S. 148 Where HUF is partitioned after expiry of relevant year, notice to every member is not necessary

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Lakshminarain Bhadani

Versus

Commissioner of Income-tax

KANIA, C.J.

AND PATANJALI SASTRI, DAS, CHANDRASEKHARA AIYAR AND BOSE, JJ.

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 23 OF 1950

SEPTEMBER 11, 1951

 H.J. Umrigar, Advocate, instructed by R.C. Prasad, Agent for the appellant.

M.C. Setalvad, Attorney-General for India B. Sen, Advocate,with him, instructed by P.A. Mehta, Agent for the respondent.

Kania C.J.—This is an appeal from a judgment of the High Court at Patna. It arises out of an income-tax reference made to the High Court under section 66(1) of the Indian Income-tax Act.

Briefly stated the facts are that a joint Hindu family, of which the present appellant was the karta, was assessed to income-tax for the year 1939-40. In 1944 the Income-tax Officer considered that certain income of the family taxable in 1939-40 had escaped assessment. In the meanwhile, the joint family had become divided and necessary steps had been taken by the members to have an order passed under section 25A(1) of the Income-tax Act. The Income-tax Officer issued a notice in the name of the joint Hindu family and served it on the appellant under section 34 read with section 22 of the Income-tax Act to make a return in respect of the escaped income and the appellant sent a return in response to that notice. Thereafter, the Income-tax Officer made an assessment on the escaped income of Rs. 37,098 and issued a notice of demand on the appellant as the karta and on the two other members of the joint family. The notice was to require payment of the full amount of tax due on the escaped income and did not apportion the liability for it amongst the three members of the family. The assessee contended that the proceedings were irregular and that he was not liable to pay anything, His contention was rejected by the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, and the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. He prayed that a question of law may be referred to the High Court for its opinion. Accordingly the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal referred the following question for the High Court’s opinion:—