Bahadur Singh Vs CIT (Appeals) Faridabad And Another (Punjab and Haryana High Court)
Summary: The Punjab and Haryana High Court considered an appeal under Section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 filed by Bahadur Singh against the orders of the authorities below declining exemption under Section 54B of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
The appellant’s case was that he and his three brothers had sold jointly owned land and that, in respect of his one-fourth share, he purchased land in the name of his wife and claimed exemption under Section 54B. The authorities below declined the exemption by relying upon the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision in Commissioner of Income-Tax, Faridabad vs. Shri Dinesh Verma, ITA No.381 of 2014, decided on 06.07.2015. The judgment in Dinesh Verma is available as a TaxGuru-hosted copy of the High Court judgment and records the Court’s view that Section 54B does not extend the exemption where the subsequent agricultural property is purchased by a person other than the assessee, including a close relative such as the assessee’s wife or children.
Before the High Court, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the decision in Dinesh Verma had not considered CIT vs. Gurnam Singh, reported at (2010) 327 ITR 278, and contended that, in view of Gurnam Singh, the appellant was entitled to exemption under Section 54B.
