Government presents New Bill amending the Registration Act, 1908 - introducing transparency and accessibility in the system of Land registration

. . . a move towards a system of conclusive land titles

Flipping through the pages of today's economic times, i have come across this very important legal amendments proposed to be introduced by the Government vide bill.

The bill relates amendments to be made in the Registration Act, 1908. Economic Times has reported out that, the bill has been introduced with a view to curb corruption in the land and real estate deals. Changes in the registration Act includes mandatory registration of power of attorney transfers, registration of property in the state where it is located, allowing inspection of registered documents. 

It also states that, the main objective of introducing such changes in the act would bring more clarity in determining the market value of land, thereby helping the collector to arrive at a more equitable value of the land during the process of acquisition. The formula that is to be used for calculating compensation is the current market or registered value of land. It has also been reported that, if the registration is been made mandatory and frequent, the same could easily be vetted and reviewed by people for over a longer period of time. Hence, there would be accuracy in the reporting of land rates, especially in the rural areas. 

The proposed amendments as reported are as follows:

1. Compulsory registration of power of attorney and certificate of sale.

This has been proposed in order to curb the practice of transfer of property without registration and payment of requisite stamp duty as determined by the state and registration duties.

2. Documents related to the transfer can only be registered in the states where the property is situated. 

This proposed change has been introduced by keeping in view the prevailing anomalous situation. Presently, people owing property in more than one state can register property in any of the states in which they own property, irrespective of the location. This is where people pay the lowest stamp duty, thereby resulting into huge revenue loss. 

3. Registered documents will now be made available for public inspection. This will allow verification of ownership/ title.

4. Registration officers has now have the right to refuse registration in case where the documents pertains to transfer of property belonging to the government/ charities or under litigation or where the transfer has been banned by the state government.

Considering all the above proposed amendments, we know that the main intent of the registration act, 1908 is to ensure availability of all deals relating to the land and property, so as to ensure accuracy in the land records. Hence, the bill stating the proposed amendments is about bringing in the transparency in the sale and purchase of land by way of introducing accessibility in the system of land registration. 

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CBDT procedure and criteria for selection of scrutiny cases for the financial year 2013-14

INSTRUCTION NO 10/2013, Dated: August 5, 2013

Subject: Procedure and criteria for selection of scrutiny cases under compulsory manual during the financial-year 2013-2014-regd.

In supersession of earlier instructions on the above subject, the Board hereby lays down the following procedure and criteria for manual selection of returns/cases for scrutiny during the financial-year 2013-2014:

2. The targets for completion of scrutiny assessments and strategy of framing quality assessments as contained in Central Action plan document for Financial Year 2013-2014 has to be complied with. It is being reiterated that all scrutiny assessments including the cases selected under manual criteria will be completed through AST system software only.

3. The following categories of cases / returns shall be compulsorily scrutinized:-

a) Cases where value of international transaction as defined u/s 92B of IT Act exceeds Rs. 15 crores.

b) Cases involving addition in an earlier assessment year on the issue of transfer pricing in excess of Rs. 10 Crores or more which is confirmed in appeal or is pending before an appellate authority.

c) Cases involving addition in an earlier assessment year in excess of Rs. 10 lacs on a substantial and recurring question of law or fact which is confirmed in appeal or is pending before an appellate authority.

d) all assessments pertaining to Survey under section 133A of the IT Act excluding the cases where there are no impounded books of accounts/documents and returned income excluding any disclosure made during the Survey is not less than returned income of preceding assessment year. However, where assessee retracts the disclosure made during the Survey will not be covered by this exclusion.

e) Assessment in search and seizure cases to be made under sections 158B, 158BC, 158BD, 153A & 153C read with 143(3) of the IT Act.

f) All returns filed in response to notice u/s 147/148 of the IT Act.

g) Cases claiming exemption of income u/s 11 or u/s 10(23C) which are hit by proviso(s) to Section 2(15) of IT Act.

h) Entities which received Donations from countries abroad in excess of Rs. One crore during the Financial Year 2011-2012 (relevant for the A.Yr. 2012-2013) under the provisions of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). Such Information is maintained by Ministry of Home Affairs and is available on its Website (http://mha.nic.in/fcra.htm). Respective Cadre-Controlling chief Commissioners / Directors – General of Income-tax may identify the cases pertaining to their respective jurisdiction after downloading from the website and disseminate the information to various field offices.

i) Cases in respect of which information is received from other Government Department(s) or other authorities pointing out tax-evasion. The Assessing Officer shall record reasons in such cases and take approval from jurisdictional CCIT/DGIT before selecting such case for scrutiny.

4. In order to ensure the quality of assessment orders, CCsIT/DGsIT would evolve suitable monitoring mechanism. They shall analyse at least 50 quality assessments of their respective charges and send the report to respective Zonal Member with copy to Member (IT) with suggestions for improvement by 30th April, 2014. CCsIT/DGsIT would further ensure that cases selected for publication in ‘let us share’ are picked up from quality assessments as reported.

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