Clubbing of wife's agricultural income rejected where no transfer from husband and independent title was established.

Clubbing of a wife's agricultural income in the husband's hands was held unsustainable because section 9(2)(a)(iii) applies only where the Revenue proves a transfer by the husband to the wife, directly or indirectly, without adequate consideration or in connection with an agreement to live apart. The lands here were separately purchased in the spouses' own names and had been assessed separately for years, with no transfer from husband to wife. In the absence of any such transfer, adequacy of consideration was irrelevant, and the Revenue could not reopen the wife's independent title to property bought from a third party in her own name.

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Issues: Whether the clubbing of the wife's agricultural income in the husband's hands was sustainable under section 9(2)(a)(iii) of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Income-tax Act.

Analysis: The provision applies only where agricultural income arises from assets transferred by the husband to the wife directly or indirectly without adequate consideration or in connection with an agreement to live apart. The material showed that the lands were acquired originally by separate purchase in the names of the husband and the wife, that their assessments had been made separately for many years, and that there was no transfer by the husband to the wife. In the absence of any transfer, the question of adequacy of consideration did not arise. The Revenue failed to discharge the burden of proving the statutory ingredients, and the enquiry could not be extended to questioning the wife's title to property purchased from a third party in her own name.

Conclusion: The provision was not attracted, and the Commissioner's revision could not be sustained; the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 9(2)(a)(iii) can be invoked only when the Revenue establishes a transfer by the husband to the wife without adequate consideration, and it does not permit re-opening the wife's independent title to property acquired by her own purchase.

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