Charitable donation within six months before death is treated as a gift passing on death for estate duty.

A monetary donation to a public charitable institution is a gift within section 9 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, and a transfer made within six months of death is deemed to pass on death for estate duty purposes. The provision applies to charitable gifts falling within the statutory description of an immediate gift inter vivos, and the bona fides of the donation do not take it outside the charging rule where the transfer occurred within the prescribed period. The donation was therefore dutiable under section 9 and the issue was answered against the assessee.

---

---

Issues: Whether a cash donation made for public charitable purposes within six months of the deceased's death was chargeable to estate duty under section 9 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953.

Analysis: Section 9 treats property taken under a disposition operating as an immediate gift inter vivos as deemed to pass on death if the gift was not bona fide made within the prescribed period, which in the case of gifts for public charitable purposes is six months. A donation to an or public charitable body is not outside the concept of a gift; it is only a monetary gift of a particular kind. The statutory language therefore covers charitable donations, and the bona fides of the gift do not exclude the provision where the transfer was made within the specified period before death.

Conclusion: The donation was dutiable under section 9 and the question was answered in the affirmative, against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A monetary donation to a public charitable institution is a gift within section 9 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, and if made within the prescribed period before death it is deemed to pass on death for estate duty purposes.

---