Ancestral property under Hindu succession law remains HUF property in the son's hands, affecting income tax treatment.

Property inherited by a Hindu son from his father retains its ancestral character in the son's hands unless the Hindu Succession Act expressly provides otherwise. Section 4(1)(a) preserves pre-existing Hindu law except to the extent of express inconsistency, and section 8 governs devolution of the deceased's estate without changing the character of the property in the heir's hands. The result is that such inherited property forms part of the coparcenary and remains assessable as income of the Hindu undivided family, not as the son's individual income.

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Issues: Whether income from property inherited by a Hindu son from his father after the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 is assessable in the son's hands as individual income or as income of the Hindu undivided family.

Analysis: The governing Hindu law treated property inherited by a son from his father as ancestral in the son's hands, so that it formed part of the coparcenary and was available to his male issue by birth. Section 4(1)(a) of the Hindu Succession Act preserves the law except where the Act expressly provides otherwise. The Act's provisions concerning devolution of coparcenary interest and testamentary disposition deal with the undivided interest of a coparcener, not with the character of property inherited from a father as separate succession property in the son's hands. Section 8 regulates the line of succession to the deceased's estate, but does not alter the character that such property assumes in the hands of the heir. The Court accepted the view that the Act did not abrogate the pre-existing Hindu law rule on this point.

Conclusion: The inherited property retained the character of joint family property in the son's hands, and the income was assessable as income of the Hindu undivided family, not as the individual income of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Property inherited by a Hindu son from his father does not lose its ancestral character in the son's hands merely because the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 governs succession to the father's estate; absent an express provision to the contrary, the property is assessable as joint family property of the son's Hindu undivided family.

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