TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (10) TMI 420
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....er, the same has been filed on dated 09.12.2020. Thus, delay of 15 days has occurred. 2. In this connection, it is humbly submitted that the due to wide spread of pandemic COVID-19, there was a delay in signing and submission of appeal before the Hon'ble ITAT. The trustee being old aged person restricted their movement to safeguard themselves. This has contributed minor delay of 15 days in filing of the appeal. 3. That in support of the aforesaid facts, affidavit of the of assessee is enclosed with this application and marked as "Annexure - A". 4. That the applicant is a layman not very conversant with the complex tax laws and because of the circumstances stated above, the delay so caused was beyond her control but was bonafide and unintended. The assessee was not going to gain any benefit because of the delayed finding and her conduct was not contumacious. Supporting Case Laws: 5.1 It is submitted that the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Collector, Land & Acquisition v. Mst. Katiji & Others (1987) 167 ITR 471 (SC) has advocated for a very liberal approach while considering a case for condonation of delay. The following observations of the Hon'ble Court a....
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....ovisions of law and facts available on record. The findings so recorded by the ld. CIT(E) is highly perverse hence the impugned order deserves to be quashed. The ld. CIT(E) Jaipur may kindly be directed to grant registration as prayed for. 3. The appellant prays your honours indulgences to add, amend or later of or any of the grounds of the appeal on or before the date of hearing." 6. On perusal of the order passed by the ld. CIT(E), it is observed that the ld. CIT(E) has stated in his order that sufficient opportunities has been provided to the assessee to produce relevant information/documentation in support of its claim seeking registration U/s12AA(1)(a) of the Act. However the assessee has failed to avail of such opportunity, accordingly, the application seeking registration was rejected by ld. CIT(E). The ld. CIT(E) and the findings are reproduced as under:- "3. In the light of the above section of the Act and Rules, the Commissioner of income- tax has been empowered to call for such documents or information from the trust or institution as he thinks necessary in order to satisfy himself about the genuineness of activities of the trust or institution and may also make suc....
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....Income Tax Act, 1961. The appellant-society was issued a letter/notice No. ITBA/EXM/F/41/2020-21/1027492592(1) dated 14.07.2020 requesting to submit certain documents/explanations and also to produce original RC/MOA for verification. Due to some personal reason appellant-society was unable to comply with the aforesaid requirement. Therefore, again appellant was issued a letter/notice No. ITBA/EXM/S/91/2020-21/1027752449(1) dated 15.8.2020. In compliance thereto, Shri Devang Gargeiya, AR and Smt. Manisha Bindal AR attended and furnished details on 28.08.2020. The appellant society through its A/R was requested to furnish audited Balance Sheet & I/E A/c for F.Y. 2018-19 & Financial Year 2019-20, premises temple photographs, clarification on rent receipt, Certified copies of trust deed from devstanvibhag for verification. He further observed and alleged and further observed that: As discussed above the applicant did not submit original documents regarding establishment of the trust/society as well as evidences in support of 17A of Income Tax Rules, 1982 the applicant is required to produce o document regarding establishing of the trust/society for verification but the same has not b....
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.... read as under: "17A. Application for registration of charitable or religious trusts, etc.- An application under clause (aa) of sub-section (1) of section 12A for registration of a charitable or religious trust or institution shall be made in duplicate in Form No. 10A and shall be accompanied by the following documents, namely:- where the trust is created, or the institution is established, under an (a) instrument, the instrument in original, together with one copy thereof and where the trust is created, or the institution is established, otherwise than under in instrument, the document evidencing the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution, together with one copy thereof. Provided that if the instrument or document in original cannot conveniently be produced, it shall be open to the Commissioner to accept a certified copy in lieu of the original. (b) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx However, the amended Rules, which are relevant for the present purpose, reads as under: "[Application for registration of charitable or religious trusts, etc. 17A (1). An application under clause (aa) or clause (ab) of sub-section (1) of section 12A for registration of a charita....
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....the same is factually incorrect in as much as, the assessee, during the course of the proceedings, submitted various documents vide submissions dated 28.08.2020 (PB1-2); S. No. Particulars 1. Submission dated 28.08.2020 containing description of documents attached and required information along with Original PAN card. 2. A declaration on the letterhead of trust U/S 13(1)(C). ' 3. NOC from the owner of premises. 4. Certified Copy of annual accounts of last three years. 5. Certified Copy of Trust Deed/Memorandum of association. 6. Copy of identity card of main trustees, president, treasurer and secretary of the trust. 7. Certified copy of note on activities conducted during last years. 8. Details of Donation made for the period 01/04/2018 to 31/03/2019. 9. Details of Donation received during last three years. 10. Statements of Bank accounts i.e. Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank for three years. 11. An undertaking u/s. 2(15) and providing details of category of charitable purpose. 12. Amended trust deed after merging the required clauses. 13. Copy of PAN card of trust. . ....
