2010 (12) TMI 1168 - AT - Income Tax

Summary

Issues involved:
The judgment involves the issue of whether the compensation received by the assessee for allowing the laying of an underground gas pipeline on their agricultural land should be treated as a capital receipt liable to capital gain tax.

Summary:
The appeal was filed by the Assessee against the order of the Learned CIT(Appeals)-II, Surat directing the computation of capital gain arising from the treatment of the received amount as a capital receipt not liable to tax. The Assessing Officer assessed the compensation received from Gujarat Gas Co. as income, while the assessee considered it a capital receipt. The Learned CIT(Appeals) accepted it as a capital receipt subject to capital gain tax.

Upon hearing both sides, it was noted that a Co-ordinate Bench had previously held that the compensation received did not arise from the transfer of a capital asset and was not chargeable to capital gain tax since there was no transfer of the agricultural land. Therefore, the directions of the Learned CIT(Appeals) were modified, and the appeal of the Assessee was allowed.

The judgment emphasized that since no asset was transferred, and the assessee remained the owner of the agricultural land, the compensation received was deemed a capital receipt not chargeable to tax. Following the precedent set by the Co-ordinate Bench, the directions of the Learned CIT(Appeals) were modified accordingly, leading to the allowance of the Assessee's appeal.

The order was signed, dated, and pronounced in the Court on 16/12/2010.