SOVARAM JOKHIRAM Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a reference by the Commissioner of Income-tax under Section 66(3), Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, for the opinion of the Court of the question which has been formulated as follows : Whether in the circumstances of the case, the income from property, securities and money outstanding in the name of the wife of the assessee could be assessed to income-tax as part of the assessees income.

(2.) THE facts may be briefly stated. Out of the assessable income of the assessee a sum of Rs. 6,254 was the interest shown in the books of the assessee as appertaining to a sum in a khata which stood in the name of his wife - this was claimed as a deduction in that it was alleged to have been paid to the wife or credited to her account in the khata. THE Commissioner finds as a fact that this is merely a book entry and that the lady is not a creditor at all and no money as paid to her by way of interest in the previous year as claimed. Another item of Rs. 1,243 is an income from property acquired in the name of the wife in the calendar years 1935 and 1938 for a total sum of Rs. 19,500. This income arose and was derived in the previous year. THE assessee objected to the inclusion of this sum in his assessable income. THE Commissioner states that there is no evidence what so ever that the lay acquired this property from her own stridhan funds and therefore submits that the Department rightly treated this income as the income of the assessee.