Substantive succession relief survives Hindu family partition assessment where the partition machinery does not override exemption from double taxation.

Section 25(4) was construed as a substantive relief provision preventing taxation of the period between the end of the previous year and succession where a business earlier taxed under the 1918 Act passed to another person. Section 25-A(2) was treated as a machinery rule for assessing a Hindu undivided family after partition, operating in a distinct field and not overriding that relief. The deemed continuance of the family for assessment purposes did not extinguish the exemption from double taxation. Accordingly, succession of the family business and assessment under Section 25-A(2) did not bar the assessee's claim to relief under Section 25(4).

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Issues: Whether the application of Section 25-A(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 barred the assessee's claim to relief under Section 25(4) after succession to the family business and partition of the Hindu undivided family.

Analysis: Section 25(4) was held to grant relief in cases where a business on which tax had been charged under the Indian Income-tax Act, 1918 was succeeded by another person, so that the period between the end of the previous year and the date of succession was not to be taxed. Section 25-A(2) was construed as a machinery provision dealing with assessment of a Hindu undivided family after partition and as operating in a field distinct from Section 25(4). The provisions were treated as non-conflicting and capable of harmonious operation. The deemed continuance of the family for assessment purposes under Section 25-A(2) did not extinguish the substantive relief conferred by Section 25(4).

Conclusion: Section 25-A(2) was not a bar to the assessee's claim under Section 25(4), and the relief was available to the Hindu undivided family notwithstanding partition and assessment under Section 25-A(2).

Ratio Decidendi: A special relief provision for succession of a business previously taxed under the 1918 Act remains available even where the successor is a Hindu undivided family assessed under Section 25-A(2), because the partition assessment machinery does not override the substantive exemption from double taxation under Section 25(4).

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