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Facts
The assessee, Spiritual Life Trust, appealed against the CIT(E)'s orders which granted registration as a Religious Trust instead of a Charitable Trust and declined registration under Section 80G(5). The appeals were filed with a delay.
Held
The Tribunal condoned the delay, noting the orders were passed ex-parte. The Tribunal held that the matter deserved to be set aside to the CIT(E) for a fresh decision after providing the assessee an opportunity of hearing.
Key Issues
Whether the registration should be granted as a Charitable Trust instead of a Religious Trust, and whether registration under Section 80G(5) should be granted, requiring a fresh adjudication by the CIT(E).
Sections Cited
12AB(1)(b), 80G(5), 12AA, 12A
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DIVISION BENCH, ‘B’ CHANDIGARH
Before: SHRI RAJPAL YADAV & SHRI MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL
आयकर अपील"य अ"धकरण,च"डीगढ़ "यायपीठ, च"डीगढ़ IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DIVISION BENCH, ‘B’ CHANDIGARH BEFORE SHRI RAJPAL YADAV, VICE PRESIDENT AND SHRI MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER आयकर अपील सं./ & 909/CHD/2025 "नधा"रण वष" / Assessment Year: 2023-24 Spiritual Life Trust, Vs The DCIT/ACIT, 1332, Sector 18-C, Circle 1(1), Chandigarh. Chandigarh. "थायी लेखा सं./PAN NO: AAYTS9358P अपीलाथ"/Appellant ""यथ"/Respondent Assessee by : Shri Parikshit Aggarwal, CA Revenue by : Smt. Kusum Bansal, CIT DR Date of Hearing : 07.10.2025 Date of Pronouncement : 08.10.2025 VIRTUAL HEARING O R D E R PER RAJPAL YADAV, VP The assessee is in appeal against the orders of ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) [in short ‘the ld.CIT (E)’] dated 17.12.2024 and 18.12.2024 vide which ld. CIT (E) has granted the registration u/s 12AB(1)(b) of the Act as a Religious Trust instead of the prayer of the assessee to grant the registration as a Charitable Trust. In the second appeal, assessee is impugning the order of the ld. CIT (E) vide which registration u/s 80G(5) has been declined to the assessee. & 909/CHD/2025 A.Y.2023-24 2
The Registry has pointed out that appeals are time barred by 136 days. The assessee has filed applications for condonation of delay. In the application, it has been submitted that Trustees were occupied with various preparatory arrangements of an event scheduled outside India and therefore, they could not keep a track on the impugned orders.
With the assistance of the ld. Representative, we have gone through the record carefully. We find both the orders are passed ex-parte, therefore, it could be inferred that Trustees might have failed to take note of the proceedings before ld. CIT
(E) well in time. Hence, we condone the delay in filing the appeals.
A perusal of the record would indicate that assessee has applied for registration as a Charitable Institution. Though ld. CIT (E) has granted the registration but granted it as a Religious Trust. Such an opinion was taken by the ld. CIT (E) in an ex-parte proceeding. Taking into consideration the details submitted before us, we deem it appropriate that issue & 909/CHD/2025 A.Y.2023-24 3 deserves to be set aside to the ld. CIT (E) for deciding afresh after providing due opportunity of hearing to the assessee.
Since grant of registration u/s Section 12AA is required to be re-decided by the ld. CIT (E), therefore, after adjudication of the status of the assessee, whether it will be entitled for 12A or not, the application of the assessee for grant of registration u/s 80G(5) deserves to be re-adjudicated. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned order in both the proceedings and restore both these issues to the file of ld. CIT (E). In other words, ld. CIT (E) shall decide the issue whether registration u/s 12AA and 80G(5) of the Act is to be granted to the assessee or not. Such an adjudication to be made after providing due opportunity of hearing to the assessee.
In the result, both the appeals are allowed for statistical purposes.