SHREE ADITYA BHASKAR EDUCATION AND CHARITABLE WELFARE TRUST,BHARUCH vs. CIT(EXEMPTION), AHMEDABAD, AHMEDABAD

This appeal has been filed by the Assessee against the order passed by the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) (in short “Ld. CIT(E)”), Ahmedabad vide order dated 28.11.2023 passed for A.Y. 2022-23.

The brief facts of the case are that the assessee is a charitable institution running schools in rural area of Bharuch. This appeal is against the rejection of the application made under Section 12AB of the Act.

The assessee has taken the following grounds of appeal:-

At the outset, we observe that the present appeal is delayed by 20 days for which an application for condonation of delay has already been filed vide Letter No. TF-1294 dated 18.01.2024 (pages 18-24 of PB). The application for grant of registration under Section 12 AB of the Act was rejected for non- compliance of the notices issued by the CIT(E), Ahmedabad. The Counsel for the assessee submitted before us that registered E-mail-ID of the above applicant in the income tax portal is: bhaskarpadhiyar@yahoo.in and other E- mails: bhaskarpadhiyar22@gmail.com and bp228866@gmail.com were also specified in Form 10A and 10AB filed by the trust (pages 1-14 of PB). However, the CIT(Exemption), Ahmedabad issued all the notices requiring various details on the email id - DT@CAJHA.IN which does not belong either to the applicant trust or any of the trustees or the tax consultant of the trust and therefore, never reached the assessee/appellant. Copy of Screenshots were also produced before us for our reference (pages 15-17 of PB). The Counsel for the assessee submitted that it was only on 28.10.2023 when the auditor logged into the Income Tax log-in of the trust for verifying the status of the registration u/s 12AB, above notices along with the rejection order were discovered. The Counsel for the assessee has also enclosed an affidavit of one of the trustees asserting the above facts (pages 21-24 of PB).Accordingly, it was submitted by the Counsel for the assessee that it is for the aforesaid reason that since all the emails/notices were being issued by the CIT (Exemptions), Ahmedabad at incorrect email ID, that the assessee/applicant trust could not respond to various queries made by CIT (Exemptions) and also could not file the instant appeal within time and there was a delay of 20 days in filing of the present appeal. Considering the above, the Counsel for the assessing requested to remit the matter to the CIT(Exemption), Ahmedabad for fresh adjudication.

In response, Ld. DR placed reliance on the observations made by CIT(Exemption), Ahmedabad rejecting the application filed by the assessee/applicant trust for grant of registration under Section 12AB of the Act.

We have heard the rival contentions and perused the material on record. Considering the above facts placed on record before us, we are of the considered view that the delay in filing of the present appeal is not intentional, since the assessee/applicant trust was not aware of the order rejecting grant of application under Section 12AB of the Act. Accordingly, considering the above facts and also that there is a minor delay of 20 days in filing of the present appeal, the delay in filing of the present appeal is hereby being condoned. Further, looking into the instant facts, we observe that the assessee/applicant trust could not respond to various notices/queries issued by the CIT (Exemptions) for the reason that the notices were being issued to an incorrect email ID, which did not belong either to the assessee/applicant trust or to any of the trustees. Accordingly, in interest of justice, the matter is being restored to the file of CIT (exemptions) for de novo consideration, after giving due opportunity of hearing to the assessee and thereafter pass appropriate orders, in accordance with law.

In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. This Order pronounced in Open Court on 24/04/2024