Appellate Tribunal upholds deduction u/s 80IB for housing project despite lack of local authority approval

The Appellate Tribunal ITAT Ahmedabad dismissed the revenue's appeal against the CIT(A)'s order allowing deduction u/s 80 IB (1) to the assessee for the assessment year 2005-06. The Tribunal relied on previous decisions supporting the assessee's position, despite the absence of local authority approval for housing projects development. The revenue's appeal was rejected as the Tribunal found consistency in decisions favoring the assessee on similar issues for the relevant assessment year.

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Issues involved: Appeal by revenue challenging CIT(A)'s order allowing deduction u/s 80 IB (1) to assessee without local authority approval for housing projects development.

Summary:
The Appellate Tribunal ITAT Ahmedabad heard the appeal by the revenue against the CIT(A)'s order for the assessment year 2005-06. The main ground of appeal was the allowance of deduction u/s 80 IB (1) to the assessee without the necessary approval from the local authority for developing housing projects. The assessee's counsel argued that previous decisions by ITAT Ahmedabad Benches favored the assessee on similar issues for earlier and subsequent assessment years. The revenue's appeal was based on the AO's order, which the DR could not counter. The Tribunal noted that previous decisions supported the assessee's position for the relevant assessment year, as the facts were similar to previous and subsequent years. Therefore, the Tribunal decided in favor of the assessee, dismissing the revenue's appeal.

In conclusion, the Tribunal dismissed the revenue's appeal, upholding the deduction u/s 80 IB (1) for the assessee despite the lack of local authority approval for housing projects development.

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