TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1983 (7) TMI 11
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....d of Dharmapuram Adhinam, one of the famous mutts in South India, which has been established for the propagation of Saiva Sidhantha philosophy and the literature relating thereto, was a non-dwija (Sudra) before he became a sanyasi. While he was the head of the said adhinam, he executed on January 21, 1970, a deed of settlement in favour of his mother registered as document No. 631 of 1970, by and under which he settled upon her 13 acres and 63 cents of nanja lands situate in Mayuram Taluk in Tanjore District of the value of Rs. 54,456 to be taken and enjoyed by her absolutely. Later he died on November 10, 1971. On his death, His Holiness Sri-la-Sri Subramania Desika Gnanasambanda Paramacharya Swamigal succeeded as the head of the Dharmapuram adhinam. He filed an account regarding the estate of the deceased, claiming that according to the custom, he had become entitled to the personal properties of the deceased. In the said account, he had included Rs. 54,456 being the value of the lands settled by the deceased on his mother under the aforesaid deed, but, however, contended before the Assistant Controller of Estate Duty that no estate duty was leviable for the reason that there was....
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....ationship between him and his mother came to an end, that, consequently, the deceased ceased to be under an obligation to maintain his mother and that, therefore, the settlement in question was only a gift made within two years prior to his death and, as such, it will come within the mischief of s. 9. Before the Tribunal, the accountable person, on the other hand, contended that since the deceased was a non-dwija (Sudra), there was no question of his becoming a sanyasi and, therefore, he continued to be under an obligation to maintain his mother and that since the settlement in question was made by the deceased in discharge of such obligation, the same could not be considered as a gift. On a due consideration of the rival contentions, the Tribunal held that the deceased, after becoming a sanyasi, was not under an obligation to maintain his mother, that, consequently, the settlement made by him of his agricultural lands on his mother under the deed dated January 21, 1970, was not supported by consideration either in money or moneys worth, that as such it should be treated only as a gift which has been made within two years prior to his death and that, therefore, it fell within....
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....mendicant, or indeed that he is such, does not of itself disentitle him to succeed to property. Nor does any Sudra come under this disqualification, unless by usage. This civil death does not prevent the person who enters into an order from acquiring and holding private property which will devolve not of course upon his natural relations, but according to special rules of inheritance. But it would be otherwise if there is no civil death in the eye of the law, but only the holding by a man of certain religious opinions or professions. " In Mulla's Hindu Law, 15th edition, page 183, the position of a person who enters into a religious order with reference to his natural family is set out thus : " Where a person enters into a religious order renouncing all wordly affairs, his action is tantamount to civil death, and it excludes him altogether from inheritance and from a share on partition. All property which belongs to such a person at the time of renunciation passes immediately on his renunciation to his heirs, but property acquired by him subsequent to the renunciation passes to his spiritual heirs. A person does not become a sanyasi by merely declaring himself sanyasi or b....
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.... Row v. Iswara Sanyasi [1911] 33 MLJ 63, a Division Bench of this court has set out the essentials of sanyasa and its incidents according to the Hindu law. The court observed that a sanyasi after learning the duties of a sanyasi should first perform his death ceremonies this, however, is by some not considered necessary and the eight sradhas, the last of which is his own sradha. He has to then perform Prajapathiyesthi or Agneshti and the, Viraja homam which are sacrifices in fire and are purificatory ceremonies and finally relinquish all property and abandon all worldly concerns, down to even a desire for them and that relinquishment need not be in favour of any particular person but it may be a simple abandonment of his property and that the mere adoption of the external symbols of sanyasam as wearing of coloured cloth or the shaving of the head is not enough. In Samasundaram Chettiar v. Vaithilinga Mudaliar [1916] ILR 40 Mad 846, another Division Bench of this court has laid down that according to the Hindu law texts, the rules as to dis-inheritance applicable to a sanyasi do not apply to Sudra ascetics or Tambirans unless a usage to this effect is established and in support of t....
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....ay become an ascetic. In this case, the head of the Dharmapuram Adhinam, by custom has all along been treated as a Hindu sanyasi. That a Hindu when he takes up to sanyasam becomes civilly dead cannot be disputed. After such a civil death, the individual's relationship with his family comes to an end and there is complete severance from his secular life. The settlement in this case had been executed by the deceased after he became a sanyasi and long after he ceased to have any connection with his family. The learned counsel for the accountable person would, however, point out that even after the deceased became a sanyasi, he continues to be a Hindu and according to the personal law of Hindus, every Hindu is bound to maintain his mother. In support of the proposition that a Hindu is bound to maintain his mother, whether he is possessed of property or not, the learned counsel for the accountable person refers to the decisions in Subbarayana v. Subbakka [1884] ILR 8 Mad 236 and Satyanarayanamurthy v. Ram Subbamma, AIR 1964 AP 105. In the first case, a Division Bench of this court expressed the view that according to Hindu law, the son is bound to support his mother whether or not he....