CONTROLLER OF ESTATE DUTY Vs. AGARWALLA P K

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this reference under Section 64(1) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), the INcome-tax Appellate Tribunal, "A" Bench, Patna, has referred the following question of law to this court :

(2.) ONE Banwari Lal Agarwalla died on November 18, 1969, leaving behind 5 sons and a widow having interest in a joint family residential house and other Mitakshara coparcenary properties worth several lakhs. The value of the joint family residential house was Rs. 70,000 in which the deceased having 1/7th share, the value of his share was Rs. 10,000, and the value of the share of the lineal descendants, i.e., the 5 sons of the deceased, in the said house was Rs. 50,000. The Assistant Controller of Estate Duty held that no estate duty is payable on Rs. 10,000 which was the value of the share of the deceased in the house in question as the same was exempt under Section 33(1)(n) of the Act. According to him, no duty was leviable on Rs. 50,000 which was the value of the share of the lineal descendants in the house but under Section 34(1)(c) for ascertaining the rate of estate duty payable on the estate of the deceased passing on his death, the value of the share of the lineal descendants in the house, i.e., a sum of Rs. 50,000, was liable to be aggregated.

(3.) SAME view has been taken by a Full Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in K. Venugopal v. CED [1983] 143 ITR 988. I am in respectful disagreement with the view taken in the aforesaid two decisions for the reasons stated hereinafter.