| QUERY: | As per F. No. 4-2/2014 –NCM., G.O.I. Ministry of Minority Affairs, dated February 6, 2014, Jain Community are covered under section 2(c) of National Commission of Minority Act 1992 as minority. So, can Jain continue with HUF under the Income-tax Act? |
| ANSWER: | There is no restriction on Jains to be assessed under the status of “HUF” under the Direct Tax laws, even though Jain community has been declared as a minority community. No separate definition of the expression HUF has been attempted in any of the Direct Tax laws because the term has a definite connotation under the Hindu Law. The Supreme Court in Surjit Lal Chhabda v. CIT [101 ITR 776] and the Bombay High Court in CIT v. Gomedalli Lakshmi Narayan [3 ITR 367] have declared that the expression HUF must be construed in the sense in which it is understood under the Hindu Law. Mulla, in his seminal work on Hindu Law, stated that the Hindu Law applied to the following: (i) Hindus, not only by birth but Hindus by conversion; (ii) Illegitimate children where both parents are Hindus; (iii) Illegitimate children where father is Christian and mother a Hindu and if children are brought up as Hindus; (iv) Jains, Buddhists in India, Sikhs, Nambudri Brahmins except so far as such law is varied by custom and to Lingayats; (v) A Hindu by birth who having renounced Hindusism has reverted to it; (vi) Sons of Hindu dancing girls; (vii) Brahmos, Arya Samajists, and Santhals of Chhota Nagpur; (viii) Hindus who make a declaration that they are Hindus for the purpose of Special Marriage Act; (ix) Kutchi Memons who had settled in Madras and Travancore, etc., and regulated their affairs according to Hindu law in matters of succession, inheritance and property including the Hindu concept of coparcenary and survivorship. Therefore, accordingly to CED v. Hajee Abdul Sattar Sait [(86 ITR 53 (SC)] such Kutchi Memons being mass converts were governed in matters of property, succession and inheritance by the rules of Hindu law including the rules as to joint family property, its distribution according to the rule of survivorship and the right of a son by birth. |
| EXPERT: | CA. H. N. Motiwalla |
| SECTION(S): | |
| GENRE: | Hindu Law |
| CATCH WORDS: | HUF, Ministry of Minority Affairs, National Commission |
Opinion Of Eminent Legal Luminaries On Controversial Issues
Can Jain Being Of Minority Community Continue In The Status Of HUF?
Posted in Allied Laws
2 comments on “Can Jain Being Of Minority Community Continue In The Status Of HUF?”
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Ok
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