TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (7) TMI 1696
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....)(ii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act") seeking registration under section 12AB came to be rejected. 2. The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal: 1. That the learned CIT (Exemption) has erred both on facts and in law in not granting registration to the appellant on the mere ground that in the application made in Form No. 10AB of the Income Tax Rules, 1962, section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Income Tax Act had inadvertently been typed on account of typographical error instead of section 12A(1)(ac)(ii) of the Act. 2. That the learned CIT (Exemption) has further failed to appreciate that benefit of the provisions of section 12AB of the Act ought not to be denied merely on technical grounds due to clerical/....
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....tion had been filed under the wrong statutory provision and rejected the same on that ground. While doing so, the learned CIT(E) observed that the regular registration already granted to the assessee vide Form No.10AC dated 28.05.2021 would continue to remain valid from A.Y.2022-23 to A.Y.2026-27 and further observed that the assessee would be at liberty to pursue the remedies available under the statute. 4. The learned Authorised Representative(AR) submitted that the impugned order deserves to be set aside since the rejection is founded solely upon an inadvertent typographical error committed while selecting the applicable clause in Form No.10AB. It was submitted that the assessee had at all times intended to seek renewal of its existin....
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....application as having been filed under the correct statutory provision or grant an opportunity to the assessee to rectify the application before deciding the matter on merits. 6. Per contra, the learned Departmental Representative relied upon the findings recorded by the learned CIT(E). However, he fairly submitted that if the Bench was inclined to restore the matter to the file of the learned CIT(E) for fresh adjudication after granting an opportunity to the assessee, he had no serious objection to such a course being adopted. 7. We have considered the rival submissions and perused the material placed before us. We have also carefully gone through the impugned order and the judicial precedents relied upon by the learned AR. 8. The....
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....ication is merely technical and the assessee has not been confronted with such defect, the Commissioner (Exemption) ought either to treat the application as having been filed under the correct statutory provision or grant an opportunity to the assessee to rectify the mistake instead of rejecting the application outright. 11. We are in respectful agreement with the aforesaid principles. Procedural provisions are intended to facilitate adjudication of substantive rights and not to defeat them. Once the materials available before the learned CIT(E) clearly disclosed that the assessee was seeking renewal of its existing registration, the application ought not to have been rejected merely because of an inadvertent selection of an incorrect st....