Impartible estate fiction under tax law applies only to truly impartible property; partible saranjam income stayed HUF income.

Section 9(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 applies only to a truly impartible estate, because the deeming fiction treats the holder as individual owner of the properties comprised in such an estate. On the facts described, the original grant was made with sharers, family branches had divided the estate repeatedly, and those divisions were recognised by sovereign authority; the historical record therefore showed the saranjam to be partible from inception and by family arrangement and custom. The non-recognition of one adoption did not alter that character, and the need for sovereign sanction did not change the essential nature of the partitions. The income was accordingly not assessable as individual income under section 9(4) and remained assessable as Hindu undivided family income.

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Issues: Whether the income from the saranjam property and its appurtenant assets was assessable in the hands of the assessee as an individual under section 9(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922, or as income of a Hindu undivided family.

Analysis: Section 9(4) applies only where the estate is impartible, because the deeming fiction treats the holder of an impartible estate as the individual owner of the properties comprised in it. On the evidence, the original grant itself was made with sharers, the branches of the family had repeatedly divided the estate over time, and those divisions were recognised by the sovereign authority. The historical material supported the conclusion that the saranjam was treated as partible from its inception and remained partible by family arrangement and custom. The non-recognition of one adoption was not sufficient to displace this conclusion. The requirement of sovereign sanction for partitions did not alter their essential character as partitions.

Conclusion: The property was not an impartible estate, section 9(4) did not apply, and the disputed income was assessable as income of the Hindu undivided family.

Ratio Decidendi: The deeming rule in section 9(4) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 applies only to a truly impartible estate; where the estate is shown to be partible and to have been divided between family sharers, the income cannot be assessed in the hands of the holder as an individual.

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