Electronic Form 10B filing delay may be condoned when reasonable cause and genuine hardship support exemption consideration.

Delay in electronically furnishing Form 10B for Assessment Year 2016-17 may be condoned where a charitable trust obtained the audit report and Form 10 before filing its return but failed to upload them through an inadvertent clerical omission caused by the chartered accountant's serious illness. The applicable CBDT circular permits condonation where reasonable cause prevented timely filing. A technical uploading lapse causing genuine hardship should not be rejected pedantically, enabling consideration of the trust's exemption claim under Section 11.

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Issues: Whether delay in electronically furnishing Form 10B by a charitable trust for Assessment Year 2016-17 was liable to be condoned, enabling its claim for exemption under Section 11.

Analysis: The audit report and Form 10 had been obtained before filing the return, but were not electronically uploaded because of an inadvertent clerical omission amid the serious illness of the chartered accountant. The applicable CBDT circular directly covered Assessment Year 2016-17 and authorised condonation where the assessee was prevented by reasonable cause. The earlier decision concerning the same trust established that a technical uploading lapse in these circumstances constituted genuine hardship and could not be rejected through a pedantic approach.

Conclusion: The delay in filing Form 10B was required to be condoned, and the assessee was entitled to have its claim for exemption under Section 11 considered accordingly.

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