Marriage expense transfers made well before marriage can be treated as taxable gifts, not discharge of parental obligation.

A parent's duty to maintain an unmarried daughter under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act can include reasonable marriage expenses, but that obligation is discharged only when the expense is actually incurred in connection with a contemplated or imminent marriage. A voluntary transfer of money to the daughter long before marriage, without any restriction on its use or obligation to refund it, gives the daughter absolute control and does not amount to marriage expenditure incurred by the parent. On those facts, the transfer was not in discharge of a legal obligation and was treated as a gift assessable under the Gift-tax Act.

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Issues: Whether the transfer of Rs. 1 lakh by the assessee to her minor daughter towards her future marriage expenses was an expenditure in discharge of the parent's legal obligation or a taxable gift under the Gift-tax Act.

Analysis: The obligation of a parent to maintain an unmarried daughter under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act includes reasonable marriage expenses, but that obligation is discharged when the parent actually incurs the expense in connection with a marriage that is in contemplation or imminent. A voluntary transfer of money to the daughter long before the marriage, without any stipulation that the amount must be used only for marriage or must be refunded if not so used, gives the daughter absolute control over the money and does not amount to the parent incurring marriage expenditure. The authorities relied on by the assessee were distinguished because they involved actual expenditure on marriage or a settled arrangement in discharge of the obligation, whereas here the transfer was made much in advance and the marriage was not then under contemplation.

Conclusion: The transfer was not an expenditure incurred on the daughter's marriage and was not a payment in discharge of the mother's legal obligation; it was a gift assessable under the Gift-tax Act.

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