Marriage jewellery given in discharge of family obligation was not a taxable gift under the Gift-tax Act.

Gold and diamond jewels given by a father to his unmarried daughter at marriage were treated as part of the family's legal obligation to provide maintenance and reasonable marriage expenses, not as a gratuitous transfer. Because the daughter had no share on partition and the jewellery was supplied in discharge of that duty, the transaction lacked any element of bounty. On that basis, the article states that the gifts did not fall within the definition of a taxable gift under the Gift-tax Act and no gift-tax was leviable.

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Issues: Whether gold and diamond jewels given by a father to his unmarried daughter at the time of her marriage constituted a taxable gift liable to gift-tax.

Analysis: The daughter had no share allotted to her on partition, and the Hindu joint family was under a legal obligation to provide for the maintenance of female members and for reasonable marriage expenses. The jewellery was given in discharge of that obligation and as part of the marriage expenses, so the transaction did not involve any element of bounty or gratuitous transfer. A similar provision made for marriage expenses had already been held not to amount to a gift within the meaning of section 2(xii) of the Gift-tax Act.

Conclusion: The gold and diamond jewels did not amount to a gift and no gift-tax was leviable; the answer to the referred question was in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

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