Hindu undivided family status may continue for specific property when the wife receives no share on partition.

Where a partition of the larger Hindu undivided family left the wife without any share in the relevant capital invested in a firm, the family could continue to be treated as joint in relation to that property for wealth-tax purposes. A right of maintenance alone did not terminate the joint family character, and an order under section 171 of the Wealth-tax Act dealt only with partition for tax purposes without conclusively determining the broader family relationship. The stated principle is that, if the wife is not allotted a share in the concerned property, Hindu undivided family status may still be claimed for that asset.

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Issues: Whether, after a partition of the bigger Hindu undivided family in which the wife took no share in the capital invested in the firm, the assessee could still claim the status of a Hindu undivided family for wealth-tax purposes, and whether the assessment in the individual status could stand.

Analysis: The determining factor was whether the wife had been allotted a share in the property concerned. The mere existence of a right of maintenance did not by itself terminate the joint family character for the purpose of the capital invested in the firm. An order under section 171 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 dealt with partition for tax purposes and did not, by itself, decide the broader family relationship. Since the partition deed showed that the wife was not given any share in the investment in the firm, the assessee was entitled to contend that the family remained joint qua that property and that he and his wife could continue as a Hindu undivided family.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to be assessed in the status of a Hindu undivided family in respect of the capital invested in the firm, and the inclusion of Rs. 65,000 in his individual assessment was not sustainable.

Final Conclusion: The individual assessment was deleted, and the protective assessments on the Hindu undivided family were restored as substantive assessments, leaving the assessee successful on the core issue.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the wife is not allotted a share in the relevant family property on partition, the assessee may continue to claim Hindu undivided family status in respect of that property, and maintenance rights alone do not convert the family into an individual status for wealth-tax assessment.

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