Anadi Tewari
A writ petition has been moved before the Delhi High Court seeking issuance of direction to the Union for extension of the timeline provided under Section 54 of the Income Tax Act.
In view of the severe COVID-19 pandemic which has impacted the lives of everyone in India, there are a special class of citizens who have been adversely affected financially whilst everyone else has given various reliefs, exemptions accommodations etc, those who had to sell/buy a residential property so as to benefit of Section 54 of the Income-tax act have been given step-motherly treatment,” the plea stated.
Under Section 54 of the Income Tax Act, a citizen who needs to sell a residential property can avail tax exemptions from Capital Gains if the capital gains are invested in the purchase or construction of the residential property. In order to avail of this benefit, the person would be required to invest the whole proceeds of the sale of the property into purchasing another property but within 2 years of the sale.
“For the benefit of exemptions under Section 54, one has to venture out and come in contact with various persons, which various persons, which given the pandemic situation and lockdown imposed by the government would not be possible,” the plea stated while seeking direction for extension of this 2 years timeline.
The petition stated that due to the severe pandemic and the lockdown imposed by the government across India such class of people have not been able to conclude the aforesaid transactions as either the government itself has restricted it or the buyer/seller has succumbed to this COVID-19 pandemic.
“The omission of Respondents to extend the timelines for Section 54 of the Income Tax Act along with various other sections is not only violative of Article 21 but of Article 14 of the Constitution of India as well,” the plea argued.
The matter has been listed today before the bench of Justice Rekha Palli.
The petition has been filed by Advocates Praveen K. Sharma, Ishma Randhawa and Dhananjay Grover.