Superstructure on another's land: lawful possessor's removal right ends on surrender of possession, excluding it from the estate.

Where a person lawfully in possession erects a superstructure on land owned by another, the person's interest is generally limited to a right of removal, because Indian law does not apply the English rule that everything attached to the soil necessarily belongs to the landowner with full rigidity. If possession is surrendered without removing the structure, that right is forfeited and the superstructure may pass with the land to the person lawfully taking possession. On the stated facts, the deceased handed over the reconstituted plots to his sons without removing the building, so the superstructure was treated as not forming part of the estate for estate duty purposes.

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Issues: Whether the value of the superstructure erected by the deceased on land allotted by a co-operative housing society was includible in the principal value of his estate for estate duty purposes.

Analysis: The deceased had no transferable interest in the society's land, but he did own the superstructure erected while he was lawfully in possession. In Indian law, land and superstructure may have different owners, and the English rule that whatever is attached to the soil belongs to the soil does not apply with the same rigidity. A person who has bona fide constructed a building on another's land while in lawful possession ordinarily has only a right to remove it when his possession ends. If he parts with possession without removing the structure, he loses that right and the structure may pass with the land or to the person who lawfully takes possession. The deceased, after the society recognised the split and the new allotments, handed over possession of the reconstituted plots to his sons without removing the superstructure.

Conclusion: The deceased lost his right in the superstructure when he surrendered possession without removing it, and the superstructure did not form part of his estate under section 5.

Final Conclusion: The answer to the reference was against the Revenue, and the superstructure was excluded from the principal value of the estate.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a person lawfully in possession erects a superstructure on another's land, his interest is limited to the right of removal; if he surrenders possession without removing it, he forfeits that right and the structure is not includible in his estate as property passing on death.

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