@ Ashwin Kumar: My Dear....... usually I do not follow my own post, or any attended threads but LBC.......
In practical life, you will come across many such controversial issues, verdicts...... Which are said to be interpretations of mind which is not directly specified in the act or law............
Here........
A judgement delivered by a Chennai Tribunal (ACIT v C.Ramabrahmam) in 2012, states that a person can claim benefit under both Section 24 and Section 48.
After perusing the above said provisions, we are of the opinion that deduction under section 24(b) and computation of capital gains under section 48 of the “Act” are altogether covered by different heads of income i.e., income from ‘house property’ and ‘capital gains’. Further, a perusal of both the provisions makes it unambiguous that none of them excludes operative of the other. In other words, a deduction under section 24(b) is claimed when concerned assessee declares income from ‘house property’, whereas, the cost of the same asset is taken into consideration when it is sold and capital gains are computed under section 48. We do not have even a slightest doubt that the interest in question is indeed an expenditure in acquiring the asset. Since both provisions are altogether different, the assessee in the instant case is certainly entitled to include the interest amount at the time of computing capital gains under section 48 of the “Act”.
Similarly,
the Bangalore bench of the tribunal took a contrary view, holding that such interest on housing loan is not deductible in computing the capital gains, in a situation where the interest has been claimed as a deduction while computing income from house property.
The Bangalore tribunal relied upon a decision of the Karnataka High Court in the context of interest on a loan taken for the acquisition of shares, at a point of time when the dividends were taxable, and interest on loans taken for acquisition of shares was allowable as a deduction against such dividends. The Karnataka High Court had held that if the interest had been allowed as a deduction against the dividends, it would not form part of the cost of acquisition of the shares.
Today, the position is that claiming an expenditure both under the head ‘income from house property’ as well as in computing the capital gains for such interest on housing loan would certainly invite litigation, as the matter would be disputed by the tax authorities, possibly all the way up to the Supreme Court. One would, therefore, have to weigh the benefit in possible tax saving, against the costs of litigation.