INSTITUTE OF DRIVING & TRAFFIC RESEARCH,UTTRAKHAND vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD EXEMPTION, DEHRADUN, UTTRAKHAND

1. The present appeal is filed by the Assessee challenging the order of Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals/National Faceless Appeal Centre (‘Ld. CIT(A)/NFAC’ for short), New Delhi dated 11/03/2025 pertaining to Assessment Year 2016-17.

Brief facts of the case are that, the assessee is a Society registered u/s 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('Act' for short). During the Assessment Year 2016-17, the Assessee transferred a sum of Rs.

25,50,000/- to utilization fund u/s 11(2) of the Act. The assessee should electronically,however the same has been filed by the Assessee manually.

As against the assessment order dated 07/12/2018, assessee has preferred an appeal before the CIT(A) and the Ld.CIT(A) vide order dated 24/07/2019, dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee. Aggrieved by the order of the Ld. CIT(A) dated 24/07/2019, Assessee preferred an Appeal before the Tribunal in ITA No. 137/DDN/2019. The Co-ordinate Bench of the Tribunal after hearing both the parties remanded the matter to the file of the A.O. with a direction to consider the Form No. 10 which was manually filed by the Assessee and the Form No. 10 filed electronically during the Assessment Proceedings and decide the matter in accordance with law. However, the Ld. A.O. in the second round of litigation vide order dated 06/11/2023, once again rejected the Form No. 10 filed by the Assessee manually and recomputed the income of the Assessee at Rs. 25,50,020/-. Aggrieved by the order of the A.O. dated The Ld. CIT(A) vide order dated 11/03/2025,dismissed the Appeal filed by the Assessee which has been called in question before us.

The Ld. Counsel for the Assessee submitted that both the Lower Authorities have erred in not complying the direction of the Tribunal in its order dated 03/01/2023 in ITA No. 137/DDN/2019.Further submitted that the A.O. has not allowed the application on the very same ground that Form No. 10 has not been filed electronically. The Ld. Counsel submitted that in compliance with the order of the Tribunal should have considered the Form No. 10 filed by the Assessee and ought to have allowed the deemed application of income to the extent of Rs. 25,50,000/-. Thus, the Ld. Assessee's Representative sought for allowing the Appeal.

Per contra, the Ld. Departmental Representative vehemently submitted that, since the Assessee has not filed Form No. 10 electronically on time, the Lower Authorities have rightly not considered the Form No.10 filed manually and passed the orders impugned which requires no interference.

We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. It is the matter of fact that in the first round of litigation the dated 03/01/2023, observed that the filing of Form No. 10 electronically came into existed w.e.f. 01/04/2016 and the Assessee must have missed in filing the Form No.10 electronicallyand the same has been filed on time manually before the due date of filing of the return i.e.06/09/2016. Therefore, the Tribunal directed the A.O. to consider the manuallyfiled Form No. 10 along with Form No. 10 filed by the Assessee during the assessment proceedings electronically as the same has been filed on time and further directed to decide the matter in accordance with law. The order of the Tribunal dated 03/01/2023 has reached finally as the Department has not challenged the said order.

In the result, the Appeal of the Assessee is allowed.