Purchase of new house
Date of purchase - For the purpose of section 54, the date of agreement to purchase should be taken as the date of purchase and the date of registration of sale deed for purchase is not relevant - CIT v. R.L. Sood [2000] 108 Taxman 227/245 ITR 727 (Delhi).
Purchase need not necessarily be on ‘cash and carry’ basis - The word ‘purchase’ in section 54 must be interpreted in its ordinary meaning, as buying for a price or equivalent of price by payment in kind or adjustment towards an old debt or for other monetary consideration. There is no stress in the section on ‘cash and carry’. Thus, where the eldest brother in a coparcenary comprising four brothers sold his own house and acquired the common house from his three brothers who executed release deeds for a consideration, there was a ‘purchase’ by the eldest brother of the share of each of the brothers for a price - CIT v. T.N. Aravinda Reddy [1979] 1 Taxman 40 (AP)/120 ITR 46 (SC).
‘Purchase’ does not mean that the new house must be registered in assessee’s name - For the purpose of attracting the provisions of section 54, it is not necessary that the assessee should become the owner of the property purchased. The word ‘purchase’ occurring in section 54(1) has to be given its common meaning, viz., buy for a price or equivalent of price by payment in kind or adjustment towards a debt or for other monetary consideration. Therefore, for the purpose of applicability of section 54, registration of the document is not imperative - Balraj v. CIT [2002] 123 Taxman 290/254 ITR 22 (Delhi).
Holding of legal title within prescribed time is not a pre-condition - Taking into consideration the letter well as the spirit of section 54 and the word ‘towards’ used before the word ‘purchase’ in section 54(2), it seems that the word ‘purchase’ is not used in the sense of legal transfer and therefore, the holding of a legal title within a period of one year is not a condition precedent for attracting section 54 - CIT v. Dr. Laxmichand Narpal Nagda [1995] 211 ITR 804 (Bom.).
Date of taking possessions relevant for computing time-limit - Date of taking over possession of property purchased, and not the date of registration of sale in favour of the assessee, is relevant for computing the prescribed time-limit - CIT v. Mrs. Shahzada Begum [1988] 173 ITR 397 (AP).
Purchase of portion of self-occupied house is also eligible for exemption - Section 54 nowhere states that a residential house which is purchased by the assessee so as to avail the exemption should not be the one in which the assessee was residing. One cannot argue that assessee is not entitled to exemption under section 54 merely because the assessee was residing in the house which was purchased by him.
Thus, where the assessee sold a house property owned by her and out of the sale proceeds purchased 15 per cent share in another house property owned by her husband and son, exemption was allowable even though the assessee was residing in the said house prior to purchase, and continued to reside in the same house after purchase - CIT v. Chandanben Maganlal [2002] 120 Taxman 38 (Guj.).
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