Facts: Har Govind Dutta, a Hindu governed by the Dayabhaga School of Hindu Law, died intestate on 19-06-1972, leaving behind his widow (the Assesseee-respondent) and two daughters. The Assesseee and the two daughters inherited the self-acquired properties of the deceased and bifurcated it in equal shares which is not in dispute. The Assesseee and the two daughters entered into an agreement on 26-07-1972 where, they claimed to form a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). In this place the assessee threw her share of the inherited property into the kitty of this HUF. Accordingly, for the assessment years 1974-75 and 1975-76, the assessee did not disclose, in her income-tax returns, any income from her share of the inherited property.

Issue: Whether female heirs of a Hindu, governed by the Dayabhaga School of Hindu Law, is allowed to establish and impress upon their inherited right on the property? Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, one-third of the properties inherited from her husband was assessable in the hands of the assessee in the status of individual or as a HUF?

View: The assessee and her two daughters, inherited in their individual capacity, a one-third share each in the estate of the deceased. We have no authority before us, which can lead us to the conclusion that, the assessee and her two daughters could form a joint Hindu family or of establishing their interest in any one of them in the inherited property.  As we have stated, the concept of Hindu females forming a joint Hindu family by agreement amongst themselves appears to us, to be contrary to a basic tenet of the Hindu personal law.

Held: Female heirs of a Hindu governed by the Dayabhaga School of Hindu Law dying intestate could not impress upon their inherited property the character of joint family property. The properties inherited from her husband was assessable in the hands of the assessee in the status of individual (AY. 1974 -75,1975 -76) [CA Nos. 5450–5451 of 1997 dt. 22-2-2001]

Editorial: CIT v. Sandhya Rani Dutta [1996] 217 ITR 36 (Pat) (HC) reversed. Refer Hindu succession Act 1956 amendment to section 6(1) with effect from 9 -9 -2005

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