M/S. AGGARWAL SABHA BHUNA,HARYANA vs. CIT (EXEMPTIONS), CHANDIGARH

ORDER

PER BEENA A PILLAI, JUDICIAL MEMBER Present appeal has been filed by assessee against order dated 01/07/16 passed by Ld.CIT (Exemption), Chandigarh on following grounds of appeal: “On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the order of the Ld.CIT(E), Chandigarh rejecting the application for registration u/s 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is arbitrary, misconceived, fallacious and illegal and having been done on imaginary, fictitious and unsubstantiated grounds must be quashed with further directions to grant the registration as sought.”

2. Brief facts of the case are as under: Assessee filed application for registration under section 12 A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act) on 10/03/16 before Aggarwal Sabha Bhuna, Bhuna Commissioner of income tax (Exemptions), Chandigarh. Ld.CIT(E), accordingly issued notice on 28/07/16, asking details regarding application for registration under section 12 A of the Act. In response to same, assessee submitted aims and objectives of assessee. Ld.CIT(E) after perusing details filed by assessee, observed that assessee was not carrying out any charitable activities as according to him under provisions of section 12 AA (1) (a) assessee failed to prove genuineness of activities. He also held that, assessee’s case suffers from incomplete disclosure and that assessee attempts to provide a garb of corpus donations to the credits accruing to it. Ld.CIT (E) thus rejected the application filed by assessee.

3. Aggrieved by the order passed by Ld. CIT (E) of the act assessee is in appeal before us now.

4. Ld.Counsel filed in paper book details of members of society with their addresses and PAN numbers, copy of Certificate of Registration of Society with the District Registrars of Forms and Societies, Faridabad, copies of Memorandum of Association and bye-laws of the society, copies of audited balance sheet for the year ending 31/03/13, 31/03/14, 31/03/15 and 31/03/16. He also placed on record list of corpus donations received by society and details of bank accounts maintained by society for preceding Assessment Years. Ld.Counsel submitted that assessee had submitted all relevant details as required, in order to consider application filed by assessee, for purposes of obtaining registration under section 12 A of the Act. He submitted that main objective of this society is to find solutions to major problems like child marriage, helping poor and needful 2 Aggarwal Sabha Bhuna, Bhuna people for education, financial help for marriage of girls belonging to poor families, providing medical aid to required people in the area. Ld.Counsel submitted that there have been no findings by Ld.CIT (E) regarding objects of the trust being not charitable in nature, instead he is recording that no evidence of any work being done by the society has been adduced in the file. It was argued by him that for the purposes of registration of a trust under section 12 A of the Act, Ld. CIT (E) is not required to examine whether the society has actually commenced or has in fact carried on charitable activities.

5. On the contrary, Ld.DR placed reliance upon order of Ld.CIT(E). It was submitted by him that registration cannot be granted without looking into genuineness of its activities or objects.

6. We have perused submissions advanced by both sides in light of records placed before us.

7. At page 37 of the paper book, notes on activities performed by society have been mentioned which are as under: “In this modern world, a social committee plays a keen role in the progress of society. It has its own importance to resolve day to day issues and to uplift the society to a huge extent. To consider the same, Bhuna a small village in the District Fatehabad having population of around 25000 has planned to form a new committee names “Aggarwal Sabha”. This committee has been established unanimously by all the members of Agarwal Society. Every member of the committee has an esteemed image in the society. Mr.Raj Kumar Singhal a Hindi Professor has been elected as the President of the society. He known for his disciplined nature and teaching skills. He served the village for more than 30 years. Aggarwal Sabha Bhuna, Bhuna Mr.Kailash Bansal, the head of Vyapar Mandal Bhuna has been elected as Vice President.