Deeming fiction cannot extend penalty liability for concealed estate property already transferred during lifetime.

Penalty for concealment under Section 60(1)(c) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 is confined to property the deceased actually died possessed of. Where the property had been transferred or settled during the deceased's lifetime, it could be brought into assessment only by the deeming fiction in Section 9, and that fiction could not be extended to impose penalty absent express words. The same limit applies whether the allegation is total nondisclosure or inaccurate valuation. On these facts, penalty was not leviable.

---

---

Issues: Whether penalty under Section 60(1)(c) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 could be levied for alleged concealment or furnishing of inaccurate particulars in respect of property already transferred by the deceased during his lifetime.

Analysis: Section 60(1)(c) applies to concealment of the particulars of the property of the deceased or deliberate furnishing of inaccurate particulars thereof. The property in question had been settled by the deceased during his lifetime and, at the date of death, was no longer property of which he died possessed. The deeming fiction in Section 9, which treats certain gifted property as passing on death for assessment purposes, cannot be extended to create liability for penalty under Section 60(1)(c). The provision is attracted only where there is concealment relating to property actually possessed by the deceased at death, and the same principle applies even where the complaint is of inaccurate valuation rather than total nondisclosure.

Conclusion: Penalty under Section 60(1)(c) was not leviable on these facts, and the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A deeming provision used for assessment cannot be extended to penalty unless the penalty provision expressly adopts it; penalty for concealment under Section 60(1)(c) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 is confined to property the deceased died possessed of.

---