Referable question of law on partial partition under Wealth-tax law led to a direction to state a case

A question on the legal validity of alleged partial partitions and their conformity with section 171 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 was treated as a referable question of law, so the Tribunal ought to have stated a case on that issue under section 27(2). The second proposed question was found not to raise any question of law and required no further consideration. On that basis, the application under section 27(3) was allowed and the Tribunal was directed to refer the first question to the High Court.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal was bound to refer the first proposed question as giving rise to a question of law under section 27 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, and whether the second proposed question also raised a referable question of law.

Analysis: The Court held that the first proposed question, concerning the legal validity of the alleged partial partitions and their conformity with section 171, did give rise to a question of law and therefore ought to have been referred by the Tribunal under section 27(2) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. The second proposed question was treated as not raising any question of law and was held to require no consideration.

Conclusion: The application under section 27(3) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 was allowed and the Tribunal was directed to state a case and refer the first question of law to the High Court.

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