Blending of separate property into joint family estate established by conduct and revenue treatment, excluding it from the individual estate.

Property received under a will was first treated as the deceased's self-acquired property, but it later became joint family property because his conduct showed a clear and unequivocal intention to blend it with the family estate. Consistent description of the property and its income as belonging to a Hindu undivided family in income-tax proceedings, the revenue's acceptance of that status over time, and related acts such as joint investments and sale deeds provided prima facie evidence of blending. The properties were therefore not includible in the estate as the deceased's individual property, and the referred question was answered in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the properties derived by the deceased under the will of his father were includible in the estate as his individual property or had become joint family properties of the deceased and his sons.

Analysis: The decisive question was the nature of the properties received under the will and whether the testator intended an absolute bequest. The will was construed as disposing of the property the testator was competent to deal with, and the properties derived by the deceased were treated as self-acquired in the first instance. The further question was whether the deceased had subsequently blended those properties with the joint family estate. The deceased's consistent description of the properties and their income as belonging to a Hindu undivided family in income-tax proceedings, the acceptance of that status by the revenue over a period of years, and other surrounding conduct such as sale deeds and joint investments furnished prima facie evidence of an unequivocal intention to throw the properties into the common hotchpot.

Conclusion: The properties had acquired the character of joint family properties and were not correctly included in the estate as the deceased's individual property; the answer to the referred question was in the negative and in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Separate property becomes joint family property when the owner's intention to blend it with the family estate is clearly evidenced by conduct and surrounding circumstances, including consistent treatment of the property as joint family property in revenue proceedings.

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