2022 (5) TMI 1080

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....ome Tax Act for grant of approval as an Educational Institution in A.Ys. 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively, though the assessee has been enjoying registration under section 12A but it filed applications for grant of approval under section 10(23C)(vi). According to the ld. CIT(Exemption), these applications were time-barred and, therefore, he rejected all the applications. The relevant finding recorded by the ld. CIT (Exemption) reads as under:- "A prayer for condonation of delay in filing the application has been submitted vide letter dated 07.02.2019. The reason for delay in submission of application has been stated to be the ill-health of the President of the Society. While it is true, that the President of the Society was sever....

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.... upon the judgment of the Hon'ble Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case of Aurora Educational Society -vs.- Chief CIT reported in 20 taxmann.com 46. He also relied upon the judgment of the Hon'ble Orissa High Court in the case of Roland Educational & Charitable Trust -vs.- Chief CIT reported in 309 ITR page 50. On the strength of all these decisions, he contended that there is no provision under section 10(23C) to condone the delay and grant approval with retrospective effect. In other words, the ld. CIT(Exemption) does not have any power to condone the delay in granting approval for earlier years. 3. We have duly considered the rival contentions and gone through the record carefully. Section 10(23C)(vi) has direct bearing on the c....

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....d second provisos, as amended by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1998, w.e.f. 1.4.1999, Finance Act, 1999, w.e.f. 1.4.1999, Finance Act, 2007, w.e.f. 1.6.2007 and Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019, w.e.f. 1.9.2019, read as under:- Provided that the fund or trust or institution or any university or other educational institution or any hospital or other medical institution referred to in sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via) shall make an application in the prescribed form and manner to the prescribed authority for the purpose of grant of the exemption, or continuance thereof, under sub-clause (iv) or sub-clause (v) or sub-clause (vi) or sub-clause (via); Provided further that the prescribed authority, before approving....

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.... Pneumatic Co. Limited AIR 1996 SC 3285 and held that where there is no provision to empower the statutory authority to condone the delay, than the authority cannot condoned. The finding of the Hon'ble Court in Paragraphs no. 15 & 16 worth to note, which read as under:- "15. However, considering the legal position that there is no power to condone the delay in filing an application under Section 10(23C) of the Act, this Court is not inclined to exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction to condone the delay. However, this Court is inclined to give appropriate direction to the respondent to consider the petitioner's application as an application for the subsequent assessment year, namely, 2013-2014 in accordance with law. Such directi....