JAGDISH CHANDRA DEO DHABAL DEB Vs. DHANPATI SINGH DEB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -

(2.) THIS is an appeal by the defendant against a decision of the Additional Subordinate Judge of Chaibassa modifying a decree passed by the Munsif of Jamshedpur in a suit for recovery of arrears of an annuity payable in monthly installments to the plaintiff under the will of the late Raja Satrughan Deo Dhabal Deb. The defendant appellant is the executor and also the chief legatee under that will. There is no dispute regarding the title of the plaintiff-respondent to the annuity in question and the only matter in dispute is the claim of the appellant to deduct from the amount payable to the plaintiff the amount of agricultural income-tax payable on that sum in accordance with the Bihar Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1938. Both the lower Courts have rejected this claim.

(3.) BOTH the lower Courts have held that the annuity payable to the respondent is not agricultural income. The lower appellate Court also held that the plaintiff respondent is not a beneficiary within the meaning of Section 11 of the Bihar Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1938, and the trial Court also appears to have held the same. It is undisputed that the appellant does pay agricultural income-tax under that Act on income derived from the Dhalbhum zamindari, and there is no dispute that the income on which he pays such tax is agricultural income is defined in Section 2 of the Act. At first it was not clearly admitted that the appellant also derives income from that zamindari which is not agricultural income, but the learned Subordinate Judge in his judgment pointed out that the certified copies of orders of assessment made by the Bihar Agricultural Income-tax Officer showed that the Dhalbhum estate had certain sources of income which were not record of this suit from which the income of the Dhalbhum estate from these and other sources, which do not come within the definition of agricultural income, can be definitely found out.