Income Tax and property of joint hindu family

[bpagrawal]

Since the personal law of the appellant regards him as the owner of Kathoke Lodge and the income therefrom as his income even after the property was thrown into the family hotchpot, the income would be chargeable to income-tax as his individual income and not that of the family

The property which the appellant has put into the common stock may change its legal incidents on the birth of a son but until that event happens the property, in the eye of Hindu Law, is really his. He can deal with it as a full owner, unrestrained by considerations of legal necessity or benefit of the estate. He may sell it, mortgage it or make a gift of it. Even a son born or adopted after the alienation shall have to take the family hotchpot as he finds it. A son born, begotten or adopted after the alienation has no right to challenge the alienation.
Since the personal law of the appellant regards him as the owner of Kathoke Lodge and the income therefrom as his income even after the property was thrown into the family hotchpot, the income would be chargeable to income-tax as his individual income and not that of the family

Supreme Court of India
Surjit Lal Chhabda vs Commissioner Of Income Tax, ... on 6 October, 1975
Equivalent citations: 1976 AIR 109, 1976 SCR (2) 164
//http://www.lawweb.in/2013/01/in-absence-of-antecedent-history-of.html