JUDGMENT
1. The Income-tax Tribunal, Allahabad, has referred the following question of law under Section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the opinion of this court :
“Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was correct in law in holding that the gift of Rs. 50,000 (fifty thousand) made by means of a bank draft purchased on March 8, 1975, was not covered by the provisions of Section 64 of the Act ?”
2. In brief, the facts giving rise to this question are these. The assessee gifted a sum of Rs. 50,000–through bank draft dated March 8, 1975, to Km. Hem Lata. Subsequently, the assessee married Km. Hem Lata on March 13, 1975. The interest accrued on the amount gifted was included in the income of the assessee for the assessment year 1976-77. The assessee objected that since the gift of a sum of Rs. 50,000 was prior to the date of marriage and as such, interest accrued thereon cannot be included in his income. However, the Income-tax Officer disallowed the objection. On appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax, Range-II, Agra, deleted the addition of interest made by the Income-tax Officer. This view of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was confirmed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. The only question is as to whether any interest accrued on money gifted by an assessee to his spouse prior to the marriage is covered by Section 64 of the Income-tax Act.
3. Sub-suction (1) and Clause (11) of Sub-section (1) of Section 64 of the Income-tax Act run as under :
“(1) In computing the total Income of any individual, there shall be included all such income as arises directly or indirectly– ….
(ii) to the spouse of such individual by way of salary, commission, fees or any other form of remuneration whether in cash or in kind from a concern in which such individual has a substantial interest.”
4. The provisions quoted above clearly provide that if anything is gifted by an assessee to the spouse, only then the income derived from that amount can be added to the income of the assessee. In the present case, the gift was made by the assessee on March 8, 1975, through bank draft to his spouse which was the date prior to the date of marriage. Since the gift was made prior to the date of marriage by no stretch of imagination, can it be said that it was a gift to the spouse.
5. In such circumstances, the income derived from the gifted amount is not covered by Clause (ii) of Sub-section (1) of Section 64 of the Act.
6. In view of the above, we answer the question in the affirmative and against the Revenue with costs.