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TMI Blog1976 (4) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was born out of this wedlock. For the assessment years 1957-58 and 1958-59 Sridharan was assessed to income-tax, and wealth-tax in the status of an " individual " on his own declaration to that effect. In the assessment proceedings in respect of income-tax and wealth-tax for the assessment years 1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62 and in the assessment proceedings under the Expenditure-tax Act for the year 1961-62, he claimed to be assessed in the status of a member of a Hindu undivided family consisting of himself and his son, Nicolas Sundaram, contending that the property, held by him was ancestral and Nicolas Sundaram was a Hindu. The Income-tax Officer, Wealth-tax Officer and Expenditure-tax Officer refused to accede to the contention of Sridharan and assessed him in the status of an " individual as in the previous years on the grounds that the value of the shares and other investments standing in his name being his exclusive properties and by virtue of section 21 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954, succession to the property of a person whose marriage has solemnized under that Act being governed by the Indians Succession Act, 1925, and not by the ordinary Hindu law, Nicolas Sundaram c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in respect of the previous years, rejected the claim of Rosa Maria Steinbchler holding that she was not a Hindu and in any case since her marriage with Sridharan was under the Special Marriage Act, 1954, Nicolas Sundaram had no right by birth in the properties obtained by the assessee on partition. He further held that Nicolas Sundaram could claim Sridharan's property only under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and not under the Hindu law. On appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner affirmed the order of the Wealth-tax Officer. A further appeal was preferred to the Appellate Tribunal but that too proved abortive. The Tribunal, however, referred the following question of law for the opinion of the High Court : " Whether the assessee, Sridharan, and his son constituted in law a Hindu undivided family for the purpose of assessment under the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 ? " The High Court answered the question in the affirmative, i.e., against the revenue observing that the decision in the previous reference directly governed the facts of the fresh reference. Aggrieved by this order of the High Court, the appellant applied and obtained leave to appeal to this court under section 29(1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m constitutes a very complex but largely continuous whole, and since it covers the whole of life it has religious, social, economic, literary, and artistic aspects. As a religion, Hinduism is an utterly diverse conglomerate of doctrines, cults, and way of life............ In principle, Hinduism incorporates all forms of belief and worship without necessitating the selection or elimination of any. The Hindu is inclined to revere the divine in every manifestation, whatever it may be, and is doctrinally tolerant, leaving others--including both Hindus and non-Hindus--whatever creed and worship practices suit them best. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu, and since the Hindu is disposed to think synthetically and to regard other forms of worship, strange Gods, and divergent doctrines as inadequate rather than wrong or objectionable, he tends to believe that the highest divine powers complement each other for the well-being of the world and mankind. Few religious idea, are considered to be finally irreconcilable. The core of religion does not even depend on the existence or non-existence of God or an whether there is one God or many. Since religious tr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndus......... In paragraph 6 of Chapter I of Mulla's aforesaid treatise, the following have been enumerated as persons to whom Hindu law applies : " (i) not only to Hindus by birth, but also to Hindus by religion, i.e., converts to Hinduism ; (ii) to illegitimate children where both parents are Hindus ; (iii) to illegitimate children where the father is a Christian and the mother is a Hindu, and the children are brought up as Hindus. But the Hindu law of coparcenary, which contemplates the father as the head of the family and the sons as coparceners by birth with rights of survivorship, cannot form the very nature of the case apply to such children. (iv) to Jains, Buddhists in India, Sikhs and Nambudiri Brahmins except so far as such law is varied by custom and to Lingayats who are considered Sudras ; (v) to a Hindu by birth who, having renounced Hinduism, has reverted to it after performing the religious rites of expiation and repentance. Or even without a formal ritual of reconversion when he was recognised as a Hindu by his community ; (vi) to sons of Hindu dancing girls of the Naik caste converted to Mahomedanism, where the sons are taken into the family of the Hi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ht up as a Hindu or that he did not conform to the habits and usages of Hinduism or that he was not recognised as a Hindu by the society surrounding him or that he became a convert to another faith. Sridharan has also unequivocally acknowledged and expressly declared that he and his son, Nicolas Sundaram, formed a Hindu undivided family. This declaration in the circumstances is sufficient, as also found by the High Court, to establish that Nicolas Sundaram was brought up as a Hindu member of the family to which his father belonged. At page 290 of his treatise on Hindu Law and Usage (eleventh edition), Mayne says that a child in India, under ordinary circumstances, must be presumed to have his father's religion, and his corresponding civil and social status. We, therefore, have no hesitation in holding that Nicolas Sundaram is at Hindu and he could be a member of the Hindu undivided family headed by his father and be governed by Hindu law. Section 21 of the Special Marriage Act which has been heavily relied upon by the revenue has, in our opinion, no bearing on the present case. That section provides that succession to the property of a person whose marriage has been solemnized un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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