Partition claims in post-1961 assessments must be tested under section 171, not section 25A, for procedural compliance.

Partition claims arising in an assessment completed after the commencement of the Income-tax Act, 1961, must be examined under section 171 of the 1961 Act, because section 297 requires post-commencement assessments to follow the new procedural regime. Although the partition-enquiry provisions in section 25A of the 1922 Act and section 171 of the 1961 Act are both procedural, they are not identical, and the applicable provision depends on the governing assessment law. Where the assessment was made under section 143(3) of the 1961 Act, reference questions framed on the footing of the old Act proceeded on an incorrect legal basis and did not address the real dispute.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's claim for partition in assessment proceedings for assessment year 1960-61 was to be examined under section 25A of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, or under section 171 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and whether the reference questions framed on the basis of the old Act were tenable.

Analysis: The return and the assessment were made after the commencement of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Section 297 of that Act required assessments in such cases to be made in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the new Act. The partition-enquiry provisions under section 25A of the old Act and section 171 of the new Act are procedural, but they are not identical. Since the assessment was made under section 143(3) of the 1961 Act, the claim of partition had to be examined under section 171, not under section 25A. The questions referred proceeded on an erroneous legal basis and would not resolve the real dispute.

Conclusion: The reference questions were founded on an incorrect assumption that the assessment was governed by the old Act, and they could not be answered.

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