TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1981 (10) TMI 89
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....e donees to the exclusion of the donor for a long period even during her life time and the before she did not even enjoy any life interest. 3. According to the Asstt. CED. there was no documentary evidence to support the aforesaid contention as the deceased was dependent on her great grandchildren for services and protection. Hence the Asst. CED was of the opinion that the plea of adverse possession was also legal available to the Accountable person. According to him, the legal title of the deceased for life became extinguished only on her death and hence the property must be deemed to pass to the donees on the death of the donor. Therefore the Land of 7.86 acres was valued at Rs. 10,000 per acre giving an aggregate of Rs. 78,600 and included in the estate of the deceased. 4. On appeal before the Appellate, CED the appellant contended that the Assistant Controller is not justified in including the value of the property gifted to her great grandsons by invoking the provisions of s. 12 of the ED Act as the settler surrendered her right and interest in the settled property much before her death and that there was thereof no passing of property on her death. After going through the s....
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....submissions made by the parties, Smt. I. Lakshmamma of Pyaparru who expired on 22nd May, 1977, is the great grandmother of the accountable person. Her husband Sri. T. Subbaiah passed away in 1912. On 26th March, 1962, Smt. T. Lakshmamma executed a settlement deed reserving life interest for herself and transferring the vested remainder in 7.86 acres of wet land at Pyaparru village to (1) Surendranath, (2) Ramachandra Prasad (3) Rajendraprased and (4) Satyanarayana minor sons of K. Sivaramakrishnaiah. According to the appellant even though Smt. Lakshmamma in terms of the deed reserved life interest. In reality and as an actual fact the income from the said lands was being enjoyed only by the grandchildren who were dealing with the property as full owners. The educational expenses of all the children was met from the income of the lands gifted on 26th March, 1962. The land revenue was being paid by them. Surendranath who was one the donees mentioned in the gift deed left for USA in the year 1967 and till such time he left India, he also enjoyed the income. K. Rajendera Prasad died in 1969. In 1971, the marriage of Swarna latha (Sister of the donees) was celebrated and 5.50 acres of w....
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....y the donees in favour of Smt. Swarnalatha and the order of the Land Reforms Tribunal order dt. 1st July, 1976 and other revenue records filed by the appellant. 8. The ld. counsel appearing for the appellant drew our attention to a passage in N.R. Raghavacharia's Hindu Law Vol. I at page 607, which runs as follows: "The essence of surrender being self-effactment, if, there is a bona fide and total renunciation of the widow's right to hold the property no particular form is necessary to have it affected. No written instrument is required under the law, though if one is executed it requires to be registered. The essence of surrender being that the widow should part with the whole of her interest, it does not matter if it is done by one single act or by a process consisting of several stages of successive acts." Biswas Encyclopaedia Law Dictionary at page 687 status that: " Surrender is the yielding of a smaller estate by the owner thereof to the person entitled to the larger estate of reversion of remainder; on such surrender the lesser estate merges in the larger estate. Surrender may be expressed or implied. Secs. 111(e) and (f) of the transfer of Property Act, 1882." The conc....
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....t according to the ld. Deptl. Rep. the estate passed on the death of the deceased since she had not divested herself of the life interest. 9. The ld. counsel of the accountable person sought to clarify with reference to certain definitions in judicial dictionaries like those of Biswas and K.J. Iyer that surrender implied giving of up a smaller estate by the owner thereof to the holder of the larger estate and the surrendered interest merged with the larger estate. He contended that the surrender was only acceleration of enjoyment by remainder men. He referred to the fact that a lessor who had full ownership rights to receive the lease and when the lessee surrendered such lease, he posed a query as to when it could be construed to a gift. 10. We have considered the rival submissions. In the main commentary u/s. 9 of the Transfer of Property Act by Mulla 5th Edn. at page 95 there is the observation in the case of Imperial Bank of India vs. Bengal National Bank AIR Cal. 1931 223 Rankin, C.J. had observed that partition, release and surrender were all forms of transfer but that so far as the Transfer of Property Act was concerned they come under no restriction. These general observat....