Completion Certificate evidence of project completion governs entitlement to housing-project deduction; certificate date satisfied statutory cutoff, deduction allowed.

Whether a housing-project deduction is allowable turned on the statutory requirement that completion be shown by a local authority completion certificate and the date of completion stated therein. The Tribunal held that where the assessee later furnished a competent authority certificate specifying completion before the statutory cutoff (March 2008), the condition is satisfied; the decisive inquiry is the completion date recorded in the certificate, not the physical date of issuance, and no remand to the AO was necessary. Outcome: appeals allowed and deduction under the provision accepted on the produced certificate.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's claim for deduction under Section 80IB(10) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 can be allowed where the completion certificate from the local authority (certifying completion prior to 31.3.2008) was produced after assessment proceedings and where the Assessing Officer had earlier recorded absence of such certificate in response to summons under Section 133(6).

Analysis: The Tribunal considered the statutory requirement in Section 80IB(10) that the date of completion is the date on which the completion certificate in respect of the housing project is issued by the local authorities, and the practical process by which local authorities verify and record completion. The Tribunal noted that the Assessing Officer had obtained information under Section 133(6) indicating no completion certificate at that time, but later the assessee produced a certificate from the competent local authority expressly stating the project was completed in March 2008. The Tribunal observed that the critical inquiry is the date of completion mentioned in the certificate, not the date on which the local authority physically issued the certificate, and that the assessee had done what was within its control to inform and obtain verification from the local authority. Where the certificate furnished by the assessee clearly specifies completion prior to 31.3.2008, the statutory condition for claiming deduction under Section 80IB(10) is satisfied and there is no need for a further remand to the Assessing Officer.

Conclusion: The assessee's appeals are allowed and the claim under Section 80IB(10) is accepted on the basis of the completion certificate showing completion in March 2008; the appeals are allowed in favour of the assessee.

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