TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (9) TMI 584
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....ned CIT(E) rejected the application filed by the assessee in Form No. 10AB under clause (iii) of the first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961[hereinafter referred to as "the Act"], seeking regular approval under section 80G of the Act. 2. The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal: 1. The learned CIT (Exemptions) has erred in law and on facts in rejecting the application for registration solely on technical and procedural grounds. 2. The rejection on the ground that the trust deed does not expressly contain an irrevocability or dissolution clause. 3. The learned CIT (Exemptions) has erred in ignoring the settled legal principle that curable defects in the Trust Deed cannot be a v....
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....CIT(E) observed that the assessee's application in Form No. 10AB was initially incomplete and, therefore, issued a notice dated 22.09.2025 calling for the prescribed documents and information. The assessee furnished its online response on 01.12.2025. Upon consideration thereof, the learned CIT(E) held that, having obtained provisional approval on 08.03.2023, the assessee was required to file the application for regular approval within the period prescribed under clause (iii) of the first proviso to section 80G(5). Since Form No. 10AB was filed only on 10.06.2025, the learned CIT(E) treated the application as delayed by 21 months and beyond the permissible time limit. It was also observed that the assessee had not availed the benefit of the ....
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....he charitable character of the assessee or the genuineness of its activities. 9. It was submitted that the assessee was already holding provisional approval under section 80G(5) and that the delay in filing Form No. 10AB was procedural in nature. According to the learned AR, the application ought not to have been rejected at the threshold merely on account of the delay, particularly when no adverse finding had been recorded regarding the charitable objects or activities of the assessee. 10. As regards the absence of an express irrevocability or dissolution clause, the learned AR submitted that such absence could not constitute a valid ground for rejection of the application. Without prejudice, it was submitted that the alleged deficie....
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....i. furnishing of allegedly false or incorrect information in point No. 6 of Form No. 10AB, which was treated as a specified violation under Explanation (g) to section 12AB(4). 14. It is also evident from the impugned order that the learned CIT(E) has not recorded any independent adverse finding regarding the charitable nature of the objects of the assessee or the genuineness of its activities. The application has substantially been rejected at the threshold on limitation and on the alleged defect in the constitutional document. 15. The revised registration and approval regime for charitable institutions introduced multiple forms, separate statutory timelines and approvals having different periods of validity. The successive extensions....
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....ncorrect information constituting a specified violation under Explanation (g) to section 12AB(4).This issue now stands authoritatively considered by the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in The Chamber of Tax Consultants & Ors. v. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) & Ors., Writ Petition (L) No. 7587 of 2026, judgment dated 09.03.2026, neutral citation 2026:BHC-OS:6814-DB. The Hon'ble High Court has held as under that the absence of an explicit irrevocability clause is not a ground for rejecting an application for registration or renewal under section 12AB of the Act. The Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court has explained that a public charitable trust is deemed to be irrevocable by operation of law unless the instrument expressly reserves....
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....nt contains an express power of revocation, re-transfer of assets or re-assumption of control by the settlor, cannot be sustained as an independent ground for rejecting the assessee's application. Similarly, the answer "Yes" furnished in point No. 6 of Form No. 10AB cannot be treated as false or incorrect information merely because the deed does not contain an express clause declaring the assessee to be irrevocable. 21. Since the learned CIT(E) has not examined the application on merits and the learned Departmental Representative has also expressed no objection to restoration of the matter, we consider it appropriate, in the interests of justice, to set aside the impugned order and restore the application to the file of the learned CIT(E....