TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (9) TMI 343
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....on of approval u/s.80G (5) of the Act. 3. That on the facts and in circumstances of the case, The Ld. CIT (E) erred in cancelled the provisional approval granted u/s.80G (5) of the Act on 27.05.2021. 4. All the above-mentioned grounds are independent and without prejudice to other, and the appellant carves the right to add, alter, amend, and delete the ground(s) of appeal during the course of hearing." 2. Succinctly stated, the assessee society was in pursuance to its application provisionally registered u/s.80G (5) of the Act on 27.05.2021. The assessee society having been provisionally approved was obligated to file an application in the prescribed form and manner within the stipulated period with the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Income-tax for grant of approval, viz. (i) at least six months before the expiry of the period of the provisional approval; or (ii) within six months of commencement of its activities, whichever was earlier. However, the assessee society had applied for registration/approval in "Form 10AB" on 20.09.2023, i.e. beyond the time limit specified by the Act. The CIT(Exemption), Bhopal observed that the CBDT vide its Circular No.0....
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....jected its application for registration u/s.80G (5) of the Act. Also, the provisional registration/approval u/s.80G (5) in Form 10AC granted by the CPC, Bengaluru vide URN No. AADAD6275AF20206 dated 27.05.2021 was canceled as per the "2nd proviso" to section 80G (5) of the Act. As the application filed by the assessee society was dismissed as not maintainable on account of the aforesaid technical discrepancy, therefore, the CIT(Exemption) did not advert to the merits of the same. 4. The assessee society being aggrieved with the order of the CIT(Exemption), Bhopal declining its application for registration u/s.80G (5) of the Act has carried the matter in appeal before us. 5. We have heard the Ld. Authorized Representatives of both the parties, perused the orders of the lower authorities and the material available on record as well as considered the judicial pronouncements that have been pressed into service by the Ld. AR to drive home his contentions. 6. Before proceeding any further, we deem it fit to cull out sub-section (5) of Section 80G of the Act, which reads as under: "(5) This section applies to donations to any institution or fund referred to in sub- claus....
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.... 1992, the institution or fund is for the time being 25[approved by the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner;] (vii) where any institution or fund had been approved under clause (vi) for the previous year beginning on the 1st day of April, 2007 and ending on the 31st day of March, 2008, such institution or fund shall, for the purposes of this section and notwithstanding anything contained in the proviso to clause (15) of section 2, be deemed to have been,- (a) established for charitable purposes for the previous year beginning on the 1st day of April, 2008 and ending on the 31st day of March, 2009; and (b) approved under the said clause (vi) for the previous year beginning on the 1st day of April, 2008 and ending on the 31st day of March, 2009; [(viii) the institution or fund prepares such statement for such period as may be prescribed and deliver or cause to be delivered to the prescribed income-tax authority or the person authorised by such authority such statement in such form and verified in such manner and setting forth such particulars and within such time as may be prescribed: Provided that the institution or fund may also deliv....
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....ting it approval for a period of five years; (B) if he is not so satisfied, pass an order in writing rejecting such application and also cancelling its approval after affording it a reasonable opportunity of being heard; (iii) where the application is made under clause (iv) of the said proviso, pass an order in writing granting it approval provisionally for a period of three years from the assessment year from which the registration is sought, and send a copy of such order to the institution or fund: Provided also that the order under clause (i), sub-clause (b) of clause (ii) and clause (iii) of the first proviso shall be passed in such form and manner as may be prescribed, before expiry of the period of three months, six months and one month, respectively, calculated from the end of the month in which the application was received: Provided also that the approval granted under the second proviso shall apply to an institution or fund, where the application is made under- (a) clause (i) of the first proviso, from the assessment year from which approval was earlier granted to such institution or fund; (b) clause (iii) of t....
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....e (iii) of the first proviso to clause (23C) of section 10 or under sub-clause (i ii) of clause (ac) of sub-section (I) of section 12A of the Act, till 30.09.2023 where the due date for making such application has expired prior to such date. (emphasis supplied by us) 8. As the differential treatment given by the CBDT vide its Circular No.06/2023, dated 24.05.2023, where in the time limit for regularizing registrations/approvals till 30.09.2023 was though made available to the existing funds or institutions which were required to seek approval under clause (i) of the "1st proviso" to Section 80G(5) of the Act but no such relaxation was made available for making an application in "Form 10AB" by any fund or institution which being provisionally approved required approval as per Section 80G(5)(iii) of the Act, therefore, the vires of the same was challenged by way of a Writ Petition before the Hon'ble High Court of Madras in the case of Sri Nrisimha Priya Charitable Trust Vs. Central Board of Direct Taxes (2024) 161 taxmann.com 209 (Mad). We find that the Hon'ble High Court in the aforesaid case had after exhaustive deliberations observed that the differential treatment g....
