DIVVI SURYANARAYANA MURTHY Vs. COMPETENT AUTHORITY IAC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is directed against the judgment dated July 28, 1975 of Chinnappa Reddy J. in W.P. No. 3928/73 [reported in ] dismissing the same. The facts are these :

(2.) BEFORE the learned single judge, Mr. Y. V. Anjaneyulu who was appearing for the petitioner had argued that the sale deed was executed on October 28, 1972, but was registered on November 16, 1972, i.e., after the coming into force of Chapter XX-A of the Act; therefore, having regard to the provisions of Section 47 of the Indian Registration Act, the sale deed would be deemed to operate from the date of its execution and not from the date of its registration, and since Chapter XX-A came into force on November 15, 1972, it did not apply to the sale deed in question. In support of that contention, Mr. Anjaneyulu had cited several rulings. That contention was not accepted by the single judge in view of the ruling of the Supreme Court in Ram Saran Loll v. Mst, Domini Kuer, . The learned single judge also was of the opinion that, having regard to the provisions of Section 269C of the Act read in conjunction with the definitions of the expressions "transfer" and "instrument of transfer" in Section 269A of the Act, Section 269C would apply to all cases of transfer of property which were completed on or after November 15, 1972, by registration of the instrument. He, therefore, dismissed the writ petition. Hence, this appeal.

(3.) EVEN otherwise, having regard to the relevant provisions of Chapter XX-A of the Act and Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, we are of the opinion that the sale deed in question was completed on November 16, 1972, and, therefore, Section 47 of the Indian Registration Act has no application. According to Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act," sale" has been denned as a transfer of ownership in exchange for a price paid or promised or part-paid and part-promised. A sale in the case of tangible immovable property of the value of one hundred rupees and upwards, or in the case of a reversion or other intangible thing, can be made only by a registered instrument. Therefore, under Section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, a sale of immovable property for a consideration of Rs. 100 or more is completed only by registration of the document, and until the sale deed is registered, no title in the property passes to the buyer. Clause (f) to Section 269A of the Act defines "instrument of transfer" to mean "the instrument of transfer registered under the Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908)" and according to Clause (h) "transfer ", in relation to any immovable property, means transfer of such property by way of sale or exchange under Section 269C of the Act, the competent authority appointed under Section 269B of the Act is entitled, to initiate proceedings for the aequisition of any immovable property where the competent authority has reason to believe that any immovable property of a fair market value exceeding Rs. 25,000 has been transferred by one person to another for an apparent consideration which is less than the fair market value of the property, and that the consideration for such transfer as agreed to between the parties has not been truly stated in the instrument of transfer with the object of facilitating the reduction or evasion of the liability of the transferor to pay tax under this Act in respect of any income arising from the transfer, or facilitating the concealment of any income or any moneys or other assets which have not been or which ought to be disclosed by the transferee for the purposes of the Indian I.T. Act, 1922, or the Act or the W.T. Act, 1957. The proviso to Section 269C provides for the recording of reasons by the competent authority for the initiation of such proceedings. under Section 269D of the Act, the competent authority will initiate proceedings for the acquisition under Chapter XX-A by issuing notice to that effect by way of publi-. cation in the Official Gazette provided that no such proceedings should be initiated in respect of any immovable property after the expiration of the period of nine months from the end of the month in which the instrument of transfer in respect of such property is registered under the Registration Act, 1908.. Section 269E provides for filing of objections by the person to whom notice has been issued and Section 269F provides for hearing of the objections. Subsection (6) of Section 269F of the Act empowers the competent authority, if after hearing the objections, if any, and after taking into account all the relevant material on record, it is satisfied that the immovable property to which the proceedings relate is of a fair market value exceeding Rs. 25,000, that the fair market value of such property exceeds the apparent consideration therefor by more than 15% of such apparent consideration and that the consideration for such transfer as agreed to between the parties has not been truly stated in the instrument of transfer with such object as is referred to in Clause (a) or Clause (b) of Sub-section (1) of Section 269C of the Act, to make an order for the acquisition of the property under the Chapter after obtaining the approval of the Commissioner.