TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2003 (10) TMI 30
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....n December 22, 1992, the petitioner entered into an agreement to purchase the aforenoted property for a total consideration of Rs. 20 lakhs with respondent No.2 (hereinafter referred to as "the vendor"). As per the agreement, the vendor was paid a sum of Rs. 1,50,000 by way of earnest money and the balance amount of Rs. 18,50,000 was to be paid at the time of registration of the conveyance deed with the Registrar of Assurances, New Delhi. A statement in Form No. 37-I under rule 48L of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, along with an agreement to sell was filed with the appropriate authority on January 4, 1993, seeking "no objection certificate" from the said authority. Upon consideration of the objections filed on behalf of the petitioner, the app....
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....est money and advance paid by him to the transferor but he is not entitled to claim refund by way of tender of such amount by the Central Government under section 269UG(1) of the Act. It is thus pleaded that there was no question of tendering any amount to the petitioner as claimed by him. In the affidavit filed by way of rejoinder to the reply affidavit, the petitioner has taken a new plea, namely, that the appropriate authority having failed to tender the amount of Rs. 1,50,000 paid by the petitioner to the vendor, within the time stipulated in section 269UG(1) of the Act, the purchase order stands abrogated under sub-section (1) of section 269UH of the Act. The stand of the petitioner is that as per section 269UG(1), he is also a person....
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....to be tendered by the Central Government, within a period of one month from the end of the month in which the property concerned becomes vested in the Central Government under sub-section (1), or, as the case may be, sub-section (6) of section 269UE of the Act. Without categorising the person or persons to whom the amount shall be tendered, the Legislature has employed the expression--"person or persons entitled thereto". The expression is again not defined in the Chapter. In the instant case, the controversy centres around the interpretation of the said expression. In support of the proposition that failure on the part of the Central Government to tender the earnest money paid by the petitioner to the vendor has resulted in the pre-emptiv....
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....ning of the expression "the person or persons entitled thereto" as appearing in section 269UG, observed that: "We have to go by the ordinary meaning of the expression and the context in which it has been used. The word 'entitle' means 'to give a claim, right or title to : to give a right to demand or receive, to furnish with grounds for claiming' (Law Lexicon, P. Ramanatha Aiyar, second edition). Examining the provisions of section 269UG in the light of section 55(6) of the Transfer of Property Act, it has been observed that unless during the course of proceedings under Chapter XX-C of the Act, the appropriate authority records a finding that the purchase money, which purports to have been paid by the transferee to the transferor is being c....
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....of the apparent consideration as is the subject-matter of dispute with the appropriate authority as provided by sub-section (2) of section 269UG. In either case the compliance must be made within a period of one month from the end of the month in which the immovable property concerned becomes vested in the Central Government. Failure to make such tender shall result in the pre-emptory purchase being abrogated and the immovable property shall stand revested in the transferor as provided by sub-section (1) of section 269UH." However, having expressed the above view, their Lordships did not go into the question, whether on account of non-tendering the amount to the vendees, the subject property stood revested in the vendor because a statement....
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.... contending that the purchase order stood abrogated on account of non-compliance with section 269UG(1) the Central Government sent a corrected cheque in the name of "Prima Realty". Admittedly, the new cheque was sent after the period prescribed under section 269UG(1) had expired. On these facts, the court held that the tender of amount of apparent consideration fell short by the amount for which the cheque was made and, therefore, there was clear non-compliance of the requirement of section 269UG(1) of the Act. The consequence envisaged by section 269UG of the Act ensued. From this decision, it is clear that the Supreme Court has been pleased to hold that if any amount is paid by the transferee/vendee as earnest money, he is also a person e....