TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (4) TMI 565
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.... has erred in passing order under section 12AA(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 cancelling registration of the assessee as a charitable and religious trust. 4. The Learned Commissioner of Income Tax-1, Nashik has made the order dated 13.08.2009 in violation of principles of law and therefore the order needs to be cancelled & registration of the trust under section 11, 12 & 80G be allowed. 5. The appellant craves leave to add, amend or alter any of the grounds of appeal." 3. The assessee trust was engaged in running Blood Bank and the Commissioner issued show cause notice to assessee as it was carrying on activities of Blood Bank on commercial basis. In view of amendment to Section 2(15) of the Act, Commissioner cancelled the registration granted to assessee under section 12A of the Act. The assessee is in appeal against the said order of Commissioner. The present appeal is filed after delay of 253 days. The assessee filed affidavit dated 9th July, 2012 explaining the reason for the delay which reads as under; "I, Nandkishor Kantilal Tathed, aged about 45 years, Son of Shri Kantilal Tathed residing at Bazar Peth, At Post Lasalgaon, Tal: Niphad, Dist. Nashik, do hereby solemnly ....
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....2." 4. During course of hearing of the appeal, the assessee, thereafter, filed another affidavit which is notarized on 07.05.2016 and the same reads as under; "I, Nandkishor Kantilal Tated, Aged about 47 years, Occupation: Medical Practitioner / Service, Residing at Navkardeep Bunglow, Near Supreme Kidney Centre, Sadhu Vaswani Road, Nasik 422002, hereby state on solemn affirmation as under : 1. That I am the Chairman of Nandkishore Education Society, a charitable Medical Institution mainly carrying on the Blood Bank Activity in various cities of Maharastra. 2. The assessee trust received the order on 13.08.2009 passed by the CIT u/s 12 AA(3) cancelling the registration. Thus the appeal was required to be filed on or before 12.10.2009. The appeal however, is filed on 25.06.2010. Therefore, there is delay of 256 days. Thus admittedly there has been substantial delay in filing the appeal and the reasons for delay are stated in the subsequent Paras. 3. That the trustees of the assessee trust are exclusively involved in medical profession or rendering services in relation to the blood banking activity. They were totally unaware about the provisions relating to filing of an ap....
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....aining the reasons that caused delay in filing the appeal. Vide this supplementary affidavit I state another vital reason supporting my ignorance relating to the filing of the appeal as well as supporting the additional fact causing delay in filing the appeal. 2. That our institution has on record advocate Shri Ramesh C. Shinde who is entrusted with all the legal matters concerning the institution such as issues to be argued and sorted out before Charity Commissioner that arise under Bombay Public Trust Act, The Societies Registration Act, 1860 any Civil matters etc. 3. That on receipt of the order of the CIT cancelling the registration, in a routine manner the same was handed over to the said advocate Mr. Ramesh C. Shinde. The said advocate by reason of his preoccupation with several other matters for quite a sometime did not look into this order. Thereafter, on referring to this order and having found that the issue relates to Income Tax Act, 1961 and as he is not engaged in any Tax practice returned the said order and in the process this delay has caused. Advocate Shri Ramesh C. Shinde has separately declared this true position in his sworn affidavit dated 21/11/2016. I ....
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....he Hon'ble Supreme Court in the following decisions: I) Collector, Land Acquisition Vs. MST. Katiji & Ors reported in 167 ITR 0471. II) Vedabai alias Vaijayanatabai Baburao Patil V/s. Shantaram Baburao Patil, reported in 253 ITR 798 (SC) III) State of Haryana V/s. Chandra Mani, Civil Appeal Nos. 4118 & 4119 of 1996. IV) Improvement Trust, Ludhiana V/s. Ujagar Singh & Ors, 2010, Civil Appeal Nos. 2395 of 2008. 9. The Ld. D.R. for the Revenue strongly opposed the plea raised by the assessee for condonation of delay in filing appeal late before the Tribunal. The Ld. D.R for the Revenue pointed out that the assessee says that he has no legal support. He drew our attention to the page Nos. 98 to 139 of the paper book which are audit reports filed by the Chartered Accountant and submitted that the assessee was supported by services of Chartered Accountants and Legal Experts from year to year. He states there where sufficient cause for the delay has not been satisfied, then the delay is not be condoned. Referring to the affidavit of the advocate filed by the assessee, it was pointed out by the Ld. D.R. for the Revenue that the said lawyer was for the matters relating to Bombay Pu....
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....elay is inordinate and a case where the delay is of few days and where the assessee's appeal of condonation of delay only seven days on genuine ground of illness, the same should be condoned. The Hon'ble Supreme Court further held as under : "In exercising discretion under section 5 of the Limitation Act, the Courts should adopt pragmatic approach. A distinction must be made between a case where the delay is inordinate and a case where the delay is of few days. Whereas in the former case the consideration of prejudice to the other side will be relevant factor so the case calls for a more cautions approach but in the latter case no such consideration may arise and such a case deserves a liberal approach. No hard and fast rule can be laid down in this regard. The Court has to exercise the discretion on the facts of each case keeping in mind that in construing the expression 'sufficient cause', the principle of advancing substantial justice is of prime importance." 15. In another decision, Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Haryana V/s. Chandra Mani (supra), had also condoned the delay of 109 days in filing appeal by the "State" on the ground that State is impersonal machinery worki....