Power of attorney does not complete transfer for capital gains; registered sale deed date can trigger section 50C valuation.

A mere special power of attorney or facilitative arrangement, without proof of possession, consideration, or completion of part performance under section 2(47)(v) read with section 53A, does not amount to a transfer for capital gains purposes. On the facts stated, the assessee remained the owner until the registered sale deed was executed on 23.10.2007, so the transfer was treated as occurring on that date rather than in 1994. Section 50C was therefore applied by reference to the stamp valuation on the date of the registered sale, and the capital gains were held taxable in the relevant year of sale.

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Issues: Whether the transfer of the property took place in 1994 so as to keep the transaction outside the assessment year in question, and whether the sale consideration was liable to be substituted under section 50C on the basis of the stamp valuation as on 23.10.2007.

Analysis: The Special Power of Attorney did not establish extinguishment of the assessee's rights, transfer of possession, or completion of a contract of the nature contemplated by section 2(47)(v) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 read with section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. The record also did not show payment of consideration or transfer of ownership in 1994. The property was ultimately sold by registered sale deed on 23.10.2007, and the assessee herself remained the owner till then. On these facts, the earlier documents were only facilitative and did not amount to a completed transfer in 1994.

Conclusion: The transfer was rightly treated as having occurred on 23.10.2007, and section 50C was correctly invoked to adopt the stamp valuation for computing capital gains.

Final Conclusion: The capital gains were taxable in the relevant year of sale, and the assessee's challenge to the addition failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A mere power of attorney or facilitative arrangement, without proof of possession, consideration, and completion of a contract of part performance, does not constitute a transfer for capital gains purposes; where the registered sale deed is executed later, section 50C may be applied with reference to that later transfer.

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