Charitable exemption under sections 11 and 12 survives delayed filing, with remand for verification and computation.

Minor delay in filing the assessee's appeals was condoned on showing sufficient cause, with no mala fides or prejudice to the Revenue. For assessment year 2011-12, exemption under sections 11 and 12 was held available where registration under section 12AA existed and the proviso to section 12A(2) applied to pending assessments, so the matter was remitted to the Assessing Officer for computation and admissible relief. For assessment year 2017-18, exemption was not denied merely because the return was filed under section 139(4) after the due date; the matter was again remitted for verification of application and accumulation of income and fresh computation.

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Issues: (i) Whether the small delay in filing the assessee's appeals deserved condonation on showing sufficient cause. (ii) Whether, for assessment year 2011-12, the assessee was entitled to exemption under sections 11 and 12 and the matter required remand for computation under the proviso to section 12A(2). (iii) Whether, for assessment year 2017-18, exemption under sections 11 and 12 could be denied merely because the return was filed belatedly under section 139(4), and whether the matter required remand for fresh computation.

Issue (i): Whether the small delay in filing the assessee's appeals deserved condonation on showing sufficient cause.

Analysis: The delays were minor and were explained by an asserted administrative disruption in the assessee's finance department. The revenue did not oppose the prayer for condonation, and no mala fide intent or prejudice was shown.

Conclusion: The delay was rightly condoned in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether, for assessment year 2011-12, the assessee was entitled to exemption under sections 11 and 12 and the matter required remand for computation under the proviso to section 12A(2).

Analysis: The assessee's claim was considered in the light of the later registration under section 12AA and the proviso to section 12A(2), which extends the benefit of sections 11 and 12 to preceding assessment years where assessments are pending and the objects and activities remain unchanged. The same line of reasoning had already been applied in the assessee's own case for a later year, and both sides accepted that the matter should follow that approach.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to claim exemption under sections 11 and 12 for the year, and the issue was remitted to the Assessing Officer for computation and grant of admissible relief.

Issue (iii): Whether, for assessment year 2017-18, exemption under sections 11 and 12 could be denied merely because the return was filed belatedly under section 139(4), and whether the matter required remand for fresh computation.

Analysis: The denial rested on the delayed filing of the return beyond the due date under section 139(1). The decision accepted the view that the CBDT instruction on filing of return within the time allowed under section 139 supported allowance of the exemption, and it followed the reasoning applied by another tribunal decision on a similar factual setting. As the exemption involved working out application and accumulation of income, the proper course was to send the matter back for verification and computation.

Conclusion: The assessee was entitled to exemption under sections 11 and 12, and the matter was remanded to the Assessing Officer for fresh consideration and computation.

Final Conclusion: All connected appeals were disposed of by remand, with the substantive claim of the assessee under the exemption provisions accepted for examination and computation by the Assessing Officer.

Ratio Decidendi: Where registration under section 12AA exists and the statutory conditions in the proviso to section 12A(2) are met, exemption under sections 11 and 12 can be extended to preceding pending assessment years; a belated return does not, by itself, defeat the exemption claim where the governing administrative instruction and the statutory scheme support its allowance, subject to verification of the working of income.

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