Succession under Hindu law blocked estate duty liability under the notional partition rule for an Aliyasantana interest.

On the death of a member of an Aliyasantana kutumba after the Hindu Succession Act commenced, the deceased's property devolved by succession under section 7(2) of that Act, not by survivorship. That statutory devolution removed the basis for treating the interest as one that ceased on death for estate duty under section 7(1) of the Estate Duty Act. Section 39(2) could not be used to split the same interest between sections 6 and 7(1), and the notional partition, if applied, would leave only a non-taxable life interest. Liability could not be fastened on the petitioner; any assessment had to proceed, if at all, against the heirs under section 6.

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Issues: Whether, on the death of a member of an Aliyasantana kutumba after the commencement of the Hindu Succession Act, estate duty could be assessed on the petitioner under section 7(1) of the Estate Duty Act read with section 39(2), or whether the case fell only under section 6 so that no liability could be fastened on the petitioner.

Analysis: The property of the deceased devolved under section 7(2) of the Hindu Succession Act and not by survivorship under the Aliyasantana law. That statutory change destroyed the basis for treating the deceased's interest as one which ceased on death for the purposes of section 7(1) of the Estate Duty Act. Section 39(2) could not be used to split the same interest between section 6 and section 7(1), and if the notional partition under the earlier Aliyasantana law were applied, the interest attributed to the deceased would, in any event, be only a life interest which would have no taxable value for fastening liability on the petitioner.

Conclusion: The assessment against the petitioner could not be sustained under section 7(1) read with section 39(2), and liability, if any, lay only under section 6 against the heirs who took by succession. The petitioner was not liable.

Final Conclusion: The impugned assessment was set aside in so far as it concerned the petitioner, with liberty to make a fresh assessment in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a deceased Hindu's undivided interest devolves by succession under the Hindu Succession Act, the interest does not cease on death for the purposes of section 7(1) of the Estate Duty Act, and estate duty cannot be fastened on a person who is not liable under section 6 merely by invoking the notional partition rule in section 39(2).

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