a transfer of property and that the donor (the deceased) was not entirely excluded from the benefit of possession and enjoyment of the said properties.