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2022 (9) TMI 80 - AT - Income TaxDeduction u/s.80IB(10) - Denial of deduction as assessee failed to complete the project within the time stipulated as per the provisions of section 80IB(10) - Date of completion of the housing project - HELD THAT:- There is no reference to the alleged completion letter dated 7.3.2012 in such a Certificate. Further, the completion letter dated 24.9.2012 also does not refer to the alleged completion letter of 7.3.2012. Even otherwise, the letter dated 24.9.2012 also does not talk of the completion of construction in full. It says that: `Now, the entire project is virtually complete on the site’. When the project was not fully complete but only virtually complete on 24.9.2012, it obviously, could not have been completed more than six months before that on 7.3.2012. We, therefore, treat the alleged earlier letter of 7.3.2012 as farce, whose even furnishing to the competent authority is unproved. Even if the letter is assumed as genuine, it does not indicate the final completion of construction, which was even not fully complete by 24.9.2012. In such a situation, we find it difficult to accept the contention of the assessee that the construction was completed on 7.3.2012 so as to qualify as the date of completion certificate. The sequitur is that the construction was completed after 24.9.2012 but before 30.3.2013, when the construction got fully completed beyond the virtual completion. Date of approval of the housing project by the local authority - The housing project was approved on 30.03.2007 and a period of five years from the end of the financial year in which the housing project was approved by the local authority, came to an end on 31-03-2012. Since the actual completion of the project took place between 24-09-2012 (when the assessee intimated the factum of virtual completion of the project to the District Collector) and 30.3.2013 (when the completion certificate was issued by the competent authority), the condition of completing the construction within a period of five years from the end of the financial year in which the housing project was approved, got vitiated, making the assessee ineligible for deduction u/s.80IB(10) of the Act. We, therefore, overturn the impugned order and restore the order of the AO. Levy of tax u/s.115JC - assessee computed its income under the regular provisions and also the adjusted total income u/s.115JC - HELD THAT:- AR contended that though this section is applicable to the year under consideration, but it should not be applied because the housing project was approved in an earlier year, when this section was not in vogue. We do not find any logic in the interpretation of this provision as made by the AR. This section applies as one unit for a previous year, when the income under the regular provisions is less than the adjusted income under it. Neither section 115JC excludes its application in respect of housing projects approved prior to its insertion nor section 80IB(10) contains any such stipulation. As this section applies to a previous year, it cannot be construed to have applicability in part qua the other incomes and inapplicability in respect of income from the housing projects approved u/s 80IB(1) prior to its coming into force. If the contention of the ld. AR is taken to a logical conclusion, it would mean that the section shall apply in a truncated manner, so as not to apply in respect of income from the housing projects approved earlier but apply in respect of the projects approved after the cut-off date and also other items of income, which is patently fallacious having no legal sanction. The contention of the assessee does not hold water because the assessee is seeking non-application of section 115JC on the strength of a decision, which does not have such a point raised before it. In the hue of foregoing discussion, we are satisfied that there is no merit in the ground raised by the assessee in its cross objection.
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