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Facts
The appellant, Hotfut Foundation, applied for regular registration under section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The CIT (Exemption) denied the application citing delay, commercial nature of activities, and absence of charitable activity. The appellant had previously been granted provisional registration.
Held
The Tribunal noted that the appellant had complied with most notices and deserved another opportunity. The appeal was remitted back to the CIT for fresh adjudication, with a direction for a personal hearing and updating contact details. The impugned order was set aside.
Key Issues
Whether the CIT erred in denying regular registration without providing a proper opportunity for hearing and verification, and based on commercial nature of activities and discrepancies.
Sections Cited
12A(1)(ac)(iii), 12AB
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, PUNE BENCHES “A”, PUNE
Before: DR.MANISH BORAD & SHRI VINAY BHAMORE
PER DR. MANISH BOARD, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER :
The captioned appeal at the instance of appellant is directed against the order dated 28.02.2025 framed by CIT (Exemption) denying application filed u/s.12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short ‘the Act’) for grant of regular registration.
When the case called for, none appeared on behalf of the appellant despite due service of notice of hearing. Even on the previous date of hearing, i.e. 21.08.2025 and 03.11.2025, there was no appearance from the side of appellant. We therefore proceed to adjudicate the appeal with the assistance of ld. DR and the available records.
Hotfut Foundation 3. Appellant has raised following grounds of appeal :
“1. The learned CIT, Exemption, Pune; erred in law and on facts in not granting registration under section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to appellant without giving any personal hearing opportunity and without undertaking any physical verification to examine the genuineness of the appellant.
2. The learned CIT, Exemption, Pune; erred in law and on facts in not granting registration under section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to the appellant by stating that appellant is sharing revenue with the academies with which it collaborates, thereby considering the activities of the appellant as of commercial nature.
The learned CIT, Exemption, Pune; erred in law and on facts in not granting registration under section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to appellant without raising discrepancies/issues relating to details of charitable activities carried out in show cause notice and thereby rejecting the registration of the appellant on the basis of those discrepancies/issues.
4. Appellant craves leave to add, alter, clarify, explain, modify, delete any of the grounds of appeal, and to seek any just and fair relief.”
Ld. DR supported the order of ld.CIT(E).
We have heard the ld. DR and perused the record placed before us. We observe that the appellant is a Charitable Organisation and it filed the application for regular registration u/s.12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Act on 29.09.2024. Appellant has been granted provisional registration vide order dated 21.07.2023. The main object of the appellant is to promote Sports, Athletics, Games, Fitness, Nutritional Awareness within India and abroad etc. After the application for regular registration on Form No.10AB, certain details were called for by ld.CIT(E) to which compliances was made by uploading documents on 29.09.2024, 05.11.2024 and 05.02.2025. Ld.CIT(E) vide impugned order has refused to grant registration on account of delay in filing the application, commercial nature of activities and absence of charitable activity. We observe that the appellant has raised Ground Hotfut Foundation No.1 seeking one more opportunity and requesting for personal hearing so that it can demonstrate before ld.CIT(E) about the genuineness of the charitable objects and charitable activities carried out by the appellant.
Considering the fact that appellant has complied to most of the notices issued by ld.CIT(E), we deem it appropriate that in the interest of justice and being fair to both the parties, assessee deserves one more opportunity. Therefore, the issues raised in the instant appeal are remitted back to the file of ld.CIT(E) for necessary adjudication. Needless to mention that ld.CIT(E) shall afford reasonable opportunity to the appellant in the set aside proceedings. Appellant is directed to update latest email id and contact detail on ITBA portal. Appellant is also directed to remain vigilant and not to take adjournment unless otherwise required for reasonable cause. Impugned order is set aside and ground of appeal No.1 raised by the appellant is allowed for statistical purposes.
7. Since in the Ground No.1, we have remitted the issues to the file of ld.CIT(E) dealing with remaining grounds would be merely academic in nature.
8. In the result, the appeal filed by the appellant is allowed for statistical purposes as per terms indicated hereinabove.
Order pronounced on this 11th day of December, 2025.