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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI ‘DB’ BENCH,
Before: SHRI SATBEER SINGH GODARA, & SHRI NAVEEN CHANDRA
PER NAVEEN CHANDRA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER:-
The above captioned five separate appeals by the assessee are
preferred against separate orders of the CIT(A), Dehradun dated
16.05.2018 for A.Y 2010-11 and order dated 27.02.2018 for A.Ys 2011-
12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively.
Since all the appeals were heard together and pertain to same
assessee, these are being disposed of by this common order for the sake
of convenience and brevity.
Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that the assessee is a State
Pollution Control Board set up under section 4 of the Water (Prevention
& Control of pollution) Act, 1974, with duties and functions of
prevention and control of pollution in terms of various pollution
controlling acts, viz. Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act,
1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Hazardous Waste
(Management & Handling) Rules, 1998, etc.
The assessee has applied for exemption u/s 10(23C)(iv)/ 10(46) of
the Income-tax Act, 1961 [the Act, for short] w.r.e in terms of power
vested with CBDT/CIT(E) and its authority u/s 119(2)(b) of the Act, along
with and application for condonation of delay, which is as under:
Sr. No. Application Period Application filed Date of Filed u/s of Exemption with authority filing
10(230) (iv) FYs 2007-08 Under Secretary- CBDT 6.9.2017 to 2010-11
CIT(Exemption), Lucknow 11.9.2017
10(46) FYs 2011-12 Under Secretary-CBDT 6.9.2017 4. to 2013-14 CIT(Exemption), Lucknow 11.9.2017
The assessee has been granted exemption u/s 10(46) of the Act for
the following years-
Assessment Years Notification No. & Date
AYs 2015-16 to 2019-20 73/2016, dated 17-08-2016
AYs 2020-21 to 2024-25 28/2020, dated 27-05-2020
The solitary issue involved in all these appeals by the assessee
pertains to the approval to be granted u/s 10(23C)(iv) of the Act.
It is the say of the ld. counsel for the assessee that the assessee
enjoys exemption u/s 10(46) of the Act for the AYs 2015-16 to 2019-20
(years subsequent to the impugned years), wherein it was notified u/s
10(46) by CBDT/CIT (E) vide notification No. 73/2016, dated17-08-2016.
Further, the assessee has recently been notified again by CBDT u/s
10(46) in respect of AYs 2020- 21 to 2024-25 vide notification no.
28/2020, dated 27-05-2020. Copies of both the notifications have been
furnished on record.
The ld. counsel for the assessee further submitted that the
assessee-company was incorporated in the year 2002 and since then, it
has been performing its duties and functions as issued by the
Government of India in the area of environment protection and pollution
control and there has been no change in its activities since then. The ld.
counsel for the assessee relied on the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control
Board and State Pollution Control Board, Odisha wherein the CBDT has
notified both of these Boards with retrospective effect and no person is
adversely affected by giving retrospective effect to these notifications.
The ld. counsel for the assessee submitted that since there has
been no change in the activities performed by the assessee since its
inception and the assessee has been notified for FY 2014-15 onwards on
the basis of the same activities. Also, in assessee’s case as well, no
person will be adversely affected if the assessee board is notified
retrospectively. In light of the above facts and other Boards notified
retrospectively, the assessee deserves to be granted an exemption u/s
10(46) of the Act with retrospective effect and exemption u/s
10(23C)(iv) from A.Y 2008-09 to A.Y 2011-12 and exemption u/s 10(45)
from A.Y 2012-13 to Α.Υ 2014-15.
The ld. counsel for the assessee also placed on record copy of ITAT
order dated 24.05.2022 of the co-ordinate bench wherein in the
assessment in the cases for AY 2008-09 & 2009-10 to be void abinitio.
Per contra, the ld. DR relied upon the orders of the authorities
below.
We have heard the rival submissions and have perused the relevant
material on record. There is no dispute that the assessee has applied
for exemption u/s 10(23C)(iv)/ 10(46) of the Act w.r.e in terms of power
vested with CBDT/CIT(E) and its authority u/s 119(2)(b) of the Act. It is
also not controverted that the CBDT has notified Madhya Pradesh
Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board, Odisha with
retrospective effect and no person is adversely affected by giving
retrospective effect to these notifications. We find that the ld. DR has
not controverted that there has been any change in the activities
performed by the assessee since its inception and the assessee has been
notified for FY 2014-15 onwards on the basis of the same activities.
However, we find that the question involved in these appeals are
dependent on the approval u/s 10(23C)(iv) of the Act which is pending
before the CBDT. Therefore, we are of the considered view that the
matter be remanded to the file of the Assessing Officer till such time
the petition for approval is disposed of by the CBDT.
In the result, the appeals of the assessee in ITA Nos. 3191 to 3194
and 5092/DEL/2018 are allowed for statistical purposes.
The order is pronounced in the open court on 15.01.2025.
Sd/- Sd/-
[SATBEER SINGH GODARA] [NAVEEN CHANDRA] JUDICIAL MEMBER ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
Dated: 15th JANUARY, 2025.
VL/