TMI Blog1933 (3) TMI 20X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 22. On the death of his father in 1894 the appellant succeeded to the family ancestral estate. His step-mother, who had survived his father subsequently brought a suit for maintenance against him in the High Court at Calcutta. The suit was compromised and a decree was by consent pronounced directing the appellant to make a monthly payment of Rs. 1,100 to his step-mother, which he has since regularly done. It is unfortunate that the decree has not been made available to their Lordships. The Chief Justice (Rankin), however, in the judgment now under review states that "it was not disputed that the lady's maintenance was a legal liability of the Raja (the appellant) arising by reason of the fact that the Raja is in possession of his ancestra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the ground that the payments to her were not of the nature of a salary within the meaning of the Act, but on the contrary were paid to her in virtue of her right of maintenance as a member with the appellant of a Hindu undivided family of which the appellant was manager. Incidentally their Lordships note that a Hindu undivided family is included under the definition of "person" in s. 2(9) and is unit of assessment under s. 3, while under s. 14(1) no tax is payable by an assessee in respect of any sum which he receives as a member of a Hindu undivided family. On the same date, viz., the 24th March, 1926, the respondent issued another order reviewing the appellant's assessment, striking out the deduction of Rs. 9,900 which he had been allow ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... all his other sources of income included in the assessment. He rejects the suggestion that the appellant's liability to his stepmother was of the same kind as his liability to provide for his wives and daughter, and states that the position is the same as if the appellant "had received his various properties, securities and businesses under a bequest from his father upon the terms that these assets were charged with an annuity for the maintenance of the widow". The case was not one of "a charge created by the Raja for the payment of debts which he has voluntarily incurred". Their Lordships agree that this is the correct approach to the question. The Learned Chief Justice next examines the various exemptions and allowances conceded in ss. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he person paying the yearly interest may deduct and retain the amount of the tax for his own benefit, and the scheme of the Act is so far clear and is in favour of the tax-payer. It was, no doubt, considered that the real income of an owner of incumbered property, or of property charged, say, with an annuity under a will, is the annual income of the property less the interest on the incumbrance or the annuity, and the mortgagee or annuitant and the owner of the property are in a sense, entitled between them to the income". Their Lordships agree with the learned Chief Justice that this passage, which he finds inapplicable, must be read in relation to the subject-matter with which Lord Davey is dealing and they would further add, as they ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es of the appellant are subject. While their Lordships are disinclined to entertain any argument from the one system to the other, they would infer, if any inference were permissible, that the omission from the Indian Act of any such provision points rather to an intention to tax, in Lord Davey's phrase, only "the real income" of the tax-payer, than to an intention to impose, without right of reimbursement, a tax on what is a charge upon his income. As to whether the appellant's step-mother is liable under the Act to assessment in respect of the payments received by her, their Lordships, like the Judges in the court below, deem it inadvisable to say anything. Being of opinion that the Rs. 9,900 in question were not income of the appella ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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