Registered sale deed governs capital gains timing; later possession receipt cannot override completed transfer for tax purposes.

Capital gains from transfer of immovable property are taxable in the year the registered sale deed is executed and consideration is received, where the deed itself records delivery of possession. A later possession receipt cannot override the legal effect of the completed registered transfer. Consistency in co-owners' assessments or in a subsequent year does not create a lawful basis to delete the addition if the earlier year is the correct year of taxability. To prevent double taxation, the same gain should be excluded from the later year and the assessment recomputed in accordance with law after giving the assessee an opportunity on valuation matters.

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Issues: (i) Whether the capital gains from the transfer of immovable property were taxable in the year of execution of the registered sale deed and receipt of consideration, or in the later year on the basis of the possession receipt relied upon by the assessee. (ii) Whether deletion of the capital gains addition could be sustained on the basis that the same transaction had been accepted in the hands of co-owners and in the subsequent assessment year. (iii) Whether, if the gain was taxable in the earlier year, relief was required to prevent double taxation by excluding the same gain from the subsequent year and recomputing the assessment in accordance with law.

Issue (i): Whether the capital gains from the transfer of immovable property were taxable in the year of execution of the registered sale deed and receipt of consideration, or in the later year on the basis of the possession receipt relied upon by the assessee.

Analysis: The transfer was held to have taken effect on the date of execution and presentation of the registered sale deed, when the full consideration had been received and possession was acknowledged as delivered in the deed itself. The later possession receipt was treated as incapable of displacing the evidentiary and legal effect of the registered instrument. The character of the transaction was therefore governed by the completed transfer reflected in the sale deed, and not by the subsequent self-serving document.

Conclusion: The capital gains were taxable in the year of execution of the registered sale deed, and the assessee's contrary claim for the later year was rejected.

Issue (ii): Whether deletion of the capital gains addition could be sustained on the basis that the same transaction had been accepted in the hands of co-owners and in the subsequent assessment year.

Analysis: Uniformity in assessment cannot validate an approach that is contrary to law. Parity based on an incorrect view taken in other cases does not create a legal entitlement, and the assessee can rely only on a sustainable and lawful view. The Tribunal therefore declined to uphold deletion merely because the transaction had been accepted differently in co-owners' cases or in the later year.

Conclusion: The reasoning based on consistency and co-owner treatment was not accepted as a ground to sustain deletion.

Issue (iii): Whether, if the gain was taxable in the earlier year, relief was required to prevent double taxation by excluding the same gain from the subsequent year and recomputing the assessment in accordance with law.

Analysis: Since the assessee had already offered the same capital gain in the subsequent year and had also challenged the later-year inclusion, a direction was warranted to prevent the same income from being taxed twice. The assessment was also required to be recomputed after giving the assessee an opportunity to object to the valuation adopted where the DVO report had not been received in time.

Conclusion: The Assessing Officer was directed to exclude the capital gain from the subsequent year and recompute the long-term capital gain in accordance with law after granting opportunity to the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was not entertained on the assessee's challenge to the deletion because the Tribunal ultimately held the capital gain taxable in the earlier year, while simultaneously protecting the assessee against double taxation by issuing consequential directions for the later year and for fresh computation.

Ratio Decidendi: For capital gains arising from transfer of immovable property, the decisive event is the completed transfer evidenced by the registered sale deed and receipt of consideration, and a later self-serving possession receipt or an inconsistent treatment in other assessments cannot override the legal effect of that completed transfer.

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