1972 (11) TMI 10

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...., a brother and an uncle and aunt and four cousins. In 1951, there was a partial partition in the family at which a sum of five lakhs of rupees was divided between some of the members of the family. In 1953 another partial partition took place in the family, with the result that the assessee became separated from all the other members of the family. He was a bachelor. He became the exclusive owner of the properties allotted to him at the partition. For the assessment year 1966-67, the assessee claimed in the return filed by him that his status was that or a Hindu undivided family. The Income-tax Officer did not accept this contention. He held that the assessee being the sole coparcener he did not constitute a Hindu undivided family. He asse....

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.... sense in which a Hindu joint family is understood under the personal law of the Hindus. Under the Hindu system of law, a joint family may consist of a single male member and widows of deceased male members, and the Income-tax Act does not indicate that a Hindu undivided family as an assessable entity must consist of at least two male members. It was held that after the death of "A", the property of the joint family did not cease to belong to the family merely because the family was represented after " A's " death by a single coparcener " B ", who alone possessed rights which an owner of property might possess. Learned counsel for the assessee particularly invited our attention to the following observations : " Property of a joint family....

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....ty of a Hindu undivided family does not cease to be so because of the temporary reduction of the coparcenary unit to a single individual. A coparcenary is a much smaller body than a Hindu undivided family. Females cannot be members of a coparcenary, though they are members of a Hindu undivided family. If a Hindu undivided family consists of only one person who has powers of transfer over the property, the family nonetheless continues to retain its status as a Hindu undivided family so long as there is at least one other member, male or female. There are some observations in the decision of the Supreme Court in T. S. Srinivasan v. Commissioner of Income-tax , which may suggest that a Hindu undivided family can consist of husband and wi....