Overriding title on pre-existing maintenance payments keeps widow support outside taxable income under a preserved legal obligation.

A pre-existing maintenance obligation under the Holkar State Jagir Manual, created by orders having the force of law, survived the Madhya Bharat Abolition of Jagirs Act, 1951. Section 9 did not extinguish the widows' entitlement, and section 13 concerned only the procedure and quantification of payment out of compensation. Because the liability continued to attach before the income reached the assessee in the relevant sense, the maintenance payments were treated as diversion of income by overriding title and not as part of the assessee's total income.

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Issues: Whether the maintenance allowance payable to the two widows under the Holkar State Jagir Manual continued to be a legal obligation after the Madhya Bharat Abolition of Jagirs Act, 1951, and whether the amount paid under that obligation was excluded from the assessee's total income as diversion of income by overriding title.

Analysis: The maintenance orders made under sections 14 and 16 of the Jagir Manual were orders having the force of law. Section 9 of the Madhya Bharat Abolition of Jagirs Act, 1951 did not extinguish that pre-existing right; it continued the entitlement to maintenance, while section 13 dealt only with the procedure and quantification of maintenance payable out of compensation. The statutory scheme showed that the Act preserved the obligation already attaching to the jagir, and the absence of a fresh order by the Jagir Commissioner did not convert the liability into a mere voluntary application of income. Since the obligation continued to operate before the income reached the assessee in the relevant sense, the payment answered the test of diversion by overriding title.

Conclusion: The maintenance allowance remained payable under legal obligation and was not part of the assessee's total income.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a pre-existing maintenance obligation created by an having the force of law is preserved by the subsequent resumption statute, the amount payable under that obligation is diverted by overriding title and is not taxable as the assessee's income.

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