ISSUE:
Whether the income received by right of survivorship by the sole surviving male member of a Hindu undivided family can be taxed in the hands of such male member as his own individual income, or it should be taxed as the income of a Hindu undivided family, for the purposes?
RULE:
With the death of father, the son survived as the sole surviving coparcener. However, because there is no coparcener other than him, it does not follow there is no Hindu Undivided Family. The rights of the female members and other surviving members of the family continue to exist and the possession of family property by sole surviving coparcener is subject to these rights of the other surviving members of the family.
The family is considered to be joint unless and until proved to the contrary. The property was ancestral. But there is a distinction between the HUF and coparcenary. For the purposes of taxation, what is taken into account is the existence of a Hindu Undivided Family and not the existence of coparcenary.
