Section 269UJ — Rectification of Mistakes

CHAPTER XX-C — PURCHASE BY CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OF IMMOVABLE PROPERTIES IN CERTAIN CASES OF TRANSFER

Section 269UJ — Rectification of mistakes

Case Laws & Commentary — Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) — bharattax.co Treatise

Status: Historic / spent. Chapter XX-C was inserted by the Finance Act, 1986 and brought into force area-wise under section 269U; by section 269UP it does not apply to any transfer of immovable property effected on or after 1 July 2002. The pre-emptive-purchase machinery is therefore dormant. The section is reproduced and annotated in full for completeness of the Treatise.

Finance Act, 2026: No amendment. The Finance Act, 2026 does not touch any provision of Chapter XX-C (sections 269U to 269UP).

Mechanism: Permits the appropriate authority to rectify any mistake apparent from the record within the prescribed period, subject to the rule that an amendment prejudicial to any person shall not be made without giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Litigation profile: Rectification machinery; governed by the general 'mistake apparent from the record' jurisprudence.

A. COMMENTARY

Self-correction power

Section 269UJ allows the appropriate authority to correct a mistake apparent from the record in its own orders, within the prescribed time. Crucially, the section contains its own natural-justice safeguard: no amendment that would prejudice any person may be made without first giving that person a reasonable opportunity of being heard — a statutory embodiment of the very principle the Supreme Court read into the rest of the Chapter.

The 'mistake apparent' standard

'Mistake apparent from the record' carries the settled meaning given to the identical expression in section 154 and analogous provisions: an obvious and patent error, not a debatable point of law or fact requiring a long-drawn process of reasoning. The standard from T.S. Balaram v. Volkart Bros. applies — a question on which two views are reasonably possible is not a mistake apparent from the record and cannot be rectified under this section.

Candour

There is no significant Chapter XX-C-specific authority on section 269UJ; it is read in line with the general rectification jurisprudence, with the added in-built hearing requirement.

B. STATUTORY TEXT (verbatim)

Reproduced verbatim from the Income-tax Act, 1961, as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025 (the Finance Act, 2026 makes no change to Chapter XX-C). Page-header/footer artefacts of the source PDF have been removed; wording, clause-lettering and punctuation are unaltered.

Rectification of mistakes.

269UJ. With a view to rectifying any mistake apparent from the record, the appropriate authority may amend any order made by it under this Chapter, either on its own motion or on the mistake being brought to its notice by any person affected by the order :

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 :

Provided further that no amendment shall be made under this section after the expiry of six months from the end of the month in which the order sought to be amended was made. Restrictions on revocation or alteration of certain agreements for the transfer of immovable property

C. AUTHORITIES

Candour rule: section 269UJ is read with the general 'mistake apparent from the record' standard, illustrated below.

Meaning of 'mistake apparent from the record'

T.S. Balaram, ITO v. Volkart Bros. (1971) 82 ITR 50 (SC)

Court Supreme Court of India.

Held A 'mistake apparent from the record' is one that is obvious and patent, not one requiring a long-drawn process of reasoning on points on which two views are possible.

Relevance Cognate standard for the rectification power in section 269UJ ('mistake apparent from the record').