Administratrix pendente lite is not an administrator for estate tax assessment where probate dispute is pending

An administratrix pendente lite appointed during pending probate litigation is not an "administrator" administering the estate within the Explanation to section 168 of the Income-tax Act, because her role is limited to preserving the estate under court control and not distributing it. The estate income therefore cannot be assessed on that footing. The mere pendency of a challenge to the will also does not make the heirs' shares indeterminate where the shares remain capable of ascertainment under the will or, if necessary, intestate succession. Assessment as an association of persons under sections 161 and 164 was not justified.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether an administratrix pendente lite appointed during pendency of probate litigation falls within the expression "administrator" in the Explanation to section 168 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, so that the estate income is assessable under that provision. (ii) Whether, because the validity of the will was under challenge, the heirs' shares in the estate were indeterminate or unknown so that assessment could be made as an association of persons under sections 161 and 164 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Issue (i): Whether an administratrix pendente lite appointed during pendency of probate litigation falls within the expression "administrator" in the Explanation to section 168 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, so that the estate income is assessable under that provision.

Analysis: Section 168 contemplates assessment of estate income in the hands of an executor or an administrator who administers the estate. The administrator pendente lite under section 247 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, is appointed only during pendency of a suit touching the validity of the will or probate, is subject to the immediate control of the court, and has no power to distribute the estate. Such an officer functions for preservation of the estate pending determination of the dispute and is materially different from an administrator who administers a proved estate. The statutory scheme and the limited authority of an administrator pendente lite show that the Explanation to section 168 was not intended to include such a person.

Conclusion: Section 168 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, does not apply to an administratrix pendente lite in these circumstances, and the assessee succeeds on this issue.

Issue (ii): Whether, because the validity of the will was under challenge, the heirs' shares in the estate were indeterminate or unknown so that assessment could be made as an association of persons under sections 161 and 164 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The pendency of litigation regarding the will does not by itself make the beneficiaries' shares uncertain. The relevant enquiry is whether the shares are capable of being determined according to the will, or, if the will fails, according to intestate succession. A dispute as to title may justify protective assessment, but it does not convert definite beneficial interests into indeterminate shares merely because final adjudication is awaited. On the facts, the shares were ascertainable and the revenue authorities were competent to determine them.

Conclusion: The heirs' shares were not indeterminate or unknown, and assessment as an association of persons under sections 161 and 164 was not justified; this issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The reference is answered against the revenue. The estate income could not be brought to tax under section 168 on the footing of an administratrix pendente lite, and the beneficiaries' shares were capable of ascertainment notwithstanding the pending probate dispute.

Ratio Decidendi: An administrator pendente lite appointed under section 247 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, is not an administrator administering a deceased person's estate within the meaning of section 168 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the mere pendency of litigation over a will does not render beneficiaries' shares indeterminate where those shares are otherwise capable of ascertainment.

---