Gift of movable property requires real transfer and acceptance; accounting entries alone cannot sustain exclusion from tax assessment.

A gift of movable property is valid only if the donor effectively transfers the property and the donee, or a lawful guardian, accepts it; mere intention, unilateral declaration, or accounting entries do not suffice. On the facts, the alleged transfer of funds to a minor son was not shown to have been actually divested from the assessee or accepted on behalf of the minor, and the amount remained invested in the partnership business. The alleged gift was therefore invalid, and the interest and wealth attributable to that sum were correctly assessed in the assessee's hands for wealth-tax and income-tax purposes.

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Issues: Whether the alleged gift of Rs. 3,00,000 made by the assessee in favour of his minor son was valid, and consequently whether the interest and wealth attributable to that amount were liable to be assessed in the hands of the assessee.

Analysis: A valid gift of movable property requires transfer by the donor and acceptance by or on behalf of the donee. Under the law governing gifts of movables, the transfer must be effected either by a registered instrument or by delivery, and mere intention, unilateral declaration, or accounting entries are not enough unless the surrounding facts establish actual acceptance and transfer. On the facts, the amount remained invested in the partnership business, the only acts relied upon were debit and credit entries and a later unilateral declaration, and there was no reliable evidence that the minor or any lawful guardian accepted the gift or that the amount was actually divested from the donor and vested in the donee.

Conclusion: The alleged gift was invalid, and the amount and the income arising therefrom were rightly treated as belonging to the assessee. The inclusion of the amount in the wealth-tax computation and the related income-tax assessment was upheld, in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee.

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