NIRAJ PRABHU THOMAS EDUCATIONAL AND CHARITABLE TRUST,CHENNAI vs. ITO, NAGERCOIL

This appeal filed by the assessee is directed against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax-I, Madurai, dated 09.10.2014.

There is a delay of 23 days in filing the appeal. The Ld.counsel for the assessee filed a petition for condonation of the delay along with an affidavit and submitted that the order passed by the CIT dated 09.10.2014 was received by the staff of the petitioner and handed over to the Chartered Accountant for advice. Due to the illness of the Chartered Accountant in the ensuing months, the same was not attended to. He further submitted that during the course of the meeting arranged with the counsel on record in the month of October, 2014, the petitioner was informed about the provisions governing further appeal in the matter of rejection of the registration under Section 12AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (in short 'the Act'). Thereafter, the appeal was preferred immediately. The Ld.counsel submitted that the delay in filing the appeal was not intended by the assessee and it was beyond its control.

On the contrary, the Ld. Departmental Representative has not raised any serious objection.

We find that there is a sufficient reason for not filing the appeal within the stipulated period and we find that this is a fit case to condone the delay. Accordingly, the delay of 23 days is condoned and the appeal is admitted.

So far as merit of the case is concerned, the assessee-Trust filed the application for grant of registration under Section 12AA of the Act on 13th May, 2014. As per the copy of the Trust deed appended to Form No.10A, the Trust has been created on 15.09.2014. The CIT-I, Madurai, after calling for the information from the lower authorities, refused to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act on the ground that “the applicant-Trust did not submit the details called for to substantiate its claim of activities”. On perusal of records, it is found that the Trust furnished the details in the return of income for assessment year 2010-11 only. It is also found that the Trust neither filed account details for the financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14 nor the activity records of these years. Hence, the activities of the assessee during financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14 could not be verified.

On being aggrieved, the assessee carried the matter in appeal before us.

The Ld.counsel for the assessee has submitted that all the details were available with the Ld. CIT and prayed for one more opportunity to substantiate the assessee’s case before the Commissioner for registration under Section 12AA of the Act.

On the contrary, the Ld. D.R. relied on the order of the Commissioner.

We have heard both sides and perused the records and gone through the orders of the authorities below. The assessee is a Trust created on 15.09.2004 and made an application before the CIT-I, Madurai, for registration under Section 12AA of the Act. The Commissioner, after calling for the records from the lower authorities and also on the basis of not filing the return for the financial years 2012-13 and 2013-14, denied the registration under Section 12AA of the Act. We find that the assessee has not filed necessary details before the Commissioner. In this respect, the Ld.counsel for the assessee submitted that all the details are available with him and one more opportunity may be given to the assessee to file before the Commissioner. We find that in the interest of justice, assessee should be given one more opportunity. Accordingly, we set aside the order passed by the CIT(Appeals) and we direct the assessee to file all necessary details and thereafter, the Commissioner is directed to decide the issue de novo in accordance with law.

In the result, the appeal filed by the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.