Validity of will and HUF hotch-pot treatment controlled the taxability of firm income on identical facts.

The Tribunal treated earlier years' findings as governing where the facts were materially identical: the will was valid, the property could not be regarded as having been thrown into the HUF hotch-pot by the testatrix, and the income from the firm did not belong to the assessee in his individual capacity. On that basis, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's deletion of the amount from taxable income was found free from infirmity and was upheld.

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Issues: Whether the deletion of Rs. 33,153 from the assessee's taxable income was liable to be interfered with, the dispute turning on the character of the income arising from the firm and the effect of the earlier tribunal decision on identical facts.

Analysis: The facts were materially identical to those considered in the assessee's earlier years, where the Tribunal had held that the will was valid, that the property could not be treated as thrown into the hotch-pot of the assessee's HUF by the testatrix, and that the income from the firm did not belong to the assessee in his individual capacity. As the present year involved the same material circumstances, the earlier decision was treated as governing the appeal, and no infirmity was found in the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's deletion of the amount from the taxable income.

Conclusion: The deletion of Rs. 33,153 from the assessee's taxable income was upheld.

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