Substitution of FMV of 1-4-2001 for pre-independence ancestral property 

Facts: Assessee a scion of royal lineage sold a land for 4.5 lakhs whose market value was 11.37 lakhs. The entire 11.37 was considered as capital gain as assessee could not produce documentation of cost of acquisition of the pre-independence ancestral land which was sold. Lower authorities took cost of acquisition as NIL considering the age of the land and the absence of evidential documents by the assessee. On higher appeal by the assessee - 

Held in favour of the assessee that the FMV of 1-4-1981 (AY 2009-10 or earlier hence) will need to be substituted as the cost of acquisition as per law and indexation benefit be granted to the assessee.

Case: KBM Nagendra Sethupathy v. ITO 2023 TaxPub(DT) 530 (Chen-Trib)