TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (8) TMI 1364
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....in Form No.10AB under section 12A(1)(ac) (iii) of the I. T. Act 1961 along with Annexures submitted along with Form 10 AB on 6.5.2022. 3. That the C.I.T.(E) was not justified in rejecting the present application filed in Form 10 AB u/s 80G(5)(iii) of the Act as not maintainable. 4. That the entire financial transactions reflected in the audited accounts are verifiable which he did not make any effort. 5. That the C.I.T.(E) under the circumstances was not justified to cancel the provisional certificate issued to the assessee under section 80G." 3. The facts of the case stated briefly are that the assessee is a charitable trust and had been granted provisional approval u/s 80G(5)(iv) of the Act in Form 10AC vide order dated 18.05.2023 for a period commencing from 18.05.2023 to AY 2026-27. Subsequently, the assessee also filed an application for registration u/s 80G(5)(iii) of the Act electronically on 24.05.2023 in Form No. 10AB under Rule 17A of the Income Tax Rules, 1962. However, the claim of the assessee was rejected by the Ld. CIT(E) wide order dated 16.11.2023. Agree with the order of the Ld. CIT(E), the assessee has filed the appeal before the tri....
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.... portal on 17.1.24 almost after a period of two months resulting in 79 days delay in filing the present Appeal before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal Kolkata Bench 'C'. 3. Even the provisional approval granted by CIT(E) upto A.Y. 2026-27 under 12 clause (iv) of first proviso to sub section (5) of section 80G can be cancelled by him only on specific violation by the assessee. As such the rejection is not sustainable even on this ground as no violation was ever pointed by the C.I.T.(E) in the impugned order and the same was done arbitrarily. 4. While rejecting the Form 10AB the C.I.T.(E) did not discuss whether the assessee fulfils all other conditions mentioned in the section and documents enclosed along with the Form. Our counsel will argue on our grounds of Appeal. 5. I, on behalf of the assessee most humbly submits that we have a good case before Your Honour for fair adjudication. 6. Under the circumstances the delay of 79 days may kindly be condoned by Your Honour and our Appeal be decided on merits in the interest of justice." 7. The assessee was also required to inform whether any approval was granted under section 12AA or under section 80G....
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....such business; (ii) the instrument under which the institution or fund is constituted does not, or the rules governing the institution or fund do not, contain any provision for the transfer or application at any time of the whole or any part of the income or assets of the institution or fund for any purpose other than a charitable purpose; (iii) the institution or fund is not expressed to be for the benefit of any particular religious community or caste; (iv) the institution or fund maintains regular accounts of its receipts and expenditure; [***] (v) the institution or fund is either constituted as a public charitable trust or is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860), or under any law corresponding to that Act in force in any part of India or under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), or is a University established by law, or is any other educational institution recognised by the Government or by a University established by law, or affiliated to any University established by law, or [****] or is an institution financed wholly or in part by the Government or a local authority.[***] (vi) in relat....
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....r in writing rejecting such application and also cancelling its registration after affording a reasonable opportunity of being heard.; (iii) where the application is made under-clause (iv) of the said proviso, pass an order in writing provisionally registering the trust or institution for a period of three years from the assessment year from which the registration is sought, and sent a copy of such order to the institution or fund. 4. In response to the said notice, the applicant/assessee has furnished certain details/documents. The submission of the assessee was examined. It was found that the assessee had already commenced its activities at least from F.Y 2019-20. The extended due date for filling application in Form 10AB was 30.09.2022 as per CBDT Circular No. 8/2022 dated 31.03.2022. However, the assessee did not file the form no- 10AB within the stipulated time limit. In view of the above facts, a show cause notice vide this office letter dated 07.11.2023 was issued and sent through ITBA to furnish its reply. 5. In response, the assessee furnished a reply as under: "With reference to your second specific query the order for registration unde....
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.... legal position further gets fortified by the fact that the CBDT on multiple occasions had extended the time limit in filing the application in Form No. 10A and/or 10AB as under. a. The CBDT vide Circular No. 12 of 2021 dated 25.06.2021 in exercise of its power u/s 119 of the Act, provided relaxation for various compliances. including making application u/s 10(23C), 12AB, 35(1)(ii)(iia)/(iii) and 80G of the Act in Form No. 10A/10AB for registration/provisional registration/information/approval/provisional approval of Trusts/ Institutions/Research Associations etc, which were required to be made on or before 30th June 2021 was allowed to be made/filed on or before 31st August 2021. b. Thereafter, the CBDT vide Circular No. 16/2021 dated 29th August 2021, further extended the date of filing of Form 10A u/s 10(230), 12A, 35(1)(2)/(a)/(m) or 80G, which was required to be filed on or before 30th June 2021 upto 31 March 2022 and similarly for application for registration or approval u/s 10(230), 12A or 80G of the Act in Form 10AB, for which the last date for filing falls on or before 28th February, 2022 may be filed on or before 31 March, 2022. c. Thereafter, o....
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....09.2022. So, treating the application filed in Form No. 10AB under section 80G(5)(iii) of the Act as non-maintainable, he rejected the same and also cancelled the provisional certificate issued to the assessee w.e.f. date of its issue. 11. As is noted above, the assessee was an existing trust and had been granted approval under section 12AA of the Act as well as under section 80G of the Act earlier but instead of applying under clause (i) of the proviso to section 80G, it applied under clause (iii) as a new trust. If it had applied under clause (i), there was no need of issuing any provisional certificate and as per the second proviso to section 80G, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner would have passed an order in writing granting it approval for a period of five years and there was no requirement for seeking any provisional approval which is required only for a new trust. Similar issue also came up for consideration in the case of Loyola Charitable Society Vs. CIT (Exemption), Kolkata, (ITA No. 580/KOL/2024, dated 19.06.2024) in which it was held as under: "5. Ground No. 1 relates to the rejection of the application of the assessee. It applied for approval u/s.....
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.... (iii) as well as sub-clause (iv) and, therefore, on account of this technical aspect, he rejected the application of the assessee. 6. With the assistance of ld. Representatives, we have gone through the record carefully. As observed earlier, had application was moved under sub-clause (i) instead of applying for provisional registration, then no dispute would have come, because the assessee-Trust is an existing Trust and the time limit to move an application under sub-clause (i) has been extended upto 30th September, 2023. Its application alleged to be moved under sub-clause (iii) would have been under clause (i), then it would be construed as within time limit? 7. We are of the view that it is only a technical error. The ld. CIT(Exemption) ought to have looked into the matter on this aspect and call for a clarification from the assessee. Once he was seized of the matter and aware that the Trust was enjoying registration under section 80G under old regime, it fulfilled all other conditions, then on account of wrong mention of section (iii) instead of (i), in its application should have not been given much weightage for rejecting the application on technical ground....