Section 80IB(10) deduction available to a housing developer without land title when possession, control, and entrepreneurial risk are established.

Deduction under section 80IB(10) can be available to a housing-project developer even where legal title in the land is not in its name, if the developer has possession, dominant control, and bears the entrepreneurial risk of development and sale. On the stated facts, the assessee entered into development agreements, executed the project at its own cost and risk, fixed sale prices, received sale proceeds, and retained the project's profit and loss. These features showed de facto ownership and demonstrated that it was not a mere works contractor. The reported position is that ownership of title is not a prerequisite for the deduction where the developer has effectively undertaken the project.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to deduction under section 80IB(10) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 despite the land not standing in its name and the project approval being in the name of the society, and whether the assessee was merely a contractor.

Analysis: The assessee had entered into development agreements, obtained possession of the land, undertook the housing project at its own risk and cost, bore the expenditure, fixed the sale price, received the sale consideration, and retained the profit and loss of the project. On these facts, the assessee had acquired de facto ownership and dominant control over the project land and was not a mere works contractor. The factual matrix was found to be in line with the jurisdictional High Court's view that ownership of title in land is not a prerequisite for deduction under section 80IB(10) when the developer has obtained possession and executed the project as developer.

Conclusion: The disallowance of deduction under section 80IB(10) was not sustainable and the assessee was entitled to the deduction.

Ratio Decidendi: For deduction under section 80IB(10), a housing-project developer need not be the legal owner of the land if it has possession, dominant control, and bears the entrepreneurial risk of development and sale.

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