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....he existing trusts seeking registration/ approval was extended to 25.11.2022 vide Circular No. 22 of 2022 dated 01.11.2022. Further, as stated in 1(c) above, the due date for furnishing application for registration/approval by the provisionally registered/approved trusts was extended till 30.09.2022. These trusts shall be subject to tax under section 115TD of the Act in accordance with the provisions of the said section, as amended by the Finance Act, 2023 if the application is not made by 25.11.2022 or 30.09.2022, as the case may be." (emphasis supplied) 6.2. Thus, on a combined reading of the earlier Circular No.8 of 2022 and the impugned Circular No.6 of 2023, it can be clear that the only reason which is shown for the exercise of the powers is that these trusts faced hardship since they could not apply on time. No reason whatsoever is mentioned to omit "the clause (i) of the first proviso to sub-section (5) of Section 80G of the Act" in respect of the new trusts applying under Form No.10AB alone. 6.3. Even though the counter-affidavit attempted to furnish reasons for making the above distinction, ultimately, no reason for leaving out clause (i) of the first pr....
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....South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturist Association 2, more particularly to paragraph Nos.15 - 15.2 which reads thus: "15. The equality code in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution prescribes substantive and not formal equality. It is now a settled position that classification per se is not discriminatory and violative of Article 14. Article 14 only forbids class legislation and not reasonable classification. A classification is reasonable, when the twin tests as laid down by S.R. Das, J. in State of W.B. v. Anwar Ali Sarkar [State of W.B. v. Anwar Ali Sarkar, (1952) 1 SCC 1 : 1952 SCR 284] are fulfilled: 15.1. The classification must be based on an intelligible differentia which distinguishes persons or things that are grouped, from others left out of the group. 15.2. The differentia must have a rational relationship to the object sought to be achieved by the statute." 6.6. In the instant case, the differential treatment is not based on any substantial distinction that is real and pertinent to the object of the circular. The discrimination is artificial. The respondents are evasive and could not provide any rationale for such a classifica....
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....ar No.07/2023 dated 24.05.2023 which, inter alia, extended the "due date" of making an application and intimation electronically in "Form 10AB" under clause (iii) of the "1st proviso" to sub-section (5) of Section 80G of the Act till 30.06.2024. For the sake of clarity, the CBDT Circular No.7/2024 dated 25.04.2024 is culled out as under: CIRCULAR NO. 7/2024[F.NO. 173/25/2025-ITA-I] SECTION 119 OF THE INCOME-TAX ACT, 1961-CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES-INSTRUCTION TO SUBORDINATE AUTHORITIES -EXTENSION OF DUE DATE FOR FILING OF FORM NO. 10A/10AB CIRCULAR NO. 7/2024[F.NO. 173/25/2024-ITA-I], DATED 25-4-2024 On consideration of difficulties reported by the tax payers and other stake holders in the electronic filing of Form No. 10A/10AB, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (the Board) in exercise of its powers under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) extended the due date for filing Form No. 10A to 31.08.2021 by Circular No. 12/2021 dated 25.06.2021, to 31.03.2022 by Circular No. 16/2021 dated 29.08.2021, to 25.11.2022 by Circular No. 22/2022 dated 01.11.2022 and to 30.09.2023 by Circular No. 6/2023 dated 24.05.2023, and extended the due date for filing For....
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....e due date or that the application has been furnished under the wrong section code, it may furnish a fresh application in Form No. 10AB within the extended time provided in paragraph 3(ii) i.e. 30.06.2024. 5. It is also clarified that if any existing trust, institution or fund who had failed to file Form No. 10A for AY 2022-23 within the due date as extended by the CBDT circular no. 6/2023 dated 24.05.2023 and subsequently, applied for provisional registration as a new trust, institution or fund and has received Form No. 10AC, it can avail the option to surrender the said Form No. 10AC and apply for registration for AY 2022-23 as an existing trust, institution or fund in Form No. 10A within the extended time provided in paragraph 3(i) i.e. 30.06.2024. (Vikas Singh) Director (ITA-I) 11. We have thoughtfully considered the facts involved in the present case of the assessee society before us and find that the CIT(Exemption), Bhopal had disposed off the application filed by the assessee in Form 10AB vide his order dated 15.02.2024, i.e. prior to the issuance of the aforesaid CBDT Circular No.7/2024 dated 25.04.2024 for the reason that as the application was furnished ....