Commissioner of Wealth-tax vs L. Boriah Gowder

K.A. Thanikkachalam, J.—At the instance of the Department, the Tribunal referred the following question for the opinion of this court for

the assessment year 1976-77 u/s 27(1) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 :

Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was right in holding that the assessee''s status should be

adopted as that of a Hindu undivided family for purposes of his wealth-tax assessment ?

The point for consideration is whether the assessee''s status should be adopted as that of a Hindu undivided family for the purposes of his

wealth-tax assessment. The Tribunal held that the status of the assessee is that of a Hindu undivided family for the assessment year 1976-77. A

similar question came up for consideration before this court in the case of the same assessee in the assessment years 1972-73 to 1974-75, wherein

this court held that the status of the assessee is not that of a Hindu undivided family. This decision was in Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. L.

Balasubramaniam and Another, .

In view of the abovesaid decision, we answer the question referred to us in the negative and in favour of the Department. No costs.