The assessee inherited one-fourth of the property upon his father’s death. His sisters executed release deeds for the remaining three-fourth share in the property in favour of the assessee much later. Upon the sale of the property, the assessee claimed the indexation benefit on all four parts of the property from the date of acquisition by his father. The Department objected to the calculation of the assessee on the grounds that s. 49 of the Act does not recognise the acquisition of an asset by way of a release deed to consider the cost of acquisition from the date from which the previous owner held the asset. Concurring with the view of the Department, Hon’ble ITAT held that the cost of acquisition and indexation for the one-fourth share in the property will be from the date on which it was acquired by the assessee’s father and in the rest of the case, it will be from the date on which the sisters executed a release deed in favour of the assessee. (AY. 2012-13)