Impartible estate income: house property ownership is tested under Hindu law, while interest income is taxable as the holder's own income.

Income from house property forming part of an impartible estate was examined under Section 9 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 by reference to Hindu law ownership. The estate retained its joint family character for this limited purpose, so the holder was not treated as the individual owner and the house property income was not taxable in his personal hands. By contrast, interest income from the impartible estate was received by the holder on his own account, not as karta or manager for a Hindu undivided family, and was therefore taxable as his individual income. Maintenance rights of junior members did not convert them into co-owners of that income.

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Issues: (i) whether income from house property forming part of an impartible estate was taxable in the hands of the holder as an individual under Section 9 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922; (ii) whether interest income from the impartible estate was income of the Hindu undivided family or of the holder individually and, if taxable as the holder's income, whether it could be clubbed with his other personal income.

Issue (i): Whether income from house property forming part of an impartible estate was taxable in the hands of the holder as an individual under Section 9 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922.

Analysis: The decisive question was who was the "owner" of the property for the purposes of Section 9. Applying Hindu law to the character of impartible estate property, the Court held that the estate retained its character as joint family property in the sense recognised by Hindu law, and that the holder was not the owner in the individual sense contemplated by Section 9. The existence of primogeniture and the absence of ordinary joint possession did not displace the legal character of the property for this limited purpose.

Conclusion: The house property income was not taxable in the holder's hands as an individual under Section 9.

Issue (ii): Whether interest income from the impartible estate was income of the Hindu undivided family or of the holder individually and, if taxable as the holder's income, whether it could be clubbed with his other personal income.

Analysis: The Court held that the income of an impartible estate, including interest income, is received by the holder on his own account and not as karta or manager on behalf of a Hindu undivided family. The existence of maintenance rights in junior members did not make them co-owners of the income or give them joint possession or beneficial receipt of it. The income remained the income of the present holder, and the question whether it could be brought under other charging provisions was not finally adjudicated in the abstract, though the answer on the reference treated the interest as the holder's income.

Conclusion: The interest income was taxable as the holder's individual income, and the answer to the clubbing question was in the affirmative only in relation to that individual income.

Final Conclusion: The assessment was allowed to stand only in part: the house property element could not be assessed on the holder as individual income, but the interest income from the impartible estate was assessable in his hands as his own income.

Ratio Decidendi: For income-tax purposes, income from an impartible estate is received by the holder on his own account as the present holder under single heir succession, not as karta of a Hindu undivided family; however, the ownership of house property must still be tested by Hindu law for Section 9 liability.

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