COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX Vs. HONOURABLE SRI RAVU SWETACHALAPATHI RAMAKRISHNA RANGA RAO BAHADUR, RAJAH OF BOBBILI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question before us is: Whether in respect of the following three sums, viz., Rs. 8,436 being income assessable under the head property , Rs. 998 under business and Rs. 3,755 under other sources (quarries and fisheries) the petitioner was rightly taxed as an individual or whether he should have been taxed as the representative of a Hindu undivided family.

(2.) The assessee, the Raja of Bobbili, is the present holder of the impartible estate of Bobbili. During the previous year (1 April, 1934 to 31 March, 1935) he was also the Chief Minister to the Government of Madras. He is, besides, the managing member of a Hindu undivided family of which he and his brother are the senior coparceners. For the assessment year 1935- 36 his total income from all sources liable to income-tax was ascertained to be Rs. 64,083 made up of the following items:

(3.) He was assessed both to income-tax and super-tax, super-tax being levied as on an individual. With the exception of certain amounts it was admitted that the Raja was rightly assessed as an individual. The sums about which there is a dispute are Rs. 8,436 from property, Rs. 998 from money-lending business and Rs. 3,755 from other sources (fisheries and quarries). These sums are income derived from the impartible estate. The assessee's contention is that they are income of the joint family and therefore the joint family should have been assessed as such in respect of them and not the Raja as an individual.