Section 269G Income Tax Act, 1961: Appeal Against Acquisition Order

Section 269G of the Income-tax Act, 1961 provided an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against an order for acquisition of immovable property made by the competent authority under Section 269F. It formed part of Chapter XXA, the historical framework for acquisition of certain immovable properties to counteract tax evasion.

Legal status: historical Chapter XXA provision

Under Section 269RR, Chapter XXA does not apply to transfers of immovable property made after 30 September 1986. The appeal mechanism described below must therefore not be confused with an appeal route for a new property transaction. The Income-tax Act, 2025 commenced on 1 April 2026, subject to applicable saving and transitional provisions. Historic cases must be assessed by reference to their dates and the applicable saving provisions.

What Section 269G provided

The section addressed who could appeal against a Chapter XXA acquisition order, the time for filing, the prescribed form and fee, the hearing procedure, correction of mistakes, finality, the target time for disposal and application of the Tribunal's procedural powers.

Who could appeal and within what time?

Transferor, transferee and persons served under Section 269F(8): within 45 days from the acquisition order or 30 days from service of a copy of the order, whichever expired later.
Other persons interested in the immovable property: within 45 days from the date of the order.
Extension: the historical proviso allowed the Tribunal to grant further time on an application made before the original period expired, if sufficient cause was shown. It was not an unrestricted power to condone delay.

Hearing, orders and procedural safeguards

An appeal had to be filed in the prescribed form, verified in the prescribed manner and accompanied by the statutory fee of Rs. 200 stated in the source text. The Tribunal was to notify the appellant and competent authority of the hearing, give both an opportunity to be heard, and then pass an appropriate order.

Under subsection (5), the Tribunal could rectify a mistake apparent from the record within 30 days of its order, with a hearing required before a prejudicial amendment. Subsection (7) made the Tribunal's appellate order final subject to Section 269H, which provided for an appeal to the High Court. Subsection (8) called for expeditious disposal, with an endeavour to dispose of appeals within 90 days; this was an endeavour, not an automatic expiry of jurisdiction.

Section 269G: statutory text from the original webpage

The nine subsections below preserve the uploaded page's substantive text, with broken paragraph markup repaired for readability. Superscript-style amendment markers in the original are retained as ordinary numbers; see the legislative notes following the text.

Subsection 1. An appeal may be preferred to the Appellate Tribunal against the order for the acquisition of any immovable property made by the competent authority under section 269F,- (a) by the transferor or the transferee or any other person referred to in sub-section (8) of that section, within a period of forty-five days from the date of such order or a period of thirty days from the date of service of a copy of the order on such person under the said sub-section, whichever period expires later; (b) by any other person interested in such immovable property, within forty-five days from the date of such order: Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may, on an application made in this behalf before the expiry of the said period of forty-five days or, as the case may be, thirty days, permit, by order, the appeal to be presented within such further period as may be specified therein if the applicant satisfies the Appellate Tribunal that he has sufficient cause for not being able to present the appeal within the said period of forty-five days or, as the case may be, thirty days.

Subsection 2. Every appeal under this section shall be in the prescribed form and shall be verified in the prescribed manner and shall be accompanied by a fee of 1 two hundred rupees.

Subsection 3. The Appellate Tribunal shall fix a day and place for the hearing of the appeal and shall give notice of the same to the appellant and to the competent authority.

Subsection 4. The Appellate Tribunal may, after giving the appellant and the competent authority an opportunity of being heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit.

Subsection 5. The Appellate Tribunal may, at any time within thirty days from the date of the order, with a view to rectifying any mistake apparent from the record, amend any order passed by it under sub-section (4) and shall make such amendment if the mistake is brought to its notice by the appellant or the competent authority: Provided that if any such amendment is likely to affect any person prejudicially, it shall not be made without giving to such person a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Subsection 6. The Appellate Tribunal shall send a copy of any orders passed under this section to the appellant and to the 2 Principal Commissioner or Commissioner.

Subsection 7. Save as provided in section 269H, orders passed by the Appellate Tribunal on appeal shall be final.

Subsection 8. Every appeal under this section shall be disposed of as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made to dispose of every such appeal within ninety days from the date on which it is presented.

Subsection 9. The provisions of section 255 (except sub-section (3) thereof) shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to the powers, functions and proceedings of the Appellate Tribunal under this section as they apply in relation to the powers, functions and proceedings of the Appellate Tribunal under Chapter XX.

Legislative amendment notes in the original page

1. Subs. by Act 16 of 1981, s. 21, for "one hundred and twenty-five rupees" (w.e.f. 1-6-1981). 2. Subs. by Act 25 of 2014, s. 4, for "commissioner" (w.r.e.f. 1-6-2013).

Definitions and related provisions

Competent authority: The authority appointed under Section 269B for functions under Chapter XXA.
Acquisition order: An order made under Section 269F(6) after the prescribed hearing and findings, subject to the safeguards of Chapter XXA.
Appellate Tribunal: The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal hearing a statutory appeal under the historical Section 269G.
Interested person: A person claiming a legally relevant interest in the property, whose entitlement to appeal depended on the categories in subsection (1).
Section 255: Rules governing powers, functions and proceedings of the Appellate Tribunal, applied by subsection (9) with subsection (3) excluded.

Frequently asked questions

Can Section 269G be used to appeal an acquisition relating to a 2026 property transfer?

No. Section 269RR excludes post-30 September 1986 transfers from Chapter XXA. Any present-day dispute must be examined under the law governing that specific action.

Was the appeal period always 45 days?

No. For the transferor, transferee and specified served persons, the later of 45 days from the order or 30 days from service applied. Other interested persons had 45 days from the order, subject to the historical proviso on timely applications for extension.

Was the Tribunal's order absolutely final?

No. Subsection (7) expressly preserved the route under Section 269H for an appeal to the High Court.

Official legal references

Reviewed 27 October 2026. This article explains a historical provision for general legal information, not a current appeal filing instruction.