HON’BLE SUPREME COURT · SOURCE-REVIEWED NOTE
Commissioner of Income-tax, Bombay City I v. Amarchand N. Shroff, by His Heirs and Legal Representatives
Civil Appeals Nos. 15 to 19 of 1962
[1963] Supp. 1 SCR 699 ·
Indian Income-tax Act, 1922: section 24B
Holding and result. Section 24B’s legal fiction was confined to income received before death in the relevant previous year; outstanding professional receipts collected later could not be assessed as the deceased’s income in the legal representatives’ hands, and the Revenue appeals were dismissed.
Sources & disclosures includedDownload original judgment / order
Three-judge bench; judgment delivered by J. L. Kapur, J. · J. L. Kapur, J. · M. Hidayatullah, J. · J. C. Shah, J.
Assessment years: 1950-51, 1951-52, 1952-53, 1953-54, 1954-55
01 · Facts of the case
A solicitor using the cash system died on 7 July 1949. His legal representatives later collected professional fees outstanding at death. The Department assessed those receipts for five assessment years as the deceased’s income under section 24B; the High Court answered the reference in favour of the legal representatives.
02 · Discussion by the Hon’ble Court
Section 24B deemed the deceased to have received income only for completing assessment of income received before death and in the previous year. The Court refused to extend that fiction beyond its stated purpose. Receipts that had not become income on the cash basis during the deceased’s lifetime were not converted into his posthumous income merely because the legal representatives later collected them.
Source: Primary judgment: reasoning
03 · Judicial decision
The post-death receipts were not assessable as the deceased’s income in the hands of the heirs under section 24B.
Source: Primary judgment: holdings
04 · Outcome / in whose favour
Revenue appeals dismissed with costs; the Bombay High Court’s answer remained in force.
05 · AKHB REVIEW POINT
AKHB analysis: apply a statutory legal fiction only for the purpose and period for which it was enacted. In succession files, align the accounting method, date of receipt, date of death and exact charging/deeming provision before attributing income.
Source & verification
Download original judgment / order · Open cited source rendition
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- Exact catalogue SHA-256 and 12-page count verified; every page was read and visually inspected.
Statutory scope
Historical statutory provisions are described as they appeared in the report. Verify the current enactment, amendments and later judicial treatment before reliance.
Later treatment
Source checked 2026-10-12. No comprehensive later-treatment or present-law clearance is represented. The note reports the historical statutory text and result in this primary report only.
Page references identify the supplied PDF; paragraph references identify the judgment unless stated otherwise.
AI disclosure & professional disclaimer
This AKHB research note was prepared with AI assistance from the identified primary report and has not been represented as independently human-reviewed.
General legal and tax research only; not legal or tax advice. Verify the complete judgment, governing statutory version and subsequent judicial treatment before reliance. The AKHB REVIEW POINT is editorial analysis, not the Court's holding, and no current-law clearance is claimed.