TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (12) TMI 26
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....5) of Section 80G as non-maintainable on the ground of being 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....
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....to be decided by us is that whether the Application of the Assessee was beyond the time limit prescribed by the Act ? 5.4) In 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) .............. ....
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....University established by law, or is an institution financed wholly or in part by the Government or a local authority; (vi) in relation to donations made after the 31st day of March, 1992, the institution or fund is for the time being approved by the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner; (vii) ............ (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 commen....
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....in writing granting it approval provisionally for a period of three years from the assessment year from which the approval 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 [second] 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: 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 ....
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....h of Hon'ble Finance Minister 2020 and the Memorandum of Finance Bill 2020 together, it becomes clear that the concept of Provisional registration was mainly to facilitate the registration of newly formed Trust/Institutions which have not yet begun the activities. In continuation of this when we read the „sub clause iii of Proviso‟ of section 80G(5) , which we have already reproduced above, it is clear that the intention of parliament in putting the word "or within six months of commencement of its activities, whichever is earlier" is in the context of the newly formed Trust/institutions. For the existing Trust/Institution, the time limit for applying for Regular Registration is within six months of expiry of Provisional registration if they are applying under subclause (iii) of the Proviso to Section 80G(5) of the Act. 5.11.1) If we agree with the interpretation of the CIT(E), then say a trust which was formed in the year 2000 , performed charitable activities since 2000, but did not apply for registration u/s 80G, the said trust will never be able to apply for registration now. This in our opinion is not the intention of the legislation. 5.11.2) Even otherwise, ....