CBDT circular 4 March 1976
Circular No. 191
Section 230A l Restrictions on Registration of Transfers of Immovable Property
What this is
Circular No. 191 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 4 March 1976. Its subject is Section 230A l Restrictions on Registration of Transfers of Immovable Property.
What it does
Holds that section 230A does not apply where the Government is the transferor. Section 230A restricted registration of documents transferring immovable property unless an income-tax clearance certificate was produced. The Board is advised that the word 'person' in section 230A is used only in the context of entities required to pay income-tax and the other taxes named in section 230A(1)(a). It follows that no clearance certificate is needed for registration of documents in which the Government is the transferor.
Why it was issued
The Board considered the question whether a certificate under section 230A was necessary where the Government was the transferor.
Who it reaches
- Registering authorities handling conveyances by Government
- Purchasers taking immovable property from Government
- Government departments and offices executing transfer deeds
- Assessing Officers issuing certificates under section 230A
The provisions it speaks to
Left, the provision of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as the instrument itself names it. Right, the section of the Income-tax Act, 2025 that the department’s own concordance maps it to — which is where the same ground is now covered.
| Under the 1961 Act | Now |
|---|
| s.230A | no counterpart recorded |
The instrument, as the Board published it
The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.
SECTION 230A l RESTRICTIONS ON REGISTRATION OF TRANSFERS OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
1227. Whether income-tax clearance certificate under the section is necessary in a case where Government is transferor
The Board have considered the question whether an Income-tax clearance certificate under section 230A is necessary in a case where the Government is a transferor. They are advised that the expression "person" appearing in section 230A has been used only in the context of those entities which are required to pay income-tax and taxes under various Acts mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (1) thereof. It, therefore, follows that section 230A is not applicable to those cases which involve registration of documents in which the Government is a transferor.
Circular : No. 191 [ F. No. 358/9/73-IT(WT)], dated 4-3-1976.
What to watch
- The relief runs only where the Government is the transferor; the certificate requirement is untouched where a Government body is the transferee or where the seller is a Government company or corporation, which the circular does not deal with.
- The reasoning is that Government is not a 'person' liable to the taxes named in section 230A(1)(a) — so it depends on the identity of the transferor, not on the nature of the property.
- Section 230A and its clearance certificate regime belong to the law as it then stood.
- The circular says nothing about any other clearance or approval a transfer may need.
Where you meet it
At the Sub-Registrar's office, where registration of a transfer deed is held up for want of a certificate under section 230A.
On the same provision
Other instruments in this library that name the same provision of the 1961 Act. They are not necessarily still operative, and a later one may have replaced an earlier one without saying so.
- Notification No. 1534 — Provisions of sub-section (1) of the said section shall not apply to :--
(a) a Government company as defined in sectio 24 March 1976
- Notification No. 144 — Provisions sub-section (1) of the said section shall not apply to--
(a) a banking company as defined in clause (c) of 9 July 1974
- Notification No. 143 — Provisions of sub-section (1) of the said section shall not apply to an authority as is referred to in clause (20A) of s 21 May 1974
A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.
Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.