1966 (5) TMI 1

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..... s seven children survived him. He made a will on December 15, 1958, and we are, in this reference, concerned with the correctness of the interpretation placed on the provisions of that will by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. It was contended before the Income-tax Officer that the properties of Gopala Shetty were bequeathed under the will to the family consisting of his wife, Rama Bai, and his seven children, and that the assessment should be made on that basis. But the Income-tax Officer overruled that contention and made the assessment on the interpretation that the bequest under the will was to the wife and not to the family. In this view taken by the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner concurred, but in the furth .....

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..... immovable properties on the strength of his will and collect all the amounts due to him and discharge the debts payable by him. The will contains a further direction that the business carried on by the testator should continue to be conducted by his wife and that she should educate the children, maintain the family, and apply the property of the estate in her own unfettered discretion for the well-being and prosperity of the members of the family. The Tribunal was of the view that the recitals in the will led to the indubitable inference that the bequest was to the family consisting of the wife, and the children and that the properties did not vest exclusively in the wife under the terms of the will. This view the Tribunal was impelled to .....

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..... able right in the other members of the family. in respect of those obligations. But it does not follow that, by the imposition of those obligations on the wife, there was defeasance to any extent of the bequest clearly made to the wife. In our opinion, the answer to the first question should be in favour of the Commissioner and the answer to that question is that the properties comprised in the will of Gopal Shetty did not devolve on a Hindu undivided family consisting of Mrs. Rama Bai and her children and that the bequest was to Mrs. Rama Bai subject to the obligations imposed by the will. Our answer to the first question decides the second, and our answer to that question is that the assessments were properly made on Rama Bai as an indi .....

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