Partnership registration requires individual shares to be stated in the deed; a collective minor's share is insufficient.

Registration of a firm under section 26A of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 required strict compliance with the partnership deed. The instrument had to specify the individual shares of all partners, and where minors were admitted to the benefits of partnership, their shares had to be ascertainable from the deed itself. A collective share for minors was insufficient if the deed did not clearly show how that share was divided among them. The court would not imply an equal apportionment from Hindu law or other external material. On this basis, the firm was not entitled to registration.

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Issues: Whether the assessee-firm was entitled to registration under section 26A of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 when minors admitted to the benefits of partnership were given only a collective share and their individual shares were not expressly specified in the partnership deed.

Analysis: Registration under section 26A is a statutory benefit and the conditions of the provision must be strictly satisfied. A partnership deed may be read as a whole, but the requirement that the instrument of partnership specify the individual shares of the partners remains mandatory. Where minors are admitted to the benefits of the partnership, their shares must be ascertainable from the deed itself; the court cannot supply an implied apportionment by reference to Hindu law or by assuming equal division of a collective share. The deed in question treated the minors as a single collective unit and contained no material showing that their collective share was to be divided equally among them.

Conclusion: The assessee-firm was not entitled to registration because the individual shares of the minors were not specified in the instrument of partnership, and the answer to the reference was against the assessee and in favour of the revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: For registration of a firm under section 26A of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, the instrument of partnership must itself specify the individual shares of the partners, and a collective share allotted to minors admitted to the benefits of partnership is insufficient unless the deed clearly discloses how that share is divided.

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