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Issues: (i) Whether the benefit of self-occupation under section 23(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is available to a Hindu undivided family. (ii) Whether rental income from a commercial flat not registered in the assessee's name was assessable as income from house property or as income from other sources.
Issue (i): Whether the benefit of self-occupation under section 23(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is available to a Hindu undivided family.
Analysis: The statutory language refers to occupation by the owner for his own residence, but the expression is not confined to an individual in a manner that excludes a Hindu undivided family. A Hindu undivided family is a group of natural persons and can itself occupy a house for residence. By virtue of section 13 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, singular expressions may include the plural, and the words used in the provision do not show any intent to exclude such an assessee.
Conclusion: The benefit under section 23(2) was available to the Hindu undivided family, and the assessee succeeded on this issue.
Issue (ii): Whether rental income from a commercial flat not registered in the assessee's name was assessable as income from house property or as income from other sources.
Analysis: The flat had not been legally conveyed or registered in the assessee's name as contemplated by section 17 of the Registration Act, 1908. In the absence of legal ownership, the claim to assessment under the head income from house property could not be accepted, and the rental income was correctly assessed under the alternative head.
Conclusion: The assessee was not entitled to assessment under the head income from house property on this issue, and the revenue succeeded.
Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded on the second issue but failed on the first, resulting in only partial relief for the revenue.
Ratio Decidendi: For the purposes of section 23(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, a Hindu undivided family is not excluded from the self-occupation benefit where the statutory language does not restrict the concession to an individual alone, and ownership for tax purposes must be supported by legal title when claiming income from house property treatment.
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