Gift-tax assessment status dispute: factual findings barred any referable question of law from the Tribunal's order.

A dispute over gift-tax assessment turned on the status in which the return was filed and the status adopted in assessment. The Tribunal treated the return as having been filed by a Hindu undivided family and found that the notice did not require the legal heirs to file in any different status; it therefore held that assessment as an individual was unjustified. The High Court treated these conclusions as findings of fact, not as a debatable legal issue, and held that no referable question of law arose from the Tribunal's order.

---

---

Issues: Whether any referable question of law arose from the Tribunal's order cancelling the assessment on the ground that the assessment was framed in a different status from the status in which the gift-tax return had been filed.

Analysis: The Tribunal's conclusion rested on its appreciation of the factual position that the return was filed in the status of a Hindu undivided family and that the notice issued did not require the legal heirs to file the return in any particular status. On that basis, the Tribunal held that the Gift-tax Officer was not justified in assessing the assessee in the status of an individual against the declared status. The High Court found that these were findings of fact and that no legal question arose for reference.

Conclusion: No referable question of law arose from the Tribunal's order, and the reference petition failed.

---