TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (8) TMI 808
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....aw, Ld. CIT(A) has erred in not considering the fact that the Assessing Officer is within his right to adopt the sale consideration as per the valuation of stamp duty authority which is higher than the value declared by the assessee." The matter was heard at length. 3. Qua the first ground, the Revenue's case is that while all the fifteen (15) conveyance deeds, per which the land in question was conveyed by the assessee, were produced before the first appellate authority, only one copy was supplied to the assessing authority. Toward this, the ld. AR clarified that all the relevant material was before the Assessing Officer (AO), and there has been no wrong assumption of any fact by him in deciding the assessee's case. Reference was made by him to the observation by the ld. CIT(A) to this effect in the operating part of his impugned order. Further, copy of the assessees's letter dated 16-07- 2008 to the AO was placed by him on record to exhibit that one copy each of the two deeds dated 15-01-1998 and 26-05-2006, i.e., the two dates on which the entire bunch of 15 deeds were executed, were filed as specimen copies before the AO; the other deeds being identical in all other respects.....
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....ter of transfer, being land, the same would apply, and thus stands rightly invoked by the AO. The assessee's case, and on the basis of which it found favour with the first appellate authority, is that the transfer in the first five (5) cases stood effected much prior the relevant year, i.e., on 15-01-1998, so that it could not be subject to the rigor of section 50C. In fact, there is no dispute between the sale value adopted by the assessee and that assessed by the Stamp Valuation Authority ('SVA' for short) in these cases. For the balance 10 (ten), the assessment by the SVA took place only on 27-11-2007, i.e., subsequent to the date of transfer. The words "or assessable" in s. 50C(1) stand inserted in the section only by Finance (No.2) Act 2009, with effect from 1-10-2009. The amendment is prospective and, as such, would have no application for the current year. That is, prior to 01-10-2009, it is only where the transfer under reference is subject to assessment by the SVA in the same year, i.e., the year of transfer, that the legal fiction per section 50C would come into play. Reliance is placed on the decisions in the case of ITO v. Mangal Shree Estate Ltd. (ITA No.88/Jp/2011 dat....
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....mpugned capital gains, being chargeable u/s. 45 for the current year, i.e., AY 2006-07, section 50C would be per se applicable. 4.6 Now let us examine the assessee's case, which is in two separate limbs, vis-à-vis the said provision. For the first five (5) deeds dated 15-01-1998, the issue is academic inasmuch as undisputedly there is no difference between the value assessed by the SVA and that disclosed by the assessee per the said deeds. There is no question, as has been done by the AO, of the value assessable for a subsequent year, i.e., subsequent to the assessment by the SVA, as being relevant or made applicable for the purpose of sec. 50C. As such, section 50C, though applicable in principle for the first 5 (five) deeds dated 15-01-1998, would be of no consequence, and no modification to the disclosed sale consideration could be made with reference to section 50C. 4.7 Next, we take up the assessee's case qua the balance ten (10) conveyance deeds for an aggregate disclosed sale consideration of Rs.96 lakhs, executed on 26-05-2006. The assessee's case is that the assessment of the fair market value of the property (land) by the SVA was done only on 27-11-2007 and, ther....
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....the case where the guideline value available (under the Stamp Act) is subject to revision at the relevant time, and a higher value is prescribed subsequently, albeit with retrospective effect. The words "or assessable" would make a distinction inasmuch as the latter prescription (of rate) could give rise to a controversy as to whether the transaction (of transfer) is at all covered u/s.50C, or if the higher value would hold, as the case may be. No such controversy is present in the instant case; we clarifying at the outset, and also confirmed during hearing, that a circle rate obtained in respect of the land under reference during the relevant year (i.e., the previous year relevant to AY 2006-07), and at which it stood assessed, though subsequently. We have, in fact, read the provision considering the words "or assessable" as not present in the provision. Merely because the assessment takes place subsequent to the relevant year, would not make u/s. 50C inapplicable where the transfer is otherwise covered by it. Once a circle rate has been prescribed by the competent authority for the purpose, i.e., the payment of stamp duty, which is a pre-requisite for the registration of any tran....