LAWS(P&H)-1980-7-6

COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX Vs. BAKSHI SAMPURAN SINGH

Decided On July 21, 1980
COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX Appellant
V/S
BAKSHI SAMPURAN SINGH Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE assessee's father, Shri Shamsher Singh was the managing director of the Amritsar Sugar Mills Ltd. , Amritsar. He died on May 18, 1970. Before his death, ho used to be assessed as " individual" in respect of his income from salary, dividends and interest on deposits, etc.

(2.) BY a will dated May 15, 1970, Shri Shamsher Singh bequeathed his entire property exclusively to the assessee, his only son. After the death of Shri Shamsher Singh, the ITO made two separate assessments in respect of his income for the assessment year 1971-72, one in respect of his income for the period from January 1, 1970 to May 18, 1970, in the hands of his son, Sampuran Singh, the assessee, as his legal heir under Section 159 of the I. T. Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") and the other relating to the period from May 18, 1970 to December 31, 1970, also in the hands of Shri Sampuran Singh, as the executor of his estate under Section 168 of the Act. Since the assessee was also an income-tax assessee with the financial year as his accounting year, a separate assessment for the assessment year 1971-72, was made in his individual capacity in respect of his income from salary, dividends and interest on deposit. Consequently, for the assessment year 1971-72, three different assessments were made on January 24, 1972, in three different capacities.

(3.) ON a scrutiny of the records, the Commissioner of Income-tax was of the view that the assessment order dated January 24, 1972, in respect of the personal assessment of the assessee for the assessment year 1971-72,-was erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the revenue, inasmuch as the ITO failed to include in the assessed income of the assessee the income derived by him from May 18, 1970 to March 31, 1971, from the assets inherited by him from his father. A notice under Section 263 of the Act was served on the assessee. The assessee pleaded that the assessment in respect of the income from the estate of his father for the period from May 18, 1970 to December 31, 1970; had been correctly assessed in his hands as an executor under the mandatory provisions of Section 168 of the Act and that the income was not includible in his personal assessment.