Legal representative status for executor upheld; refusal to condone delay for refund claim under income-tax law was set aside.

An executor of a valid will may qualify as a legal representative for income-tax purposes, because section 159 of the Income-tax Act treats the legal representative as liable to discharge the deceased's tax obligations in the same manner and to the same extent as the deceased. Where the will was not disputed by family members, rejection of the executor's request to act for the deceased was unsustainable. The court therefore recognised the petitioner as the deceased's legal representative and set aside the refusal to condone delay under section 119(2)(b) for the refund claim.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner, as executor and legal representative of the deceased, was entitled to be recognised as the proper person to file the return and seek condonation of delay for claiming refund under section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The petitioner was held to fall within the expression "legal representative" under section 2(29) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 read with section 2(11) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Section 159 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 creates a statutory fiction by which the legal representative is liable to discharge the tax liability of the deceased in the same manner and to the same extent as the deceased. The executor of the will represents the estate of the deceased, and the validity of the will was not disputed by any family member. On that legal foundation, the rejection of the petitioner's claim on the ground that he lacked capacity to act for the deceased was unsustainable.

Conclusion: The petitioner was entitled to be treated as the legal representative of the deceased, and the refusal to condone the delay under section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was set aside.

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