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Facts
The assessee, an educational trust, claimed exemption under Section 11 of the Act, which was disallowed by the AO. The assessee filed an appeal before the Ld.CIT(A) with a 12-day delay. The Ld.CIT(A) dismissed the appeal on the ground of limitation without going into the merits.
Held
The Tribunal held that the Ld.CIT(A)'s rejection of the delay condonation application was incorrect, considering the minimal delay and the explanation provided by the assessee.
Key Issues
Whether the Ld.CIT(A) was justified in dismissing the appeal on the ground of limitation without condoning a short delay of 12 days.
Sections Cited
11, 12A, 143(1)
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, ‘B’ BENCH : BANGALORE
Before: SHRI LAXMI PRASAD SAHU & SHRI SOUNDARARAJAN K.
ORDER PER SOUNDARARAJAN K., JUDICIAL MEMBER
This is an appeal filed by the assessee challenging the order of the Ld.Addl/JCIT(A)-2, Lucknow dated 22/10/2024 in respect of the A.Y. 2016- 17.
The brief facts of the case are that the assessee is an educational trust running a school and during the assessment year, the assessee claimed exemption u/s. 11 of the Act which was not accepted by the AO. As against the said order, the assessee filed an appeal before the Ld.CIT(A) with a delay of 12 days and raised several grounds on merits. The Ld.CIT(A) without going into the merits of the case had dismissed the appeal on the ground of limitation. As against the said order, the assessee is in appeal before this Tribunal.
At the time of hearing, the Ld.AR submitted a paper book and also enclosed the copy of the condonation petition filed before the Ld.CIT(A) and submitted that the minimal delay of 12 days were explained and in the interest of justice, the Ld.CIT(A) ought to have condoned the said delay and decided the appeal on merits and therefore prayed to set aside the order of the Ld.CIT(A) and sought for a direction to decide the appeal on merits.
The Ld.DR relied on the orders of the lower authorities.
We have heard the arguments of both sides and perused the materials available on record.
We have perused the assessment order in which the exemption claimed u/s. 11 was disallowed even though the assessee is a trust and got registration u/s. 12A of the Act. We have also gone through the application to condone the delay in filing the appeal before the Ld.CIT(A) and in the said application, the assessee explained that as against the intimation u/s. 143(1) of the Act in which the exemption u/s. 11 was disallowed, the assessee was advised to file a rectification return, but unfortunately they were not able to file the same due to some technical glitches. Further, the delay in filing the appeal was only 12 days and the said delay was also explained by the assessee. In such circumstances, we are of the view that the order of the Ld.CIT(A) rejecting the said delay condonation application is not correct. Therefore we are setting aside the order of the Ld.CIT(A) and direct the Ld.CIT(A) to hear the appeal filed by the assessee on merits and in accordance with law after hearing the assessee.
In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 26th February, 2025.