SRI NARAYANAGURU VIDYANIDHI TRUST,UDUPI vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX (EXEMPTIONS), BENGALURU

The assessee has filed an appeal against the order of Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Bangalore rejecting the recognition sought under Section 80G(5)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act).

The assessee has raised the following grounds of appeal :

None appeared on behalf of the assessee nor was adjournment petition filed. Therefore considering the material and submissions of the ld. DR, the appeal is heard..

The Brief facts of the case are, the assessee is a registered charitable trust . The assessee has made an application seeking recognition under Section 80G of the act on 7.3.2019. The CIT (Exemptions) on verification of the documents, observed that there are no noticeable charitable activities as on date from the date of formation of the Trust. Therefore the genuineness of the activities of trust cannot be examined and has rejected the recognition under Section 80G(5)(vi) of Act on 27.09.2019. Aggrieved by the rejection order of CIT (Exemptions), the assessee has filed an appeal with the Tribunal.

The learned Departmental Representative supported the orders of CIT (Exemptions). We on perusal of the material papers filed by the assessee trust find that the registration under Section 12AA of the act was granted to assessee on 29.09.2015, and the assessee has furnished the details and clarifications for processing of application for recognition u/sec80G of the act on 5-9-2019 with CIT(Exemptions) .

We heard the submissions of the ld. DR and perused the material on record. Prima facie, the CIT (Exemptions) rejected the recognition under Section 80G of the Act observing that the assessee has not carried out noticeable charitable activities and the genuineness of activities could not be examined. Whereas, the assessee was granted registration under Section 12AA of the Act on 29.09.2015. . We find the co-ordinate bench of Tribunal in dated 22/03/2019 of M/s.Kuncham Mohan Raj & Manjula Charitable Trust vs Cit(E) has dealt on recognition u/sec 80G of the Act, where the assessee trust was already granted registration u/sec12AAof the act. Further the CIT (Exemptions) has not processed the application, applying the provisions of Section 80G(5)(i) to (vi) of the Act and rejected the recognition. We are of the opinion that, at the stage of Act, the extent and nature of activities are not required to be examined and support our view relying on the decision of Honorable High court of Gujarat “Cit Vs Arvind bhai maniar charitable foundation (2015) 231 Taxman 908(Guj). Therefore, Considering the facts and circumstances, the order of the CIT (Exemptions) is set aside and restore the disputed issues to the file of CIT (E) with the direction to consider afresh and pass a speaking order.Further the assessee should be provided with adequate opportunity of hearing .The assessee should also co-operate in submitting the information and details for early disposal of the application filed for recognition u/s 80G of the Act. Accordingly, we allow the appeal of the assessee for statistical purposes. 7 . In the result, the assessee’s appeal is allowed for statistical purposes.