Joint family property retains its character after partition and marriage, making the income taxable as Hindu undivided family income.

Property received on partition retained its joint family character and did not become the assessee's separate property merely because he was for a time the sole surviving coparcener. The distinction between a Hindu joint family and a coparcenary was material: a joint family can exist with a single male member and female members, so the absence of another male coparcener did not change the property's character. On the assessee's marriage, a Hindu family came into existence and the income from that property was not assessable in his individual hands, but as Hindu undivided family income.

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Issues: Whether income from property received on partition, which was treated as individual income while the assessee was unmarried, became assessable as Hindu undivided family income after his marriage.

Analysis: The property received on partition had the character of joint family property and did not lose that character merely because the assessee was for a time the sole surviving coparcener. The distinction between a Hindu joint family and a coparcenary is material: a joint family may consist of a single male member together with female members, and the absence of a second male coparcener does not by itself convert ancestral property into separate property. The reasoning that marriage of the assessee made no difference was rejected, because on marriage a Hindu family came into existence and the property continued to retain its joint family character. The reliance on the view that the property had become absolutely the assessee's individual property on partition was held to be incorrect on the facts and law.

Conclusion: The income from the property received on partition was not assessable in the assessee's individual hands after marriage and was liable to be assessed as Hindu undivided family income.

Ratio Decidendi: Property received on partition retains its joint family character, and when the assessee subsequently has a Hindu undivided family, that property is assessable as family property notwithstanding that he was earlier assessed as an individual while the family consisted of only one male member.

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