1992 (5) TMI 11

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..... tax Officer was legally correct in coming to a finding that once the sale deed was registered, the transfer was complete and any stipulation in the deed of sale to the contrary was irrelevant ? (3) Whether by mere execution of a deed of sale and registration thereof, there could be transfer of an immovable property without effective conveyance of the same to the transferee ? (4) Whether, 'transfer' according to section 2(47) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, must mean effective conveyance of the capital asset to the transferee ? " The relevant facts and circumstances of the case lie in a short compass. The assessee is an individual. During the previous year relating to the assessment year 1977-78, he sold 49 kathas and 91/2 dhoors of land .....

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..... no hesitation in holding that the properties do not necessarily pass as soon as the instrument is registered, for the true test is the intention of the parties. Registration is prima facie proof of an intention to transfer, but it is no proof of an operative transfer if there is a condition precedent as to the payment of consideration or delivery of the deed. Thus the seller may retain the deed pending payment of price and, in that case, there is no transfer until the price is paid and the deed is delivered. To substantiate my above view, I may first refer to a Bench decision of the Calcutta High Court in the case of Nitai Chandra Naskar v. Smt. Champaklata Debi reported in [1919] 29 CLJ 250, wherein while referring to section 54 of the .....

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..... place. The word "transfer" has been defined under section 2(47) of the Act which provides that, in relation to a capital asset, transfer includes the sale, exchange or relinquishment of the asset or the extinguishment of any rights therein or the compulsory acquisition thereof under any law. In the present case, we are concerned with the transfer of an immovable property by way of sale. In the absence of any provision to the contrary, the concept of sale of an immovable property which is included in the expression "capital asset" as defined under section 2(14) of the Act, has to be gathered from section 54 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. In the present case, from the statement of case itself as drawn up and sent to this court by t .....

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