Pre payment of housing loan eligible for deduction u/s 80c?

Pre-payment of housing amount is not eligible for deduction under Sec 80C as the Sec 80C(c)(xviii) reads as under :

".............any instalment or part payment of the amount due....................."

In case of pre-payment, the amount, you are paying, is not due for payment and hence does not meet the criteria for dedcution under Sec 80C

Income Tax Department Blog To Answer Tax Queries

Important link:

https://www.labnol.org/india/law/income-tax-department-blog-to-answer-tax-queries/325/

I think that the repayment of the loan would be eligible for deduction u/s 80C, as the section 80C states any amount whihc is due to a finance co, whihc means that the assessee is liable to the finance co to square up the loan.

As per section 80c:

80C (xviii)  for the purposes of purchase or construction of a residential house property the income from which is chargeable to tax under the  head "Income from house property" (or which would, if it had not been used for the assessee's own residence, have been chargeable to tax under that head), where such payments are made towards or by way of-

a)....

b)....

c)  repayment of the amount borrowed by the assessee 

There is no specification that the amount should be due to the bank / financial institution and thus assessee would be eligible to claim deduction u/s 80C on pre payment of housing loan.

not eligible

Dear friends, Please advise whether pre-paymnet of housing loan eligible for deduction u/s 80C (principal amount) ?? Regards,