1944 (3) TMI 5

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....ember, 1937, should be excluded?" The assessee in this case is Lala Hira Lal and the question arises out of his assessment for the year 1939-40. Lal Hira Lal belongs to a family illustrated in the following pedigree table :- R.B. Mohan Lal (deceased)   Shrimati Bhagwan Dei Senior widow (issueless)                 Shrimati Rup Kaur (Junior widow)   L. Hira Lal             R.B. Sohan Lal   Ratan Lal             L. Shadi Lal (deceased) Chaman Lal Chaman Lal separated from his brothers before 1930 and after his separation th....

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....the allowances, should be assessable as income in the hands of the assessee or should be regarded for purposes of tax, as the income of the recipients. The Tribunal following Bhagwati v. Commissioner of Income-tax, G.P. & U.P. [1941] 9 ITR 31 , has held that the maintenance allowances were received by the widows as members of a Hindu undivided family and that payment of the amount is a disbursement of the family income and as such, is taxable as part of the family income. Now before disruption in 1936 there was undoubtedly a Hindu undivided family of which Hira Lal and his brothers were coparceners and the two widows were members, but following the partition in 1936 there was a disruption. It may be that the assessee Hira Lal has now ....

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....ications of another decision of their Lordships of the Privy Council in Dudhuria's case [1933] 1 ITR 135 (Cal.). In that case the assessee had succeeded to the family ancestral estate on the death of his father and his stepmother had obtained a decree for maintenance against him directing the payment to her of a monthly allowance. A question arose whether the sum so paid by the assessee to his stepmother could be included in his income for the purpose of assessing the income-tax. We came to the conclusion after consideration of the judgment of their Lordships of the Privy Council that the ratio decidendi in such cases is that if the payment is voluntary, it must be included in the income of the assessee, but if the charge is obligato....