2024 (12) TMI 26

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....g filed beyond the statutory period as provided in Clause (iii) of first proviso to Section 80G(5) and thereby rejecting the same without going into the merits. 3. The ld. CIT Exemption erred in law and on facts in cancelling the provisional registration granted on 06/04/2022 without following the due process of law and without affording opportunity of hearing to the appellant. 4. The ld. CIT Exemption erred in law and on facts in cancelling the provisional registration granted on 06/04/2022 in absence of any dissatisfaction about genuineness of the activities of the appellant and in absence of any violation of conditions prescribed in clause (i) to (v) of Section 80G(5). 5. The Learned Commissioner of Income Tax Exemption erred in mis-interpreting and mis-reading the provisions of Section 80G. 6. The Order passed by the CIT Exemption, Pune rejecting the assessee's application is not in keeping with provisions of law, is bad in law and thus the same needs to be set aside. 7. The Assessee prays for any other relief to be allowed in its case under provisions of law. 8. The assessee craves leave to add, alter, amend, modify, delete all or any of the grounds of appeal. 3) ....

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....this case assessee have provisional approval u/s 80G(5) of the Act upto AY 2024-2025. In this scenario the Assessee was to apply before six months of expiry of provisional registration as per Section 80G(5) of the Act. Thus, the assessee had applied well in advance. 5.5) The relevant part of Section 80G(5) is reproduced here as under : 80G. (1) In computing the total income of an assessee, there shall be deducted, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this section,- (i) ... (ii) ..... (2) The sums referred to in sub-section (1) shall be the following, namely :- (a) any sums paid by the assessee in the previous year as donations to- ........... or (iv) any other fund or any institution to which this section applies; or (v) the Government or any local authority, to be utilised for any charitable purpose other than the purpose of promoting family planning; or (vi) .............. (via) .......... (vii) .......... (b) .............. (c) ..................... (d)............. (4) ............................ (5) This section applies to donations to any institution or fund referred to in sub- clause (iv) of clause (a) of sub-section (2), only i....

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....) ............ (viii) .......... (ix).............. Provided that the institution or fund referred to in clause (vi) shall make an application in the prescribed form and manner to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, for grant of approval,- (i) where the institution or fund is approved under clause (vi) [as it stood immediately before its amendment by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020], within three months from the 1st day of April, 2021; (ii) where the institution or fund is approved and the period of such approval is due to expire, at least six months prior to expiry of the said period; (iii) where the institution or fund has been provisionally approved, at least six months prior to expiry of the period of the provisional approval or within six months of commencement of its activities, whichever is earlier; (emphasis supplied) 72[(iv) in any other case, where activities of the institution or fund have-- (A) not commenced, at least one month prior to the commencement of the previous year relevant to the assessment year from which the said approval is sought; (B) commenced and where no income or part ther....

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.... the end of the month in which the application was received: 5.6) Therefore, apparently, as per the Proviso to Section 80G(5) the time limit is Six months before the expiry of the provisional approval or within Six months of Commencement of its activities whichever is earlier. 5.7) The Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) in the case of the Assessee held that the Activities of the Assessee had commenced in 1952, hence the assessee was liable to make application for Approval u/s 80G of the Act on or before 30/June /2021 which was extended to 30/9/2022 by various circulars of CBDT. Since assessee made application in Sep 2023, the CIT(E) held it to be time barred. 5.7.1) However, the CIT(E) had erred in ignoring the most important fact in this case that the Assessee had received valid Provisional Approval and it was valid till AY 2024-25. Therefore, in this case when we read the sub clause (iii) of the Proviso, we have to understand that 'with in six months of commencement of activities' is applicable only for those newly formed trusts which have received the provisional approval without commencement of activities. If we interpret it in this way then the sub clause (iii) will be ....