(1.) This is an application under Section 66(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act for an order requiring the Commissioner of Income-tax to state a case and refer it to this Court. Briefly the facts are that the petitioners have been assessed as a joint Hindu family for purposes of income-tax and they contend that the family has been disrupted. The Income-tax Officer by his order dated March 31, 1939 held that they were members of a Hindu undivided family.
(2.) The application is resisted by the Income-tax Commissioner who contends amongst other points that the question is simply of fact which is not within the competence of this Court to decide, and it appears to me that this contention must prevail.
(3.) There was some evidence produced before the Income-tax Officer to the effect that a decree of a Court had been granted on an arbitration award separating the family, but the Income-tax Officer was of opinion that there had in reality been no disruption of the family. The relevant section of the Income-tax Act as applicable to this case is Section 25-A before the amendments of Act 1939 and the Income- tax Officer has to be satisfied that a separation of the members of a family has taken place and that the joint family property has been partitioned amongst the various members or the groups of members in definite proportions.