Charitable dedication of property prevents it from passing on death for estate-duty purposes where disposition rights cease.

Property validly dedicated to public, religious and charitable use, with the deceased having no subsisting power of disposition, was not part of the estate for estate-duty purposes. The will did not transfer the dharamshala as property but expressed the testator's wish that it should continue as a dharamshala, and the wealth-tax treatment supported its charitable character. Because the deceased had divested himself of control over the property, it could not be treated as passing on death, and its value was properly excluded from the estate.

---

---

Issues: Whether the value of the property standing at Holding No. 70, Ward No. 2 of Saharsa Municipality was rightly excluded from the estate of the deceased on the ground that it had been dedicated to public, religious and charitable purposes and was no longer subject to the deceased's power of disposition.

Analysis: The will did not bequeath the dharamshala as such to the accountable person; it only expressed the testator's desire that the property should forever remain a dharamshala. The finding that the property had been used as a public, religious and charitable dharamshala was supported by the wealth-tax assessment, where the property had been treated as exempt under the relevant provision. That character of the property was not altered for estate-duty purposes. Since the deceased had divested himself of the right of disposition over the property, it could not be treated as passing on his death.

Conclusion: The exclusion of the value of the property from the estate was justified and the question was answered in the affirmative, in favour of the accountable person.

Ratio Decidendi: A property validly dedicated to public, religious and charitable purposes, over which the deceased has no subsisting power of disposition, does not pass on death for estate-duty purposes.

---