Estate duty on joint family property is limited to the notional partition share where adoption relates back before death.

Joint family property retained its character despite prior partition between brothers, and the deceased remained a member of a Hindu undivided family with his wife. Applying the doctrine of relation back, the adopted son was treated as existing at the time of the adoptive father's death, so the Mitakshara coparcenary was taken to consist of the deceased, his widow and the adopted son immediately before death. Under the statutory fiction in section 39 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, the deceased's passing share was the share that would have been allotted on a notional partition immediately before death. Only one-third of the family property was therefore deemed to pass on death, and inclusion of the entire property was incorrect.

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Issues: Whether the entire property held by the deceased was correctly included in his estate as property passing or deemed to pass on his death for estate duty purposes, or whether only one-third of the joint family property was so liable.

Analysis: The property retained its character as joint family property despite the earlier partition between the brothers, and the deceased, after separation, remained a member of a Hindu undivided family with his wife. On the application of the doctrine of relation back, an adopted son is treated as if in existence at the time of the adoptive father's death, with the same position as a posthumous son. In the setting of a Mitakshara coparcenary, the joint family is taken to consist of the deceased, his widow, and the adopted son immediately before death, and the widow is not entitled to claim partition. Under the statutory fiction in section 39 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, the deceased's share is the share that would have fallen to him on a partition immediately before death.

Conclusion: The answer is in the negative. Only one-third of the family properties is deemed to have passed on the death of the deceased, and inclusion of the entire property in the estate was incorrect.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an adopted son is deemed by legal fiction to exist before the death of the adoptive father, the deceased's estate duty liability is confined to the share that would have been allotted on a notional partition immediately before death, and joint family property is not treated as the absolute separate property of a sole surviving coparcener merely because of a temporary reduction in coparcenary strength.

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