Controller of Estate Duty vs Homojit Singh

Ashok Bhan, J.—At the instance of the Controller of Estate Duty, Jalandhar (hereinafter referred to as "the Revenue"), the following question of law along with the statement of the case has been referred by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Amritsar (hereinafter referred to as "the Tribunal"), for the opinion of this court :

" Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is right in law in holding that the Jat Sikhs in Punjab are not governed by customary law but are governed by Hindu law and that the deceased constituted a Hindu undivided family ?"

One Gurcharan Singh died on August 25, 1967. The estate of the deceased mainly comprised agricultural lands. The accountable person claimed that the lands being ancestral, belonged to the Hindu undivided family of the deceased and on his death only a 1/6th share which belonged to the deceased in these lands passed to the accountable person and not the entire lands. The Assistant Controller of Estate Duty rejected this contention and held that Jat agriculturists are governed by the customary law of Punjab and, therefore, the ownership of agricultural land vested in the deceased till his death and the value of the whole of the land will be taken into consideration for determining the estate duty.

The accountable person went up in appeal to the Appellate Controller of Estate Duly. The appellate authority held that Hindu law was applicable in the case of Jat Sikhs and determined that only a 1/6th share in the value of the agricultural lands passed on the death of the deceased which was includible in his estate for estate duty purposes. In accordance with the same, the appellate authority reduced the value of the estate for the estate duty assessment to Rs. 41,003 as against Rs. 2,05,014 assessed by the Assistant Controller of Estate Duty.

The Revenue filed an appeal before the Tribunal which was dismissed in view of a Full Bench decision of this court in Pritam Singh. v. Asst. CED [1976] 105 ITR 661 in which it has been held that Jat Sikhs can constitute a joint Hindu family.

In our opinion, the question referred to us stands concluded by Pritam Singh Vs. Assistant Controller of Estate Duty, In that case a similar question as to whether a Jat Sikh can form a Hindu undivided family was under examination. In view of the authoritative decision of this court in Pritam Singh Vs. Assistant Controller of Estate Duty, the question referred to us is answered in the affirmative, i.e., against the Revenue and in favour of the accountable person. No costs.