TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1976 (6) TMI 48
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....llate Controller of Estate Duty upheld the decision of the assessing authority on this aspect. The learned counsel for the accountable person has contended before us that the view taken by the authorities below is an erroneous view. 2. In order to appreciate the rival arguments before us, it is necessary to delve into the facts. Shri Seetharamaiah, the deceased, was the son of Shri Indraish, who was the son of one Shri Bapanna who had a brother by name Venkanna. Shri Venkanna was said to have executed a will some time in 1927 according to which the deceased had to get 1/2 share of the properties of late Bapanna and the remaining 1/2 share devolved in Indraiah along with his 5 other sons other than the deceased, Shri Seetharamaiah. On the....
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....ion deed proceeded on the footing that the properties belonged to the HUF. Even assuming that they were self-acquired properties if is permissible in law that there could be national throwing of the self acquired properties into common hotchpot prior to the partition, however, short the interval, and those properties were made available for partition between the deceased and his minor sons. There was an unequivocal declaration in the partition deed that all the properties were dealt with at the partition of the properties of the HUF. The learned counsel has invited our attention in this context to the decision of the Supreme Court in CIT, Madras, vs. M.K. Stremann (56 ITR 62). The Supreme Court held that "the fact that the partition proceed....
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....as the properties of the joint family, there was no need for the deceased to speak in his will about the shares that would be allotted to his sons as they had right by birth in those properties with regard to his 1/3rd share in the properties. Basing himself on the recitals in the will, the learned Representative for the Department has contended that the partition effected on 20th Sept., 1957 between the deceased and his two minor sons, was only a make-believe arrangement and as such no credence could be attached to the recitals therein. We are not inclined to accept this contention as strictly correct. Partition amongst the members of a joint family is effected for several reasons. Sometimes the family becomes unwieldy and it becomes uncom....
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....ands estimated at a flat rate of Rs. 9,000 per acre by the Appellate Controller errs on the side of severity. Mr. Swamy has further contended that the value returned was supported by a valuer's report and it should not have been lightly brushed aside by the authorities below. We have perused the valuer's report and we find it difficult to act upon it. It is a cyclostyled and stereotyped report. The valuer has not given any valid reasons how he has fixed the value of the lands in the manner that he did. The lands are sugarcane growing lands and paddy cultivating lands. In such circumstances, the value of the lands adopted by the Appellate Controller at Rs. 9,000 per acre is fair and reasonable. We see no reason why we should disturb the orde....
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....lating to a partition of joint family has not been superseded by any statute, it will not be open to the unmarried daughters in the family at the time of partition to claim provisions for marriage and maintenance expenses. The marriage and maintenance expenses of unmarried daughters, therefore, constitute a charge on the properties of the HUF. This is clear from the exposition of law in T.S. Srinivasan vs. E.E.D., Madras (93 ITR 246). In Cherutty vs. Nagamparambil Ravu, (1940) 2 MLJ 358, AIR 1940 the Division Bench of the Madras High Court considered the question as to whether a daughter of a coparcener is entitled to maintain a suit for her maintenance against all the members of the joint family irrespective of the father's personal obliga....