Completed bequest and title passing on assent governed section 54F ownership, defeating the exemption claim.

A completed bequest can amount to ownership for section 54F purposes even if mutation in revenue records is pending. The analysis states that title to a specific legacy passes on the executor's assent, which may be express or implied, and that probate, administration of the estate, and the parties' conduct may evidence such assent. Mutation in Land and Development Office records is evidentiary only and does not create ownership. On this reasoning, the Jor Bagh residential property was treated as already vested in the assessee, so she was regarded as owning another residential house on the relevant date and was not entitled to section 54F exemption.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to exemption under section 54F of the Income-tax Act, 1961, when she had a share in a residential property bequeathed under a will but mutation in revenue records had not yet been effected.

Analysis: The exemption under section 54F is unavailable if, on the relevant date, the assessee owns a residential house other than the new asset. The dispute turned on whether the Jor Bagh property had vested in the assessee as a completed bequest. The will had been probated, the executors had administered the estate, and the conduct of the executors and legatees showed assent to the disposition. Under the Indian Succession Act, the executor represents the estate until administration is completed, but title to a specific bequest passes on assent, which may be express or implied. Mutation in Land and Development Office records was treated as evidentiary and not constitutive of ownership. The demand for unearned increase by the lessor did not prevent completion of the bequest in favour of the assessee, and the property had already been distributed for the purposes of title.

Conclusion: The assessee was the owner of the residential property at Jor Bagh for the purpose of section 54F and was not entitled to the exemption.

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