Form 10AB limitation for 80G regular approval runs from expiry of provisional registration, not earlier commencement of activities.

For an assessee holding provisional registration, the filing deadline for Form 10AB for regular approval under section 80G is computed with reference to the expiry of the provisional registration period. Where Form 10AB was filed before the end of that period, the application was treated as within limitation, and delay-based rejection was not sustainable. The commencement of activities was not treated as decisive on these facts because the trust's activities had already begun before provisional registration. CBDT Circular No. 7/2024 was viewed as addressing a different assessment-year situation and not controlling the relevant provisional registration period.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's application in Form 10AB for regular approval under section 80G was filed within limitation, and whether the rejection on the ground of delay was sustainable.

Analysis: The assessee had been granted provisional registration in Form 10AC valid for assessment years 2023-24 to 2025-26. The application in Form 10AB was filed before the expiry of six months prior to the end of the provisional registration period. The date of commencement of activities was not treated as decisive on the facts, since the trust's activities had already commenced prior to provisional registration. The limitation extended by CBDT Circular No. 7/2024 was held to relate to a different assessment year situation and not to control the assessee's application for the relevant provisional registration period.

Conclusion: The application was held to be within limitation and the rejection on the ground of delay was not sustained.

Final Conclusion: The matter was sent back to the Commissioner for reconsideration of the application on merits, and the appeal was allowed for statistical purposes.

Ratio Decidendi: For an assessee holding provisional registration, the deadline for filing Form 10AB for regular approval is to be computed with reference to the expiry of the provisional registration period, not mechanically from the commencement of activities where such activities had already begun earlier.

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