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Facts
The assessee, Sri Sarva Dharma Samanvaya Trust, filed an appeal against the order of the CIT (Exemptions) rejecting its application for registration under section 12AB. The appeal documents, including Form No. 36 and Grounds of Appeal, were found to be unsigned.
Held
The Tribunal held that the appeal was not maintainable as the Memorandum of Appeal and Grounds of Appeal were not signed by the appellant, which is a requirement as per section 140 of the Act. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed.
Key Issues
Whether an appeal filed with unsigned Memorandum of Appeal and Grounds of Appeal is maintainable before the Tribunal.
Sections Cited
12AB, 140
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, “B’’BENCH: BANGALORE
Before: SHRI WASEEM AHMED & SHRI KESHAV DUBEY
PER KESHAV DUBEY, JUDICIAL MEMBER:
This appeal at the instance of the assessee is directed against the order of ld. CIT (Exemptions), Bengaluru dated 10.9.2025 vide DIN & Notice No. ITBA/EXM/F/EXM45/2025-26/1080563445(1) rejecting the application filed for registration under section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short “ the Act”).
The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal :-
At the outset, on going through the Form No. 36 as well as Grounds of Appeal filed by the assessee on 29/10/2025, we found that they are unsigned & stated to have draft for review & not for signature & submission. The copy of form No. 36 filed by the assessee is reproduced below for ease of reference & convenience-
We noticed that the Registry on 29/10/2025 had noted that the Appeal filed by the assessee is not in Order for the reason stated below- 1. (EF) Memorandum of Appeal is not signed by the Appellant. 2. Form 36 and Grounds of Appeal before ITAT not signed by the Appellant. However, we also noticed that the above defects have not been rectified yet by the assessee trust.
Further, we also observed that instead of rectifying the above defects, the assessee trust in fact had filed another appeal in IT Appeal No. 2544/Bang/2025 on 09/02/2026 against the same rejection order of the ld. CIT (Exemptions), Bengaluru dated 10/09/2025 in which the assessee had filed the signed Form No. 36 along with the signed grounds of Appeal. We also observed that the said appeal is also fixed for hearing on 02/04/2026(Thursday).
6. In the present appeal, as neither Form No. 36 nor grounds of the Appeal are signed by the assessee as per the provisions contained in section 140 of the Act, the Appeal filed by the Assessee is not maintainable and therefore same is dismissed.
In the result the appeal filed by the assessee is dismissed.