Audit report filing requirement under income-tax exemption law is directory, and late filing before assessment remains sufficient compliance.

Section 10B(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was treated as directory rather than mandatory, because it was read in pari materia with earlier exemption provisions, including Sections 80IA(7), 80HHB(3)(ia) and 80J(6A), which had already been construed the same way. Filing the audit report before completion of assessment was held to amount to sufficient compliance, so the assessee could not be denied the benefit merely because the report did not accompany the return. The Revenue's objection was rejected, and no substantial question of law arose.

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Issues: Whether the requirement under Section 10B(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 that the audit report be filed along with the return is mandatory or directory, and whether the assessee could be denied the benefit for filing the report before completion of assessment.

Analysis: The provision was held to be in pari materia with Section 80IA(7), Section 80HHB(3)(ia), and Section 80J(6A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which had already been construed as directory and not mandatory. Following that interpretation, filing of the audit report before the assessment was treated as sufficient compliance, and the Revenue's objection that the report had to accompany the return was rejected.

Conclusion: The requirement was held to be directory, not mandatory, and the assessee remained entitled to the benefit. No substantial question of law arose.

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