Verified displaced-person claims are not property for estate duty; no proprietary right existed at death.

A verified claim under the Displaced Persons (Claims) Act, 1950 was not "property" for estate duty purposes because it merely recorded and verified a claim and did not itself create a subsisting proprietary right. The right to compensation arose only under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954, which provided the machinery for determining and paying compensation. Since the Estate Duty Act required an existing proprietary interest, the verified claim could not be treated as property passing on death. The HC therefore held that no estate duty was payable and answered the question in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether a verified claim under the Displaced Persons (Claims) Act, 1950 constituted 'property' so as to pass on death and attract estate duty under the Estate Duty Act, 1953.

Analysis: The verified claim under the 1950 Act was held to be only a registration and verification of a claim for displaced persons and did not itself create any legal right, interest, or incidence of property. The right to compensation arose only under the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Act, 1954, which introduced the machinery for determination and payment of compensation. The definition of 'property' in the Estate Duty Act was construed as requiring an existing proprietary interest, and the verified claim did not fall within that definition. The wider argument based on 'property passing on death' was rejected because what existed at death was only a verified claim, not property capable of passing.

Conclusion: The verified claim was not liable to estate duty, and the question was answered in the negative, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A verified claim that confers no subsisting proprietary right is not 'property' and therefore cannot be treated as property passing on death for the purposes of estate duty.

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