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....ocument evidencing the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution, together with one copy thereof' is provided. The proviso to Rut,;. 17A(a) permits the Commissioner to accept even a certified copy in lieu of the original if the instrument or document in original cannot conveniently be produced. It was rightly pointed out by the ITAT that it is therefore not essential that there must be an instrument evidencing the creation of a Trust. 6. The fact of the matter was that the Assessee claimed that it is an institution/trust created in the year I 159AD and no formal deed of trust was executed at that time. The 17th Karmapa, who is the supreme spiritual Head of Karma Kagyu Lineage, made a declaration of Trust on stamp paper on 29th day of March, 2011 at Delhi setting out the entire history of the Trust along with aims, objects and purposes. Various provisions with regard to the management of the Trust and its properties and the maintenance of accounts etc. were also set out. It was stated that the objects of the trust were wholly charitable and religious in nature. The ITAT has in its impugned order set out in some detail the contents of the said affidavit rega....
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.... registration under s. 12AA of the Act. We find that the learned Commissioner has gone into too much technicalities more specifically when certified copy of the original instrument was duly filed by the assessee. If this was the sole criteria, then nothing prevented the learned Commissioner to direct the assessee to file the original instrument. The second ground on which the assessee was denied registration, was that the assessee is not doing charitable activity. On perusal of record and after hearing the rival submissions we are satisfied that the assessee is running a senior Secondary school, duly registered with CBSE and Board of School Education, Haryana. We have specifically perused the objects of the society, wherein the predominant object is imparting education. Therefore, we are not satisfied with the observation of the learned Commissioner that the assessee society is not doing any charitable activity." 4.3 PR CIT (E) Vs. Dawoodi Bohra Masjid (2018 402 ITR 29/301 CTR 268 (Guj) (DPB 11-14) wherein it was held that "From the materials on record, it can be seen that the Tribunal had gone through the registration details of the assessee trust contained in the order of Wakf ....
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....ommented adversely on the documents placed before it. With regard to the reason that the assessee had not furnished audited financial statements, it has been recorded by the Tribunal that the same were not relevant for establishing the fact whether the activities of the trust were genuine or not. Even the provisions of the Act do not require audited financial statements to be furnished while seeking registration under s. 12AA. As regards the plea that the assessee had offered no explanation about the registration of the society twice, it was recorded by the Tribunal that registration of a society was not a precondition for granting registration under s. 12AA. Thus, it was rightly concluded by the Tribunal that the CIT was not justified in rejecting the application for registration of the assessee-society by insisting on the conditions not contemplated by the statute. Counsel for the Revenue has not been able to show that the view taken by the Tribunal is erroneous. He has also not been able to produce any material on record to show that the approach adopted y the Tribunal is legally unsustainable. Thus, no substantial question of law arises." (Paras 6 & 7) 5. Lastly, Submissions ....
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....The grounds No. 1 and 2 inter connected. We observed that the assessee is a charitable society, established long back and engaged in promoting nationality, education, and personality development of the students without any discrimination of caste, creed and sex. The ld. AR for the assessee submitted that the assessee has filed an online application on 06.02.2020 in Form No. 10A for seeking registration u/s. 12AA of the I.T. Act, 1961. Further, the assessee- society was issued noticed dated 14.07.2020 requesting to submit certain documents and to produce original RC/MOA for verification. The ld. CIT(E) has supposed in its order that as per Rule 17A r.w.s 12AA(1)(b) of the Act original instrument establishing the trust and other evidences were not filed in original. Further, the ld. CIT(E) empowered to call for such document and information to satisfy himself of the genuineness of the activities or to make necessary enquiries. Further, the ld. AR for the assessee submitted that Under Rule 17A there is no necessity to produce the original and self certified copy of the instrument and establishing the institution for verification. The ld. AR for the assessee submitted that pre-amended ....
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....ption of documents attached and required information along with original PAN 1-5 2. A declaration on the letter head of trust U/s 13(1)(C) 6 3. NOC from the other of premises 7 4. Certified copy of Annual account of last three years. 8-24 5. Certified copy of Trust deed/memorandum of association 25-34 6. Copy of identity card of main trustees, president treasurer and secretary of the trust 35-39 7. Certified copy of note on activities conducted during last years 40 8. Details of donation made for the period 01/04/2018 to 31/03/2019 41 9. Details of donation received during last three years 42-47 10. Statements of Bank accounts i.e. Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank for three years 48-81 11. An undertaking u/s. 2(15) and providing details of category of charitable purpose 82-83 12. Amended trust deed after merging the required clauses 84-89 13. Copy of PAN card of trust 90 14. Copy of last three years ITR along with computation and audit report u/s. 10B 91-264 15. Power of attorney duly signed of favour of A/R 265 16. Details of charitable or religious activities for preceding three years along with pictures 266-300 Thirdly we observ....