In Brief
Mother Hospital Private Ltd. claimed depreciation on a hospital building constructed under an agreement with a partnership firm that retained ownership. The company paid the construction costs but the building title remained with the firm, transferred only by an unregistered lease clause. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that ownership of immovable property cannot pass without a properly registered deed. Further, even under the leasehold depreciation provision in Section 32, the assessee must itself incur the construction expenditure; mere reimbursement does not qualify. The judgment upheld the High Court's rejection of the depreciation claim."
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