SHRI ATAM VALLABH SHRAMNOPASAK GURUKUL TRUST ( CHARITABLE),LUDHIANA vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX ( EXEMPTIONS), CHANDIGARH

Following grounds have been raised in this appeal:

That the impugned order passes by CIT Exemptions is illegal perverse, erroneous and against the facts and circumstances of the case and the reason / findings itself.

2. That the ld. CIT(Exemptions) is not justified in denying exemption u/s 80G of Income Tax Act, 1961 to the assessee / Trust the trust being eligible for the applied exemption and the order passed is illegal, erroneous, perverse and against the facts on record and circumstances of the case. 3. That the appellant assessee was not afforded reasonable opportunity to submit reply for the questions raised for the applied exemption. 4. That the appellant craves leave to delete or amend any of the grounds of appeal on or before the disposal of the present appeal. 2.1 The only grievance of the assessee in this appeal relates to the rejection of application moved by the assessee for approval under section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Act’).

Facts of the case in brief are that the assessee filed an application in Form No. 10G on 10/06/2019 for granting approval under section 80G of the Act. Earlier, the registration was granted to the assessee under section 12AA of the Act on 26/03/2019.

Further, keeping in view the unresponsive attitude of the applicant, it is concluded that the assessee has failed to discharge it onus, this being a beneficial clause for the assessee, to prove that its income is free from exigibility of taxes. In light of the above, I have no option but to proceed on merits and reject the application for approval u/s 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.”

Ld. Counsel for the Assessee submitted that all the informations were provided to the Ld. CIT(E) and there was no change in the activity as well as the object of the assessee which were there when the registration under section 12AA of the Act was granted.

In her rival submissions the Ld. CIT DR strongly supported the order passed by the Ld. CIT(E) and further submitted that when the opportunity was accorded to the assessee, there was no compliance. Therefore the Ld. CIT(E) was justified in rejecting the application moved by the assessee for granting the approval under section 80G of the Act.

We have considered the submissions of both the parties and perused the material available on the record. In the present case it appears that the Ld. CIT(E) has not provided due and reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee which is evident from his observation that the opportunity was given to the assessee on 13/12/2019 to appear on 16/12/2019. However, nothing is brought on record as to what queries were raised and which informations were not provided by the assessee. It is also not clear as to whether there was any change in the activities & objects of the assessee trust which were there at the time of granting the registration under section 12AA of the Act.

We therefore by keeping in view the peculiar facts of this case as narrated above, deem it appropriate, to set aside this case back to the file of Ld. CIT(E) to be adjudicated afresh, in accordance with law, after providing due and reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee.

In the result, appeal of the Assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.