SRIJON FOUNDATION,MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA vs. CIT (EXEMPTIONS), MUMBAI, MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA

Brief facts of the case are that the assessee, being a trust duly registered u/s 12A/12AB of the Act, filed an application seeking approval u/s 80G(5) of the Act. During the course of proceedings, the Ld. CIT(E) called upon the assessee to furnish certain details, including the old regime approval certificate granted u/s 80G of the Act. According to the Ld. CIT(E), since the assessee failed to furnish the said certificate, the application was rejected by the impugned order.

The Ld. AR submitted that the rejection of the application is based solely on the alleged non-submission of the old regime approval certificate. It was submitted that the assessee continues to hold a valid registration u/s 12A/12AB of the Act and the genuineness of its charitable objects and activities has never been doubted. The Ld. AR further submitted that the earlier approval was available in the records of the Department and could have been verified by the Ld. CIT(E). It was, therefore, contended that the impugned order has been passed by adopting a hyper-technical approach without granting an effective opportunity of hearing. The Ld. AR prayed that the matter may be restored to the file of the Ld. CIT(E) for fresh adjudication.

We have heard the rival submissions and perused the material available on record. We find that the assessee admittedly holds a valid registration u/s 12A/12AB of the Act. The application seeking approval u/s 80G(5) has been rejected primarily on the 2 ground that the assessee failed to furnish the old regime approval certificate. In our considered view, when the registration granted u/s 12A/12AB continues to remain valid and there is no adverse finding recorded by the Ld. CIT(E) regarding the charitable objects or the genuineness of the activities of the assessee, the application ought not to have been rejected solely on a technical ground without granting an effective opportunity to the assessee to furnish the requisite documents or without verifying the records available with the Department.