Widow's defined share in joint family property is separately assessable and reassessment may stand under the correct clause.

A Hindu undivided family may include a widow as a member even though she is not a coparcener, and on the facts the assessee, his widowed mother, wife and son constituted a joint family. Income from the joint business and house property was therefore assessable in the hands of the family, but the widow's defined half share in the house-property income had to be excluded under section 9(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 because her interest was definite and ascertainable under section 3(1) of the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act, 1937. The reassessment was also sustainable under section 34(1)(b) where the jurisdictional conditions for that clause were satisfied.

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Issues: (i) whether the widowed mother of the assessee was a member of the Hindu undivided family of which the assessee was the karta; (ii) whether the income from the business and the house property could be assessed in the hands of such Hindu undivided family; (iii) whether the widowed mother's half share in the house property income was liable to exclusion under section 9(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922; and (iv) whether the Tribunal could sustain the reassessments under section 34(1)(b) though the Income-tax Officer had initiated proceedings under section 34(1)(a).

Issue (i): whether the widowed mother of the assessee was a member of the Hindu undivided family of which the assessee was the karta.

Analysis: A Hindu undivided family is not confined to coparceners alone. A joint family may include persons who are not coparceners, and a widow can be a member of the joint family. On the facts, the family continued to remain joint after the death of the original owner, and the assessee, his widow-mother, wife and son formed the joint family during the relevant years.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in the affirmative and in favour of the Revenue.

Issue (ii): whether the income from the business and the house property could be assessed in the hands of such Hindu undivided family.

Analysis: Since the joint family continued and the business and house property remained joint in character, the income from both sources was assessable in the hands of the Hindu undivided family. The assessment of house-property income was, however, subject to the treatment of the widow's share dealt with under the next issue.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in the affirmative, with the qualification that only half of the house-property income was includible in the family assessment.

Issue (iii): whether the widowed mother's half share in the house property income was liable to exclusion under section 9(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922.

Analysis: Under section 3(1) of the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act, 1937, a widow inheriting separate property takes the same share as a son, so the share is defined and ascertained. That position differs from the fluctuating interest arising under section 3(2). As the widow's share here was definite and ascertainable, section 9(3) applied.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in the affirmative and in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): whether the Tribunal could sustain the reassessments under section 34(1)(b) though the Income-tax Officer had initiated proceedings under section 34(1)(a).

Analysis: The Tribunal's jurisdiction extended to the validity of the reassessment, and if the factual conditions for section 34(1)(b) were satisfied, the reassessment could be upheld on that footing even though the Income-tax Officer had purported to act under section 34(1)(a). The scope of the appeal was wide enough to encompass the legality of the reassessment under the correct clause.

Conclusion: The issue was answered in the affirmative and in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered by holding that the assessee remained taxable as a Hindu undivided family, but the widow's defined half share in the house-property income had to be excluded from the family assessment under section 9(3), while the reassessment for the relevant years was sustained under section 34(1)(b).

Ratio Decidendi: A Hindu joint family may include a widow as a member even though she is not a coparcener, and where a widow takes a defined and ascertainable share in separate property under section 3(1) of the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act, 1937, that share is separately assessable and attracts section 9(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922; a reassessment may also be upheld under the correct statutory clause if the jurisdictional conditions for that clause are otherwise satisfied.

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