- (1.) THE Income-tax Appellate Tribunal has referred the following question of law to this court for opinion under Section 64 (1) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953, hereinafter called the Act. "whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessment was to be made under Section 7 read with Section 39 of the Estate Duty Act, in view of the passage of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956?"
(2.) THE facts as found by the Tribunal have been summarised in para. 3 of the statement of the case as under : "one Shri Udham Singh of village Reru, Distt. Jullundur, was a Jat. He died on June 18, 1960. The deceased was a descendant of one of the three Jats who about 200 years ago founded the village Reru. It is situated at a distance of about three miles from the city of Jullundur. Ever since the three Sections of Jats have been living in the village and holding a position of supremacy. Their gotras are Virk, Basras and Dhindses. The deceased belonged to the first one. There are three lambardars in the village, two of the Jat family and one of Dbarmias (Harijan ). The head of the family in the family of the deceased has been one of the two Jat lambardars ever since the village was founded. The deceased himself was a lambardar and, currently, Shri Harbans Singh, his eldest son, is one. About l/3rd land of the village is the property of Virk Jats. These facts have been taken from the deposition of Shri Harbans Singh before me (Assistant Controller) on March 7, 1963. It is true that the deceased was a whole-time clerk in Kanya Mahavidiala from 1923 to 1942, i. e. , from the age of about 33 years to the age of about 52 years. It is also a fact that Ms eldest son, Shri Harbans Singh, was in military service from 1941 to 1949, i. e. , from the age of 27 to 35, that the youngest son of the deceased, Shri Balbir Singh, is employed in the office of the Superintending Engineer, Electricity Branch, Jullundur, and that the second son of the deceased, Shri Niranjan Singh, did some business for five to six years in the district of Karnal, Punjab (now Haryana), and later was employed under some co-operative society of Reru from 1933 to 1944. "
(3.) AFTER the (Jeath of Udham Singh, the Assistant Controller of Estate Duty made an assessment of his three sons as accountable persons and charged his entire property to estate duty.;