1997 (5) TMI 4

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....e minor daughters, Padmalochani, Hamsa and Usha, respectively, by three separate documents. As per the gift deeds the gifts were made on account of the affection which the assessee had for his minor daughters and also the duty which the assessee and his minor son owed to maintain the donees in future in conformity with their family status and dignity and also to give the minor daughters necessary marriage presents and streedhanam at the time of their marriage. The total value of the properties gifted to the three minor daughters is stated to be about Rs. 90,000. The total assets of the assessee amounted to Rs. 13 lakhs. For the assessment year 1965-66, the Gift-tax Officer made a protective assessment accepting the assessee's contention tha....

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.... to 1969-70, the Wealth-tax Officer sought to include the value of the properties gifted by the assessee to his three minor daughters. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner directed the exclusion of the value of these properties in view of his finding that the gifts were valid. The said finding was confirmed by the Tribunal and the Tribunal referred the following question to the High Court (see [1978] 115 ITR 178, 181) : "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in law in holding that the gifts of immovable properties belonging to the joint family made by its karta to his minor daughters were not invalid and that, therefore, the value of the settled properties should not be included in t....

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....rt has further held that the right of the father or his representative to make such a gift is not confined to the marriage occasion and that there was no reason why a father should not have the power to make a gift of a reasonable portion of the joint family property to his minor unmarried daughters who might get married or continue to remain spinsters and lead a life of celibacy. According to the High Court, the need of a father in a Hindu undivided family to make a provision for the future maintenance of his minor unmarried daughters is greater and more compelling than the one he may have to make a provision for the maintenance of the daughter at the time of the marriage or thereafter. For a daughter who gets married or who has already go....