Dwelling house exemption in estate duty applies only to the deceased's share in HUF property, not the full value.

For estate duty purposes, the exemption for a dwelling house under section 33(1)(n) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 must be read with section 39 governing valuation of a Hindu undivided family's coparcenary interest. The joint family property is first valued on the statutory footing before partition, and the exempt value is excluded only in working out the deceased's share. The exemption therefore applies only to the extent of the deceased's share in the dwelling house forming part of the joint family property, and not to the full value of the house.

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Issues: Whether the exemption under section 33(1)(n) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, in respect of a dwelling house belonging to a Hindu undivided family is to be applied to the full value of the house before determining the deceased's share, or only to the deceased's share in the joint family property.

Analysis: Under section 39(3), the joint family property must first be valued on the footing that the deceased owned the whole property, and the provisions of the Act are then applied for arriving at the share that would have been allotted on a partition immediately before death. Section 33(1)(n) grants exemption to the qualifying dwelling house, but that exemption operates within the statutory scheme of valuation of the coparcenary interest. Reading sections 33 and 39 together, the exempted value is to be excluded while computing the joint family property, and only the balance is available for working out the deceased's share.

Conclusion: The exemption under section 33(1)(n) is allowable only to the extent of the deceased's share in the joint family property, not on the full value of the dwelling house.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered by holding that the dwelling-house exemption cannot be allowed beyond the deceased's share in the Hindu undivided family property.

Ratio Decidendi: In computing estate duty on a coparcenary interest, the exemption for a dwelling house under section 33(1)(n) must be worked out consistently with section 39, so that only the deceased's share in the exempt property is excluded from charge.

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