Inherited property remains individual property unless a clear voluntary act of blending into the Hindu Undivided Family hotchpot is proved.

Property inherited by a son under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 is not automatically treated as Hindu Undivided Family property; it remains his individual property unless a separate legal basis shows otherwise. Blending into the common hotchpot requires a clear, conscious, and voluntary act by which the owner impresses the property with the character of joint family property. Mere treatment of the asset as family property, without a distinct act of throwing it into the hotchpot, is insufficient. On these principles, the inherited property was assessed in the son's individual hands and the claim of valid blending failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether property inherited by the assessee from his father was assessable as his individual property or as Hindu Undivided Family property; (ii) Whether the assessee had validly blended the property into the common hotchpot of the Hindu Undivided Family.

Issue (i): Whether property inherited by the assessee from his father was assessable as his individual property or as Hindu Undivided Family property.

Analysis: On the death of the father, the property devolved on the son by succession under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. The governing principle applied was that property inherited from the father does not automatically become ancestral property in the son's hands merely because it came by inheritance. The property therefore stood in the assessee's hands in his individual capacity.

Conclusion: The property was assessable as the assessee's individual property and not as Hindu Undivided Family property.

Issue (ii): Whether the assessee had validly blended the property into the common hotchpot of the Hindu Undivided Family.

Analysis: Blending requires a conscious and voluntary act by which separate property is impressed with the character of joint family property. The materials relied upon did not show any independent act of throwing the property into the common hotchpot; rather, the assessee had consistently proceeded on the footing that the property belonged to the Hindu Undivided Family. In the absence of a distinct act of blending, the claim failed.

Conclusion: No valid blending into the common hotchpot was established.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered against the assessee, holding that the inherited property was taxable in his individual hands and that the claim of blending into Hindu Undivided Family property was not proved.

Ratio Decidendi: Property devolving on a son under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 is assessable in his individual capacity unless a distinct, voluntary act of blending into the Hindu Undivided Family hotchpot is proved.

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