Hindu Succession Act devolution means inherited property passes absolutely to the son and is not HUF property for tax purposes.

On the death of a Hindu karta, the text states that the notional partition used to determine the deceased's share under the Hindu Succession Act must be carried through fully, resulting in a complete partition of the Hindu undivided family. It further explains that succession under section 8 operates as a self-contained scheme: property inherited by a son from his father devolves absolutely on him in his individual capacity and does not retain the character of joint family property for income-tax purposes. The same treatment is said to apply to inherited foreign estate and maternal shares, which were assessable in the assessee's individual status.

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Issues: (i) Whether the death of the karta brought about a complete partition of the Hindu undivided family or only a partial separation of his share; (ii) whether the shares inherited by the assessee on the intestate death of the deceased were assessable in the status of an individual or as Hindu undivided family property.

Issue (i): Whether the death of the karta brought about a complete partition of the Hindu undivided family or only a partial separation of his share.

Analysis: The assumption of partition required for working out the deceased's share under the Hindu Succession Act had to be carried through to its logical end. Once a notional partition is invoked for determining the deceased's interest, the shares of all heirs are to be ascertained on the basis that a real partition had taken place, and the consequences of such partition cannot be confined only to the deceased's share.

Conclusion: There was a complete partition of the Hindu undivided family on the death of the karta.

Issue (ii): Whether the shares inherited by the assessee on the intestate death of the deceased were assessable in the status of an individual or as Hindu undivided family property.

Analysis: On the death of a Hindu male, section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act operates as a self-contained scheme of devolution. The son inherits the property absolutely to the exclusion of his son, and the property so inherited does not become ancestral property in the hands of the son for income-tax purposes. The same principle applied to the inherited share in the foreign estate and to the share inherited from the assessee's mother.

Conclusion: The inherited shares were assessable in the assessee's individual status.

Final Conclusion: The consolidated decision accepted the partition finding and treated the inherited shares as the assessee's individual property, resulting in dismissal of both cross-appeals.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 creates a complete statutory scheme of intestate succession under which property inherited by a son from his father devolves absolutely on him in his individual capacity and does not retain the character of joint family property.

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