HARYANA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION,HARYANA V. CIT EXEMPTION, CHANDIGARH

ITA 4010/DEL/2025

AI Insights

The Haryana Football Association appealed against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Chandigarh, which had rejected their application for registration under section 12AB of the Income Tax Act. The rejection was based on the absence of necessary submissions and appearances from the assessee, despite multiple opportunities being granted. The assessee contended that they were not served with the order and were unaware of the proceedings, thus claiming a violation of natural justice. The tribunal, after hearing the arguments and considering the circumstances, decided to remand the case back to the CIT (Exemptions) to provide the assessee one final opportunity to present their case.

• Counselvise Citation: [2026] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 828514 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 7 month(s) 1 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 12-01-2026
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: Delhi
• Assessment Year: misc
• Appeal Filed On: 10-06-2025
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: MONIKA SINGH
• Keywords: Opportunity of being heard; Principle of natural justice
• Section: 12AA; 10

Judgement Text

" 1 IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH “F”, DELHI BEFORE SH.S. RIFAUR RAHMAN, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER AND SH. SUDHIR KUMAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER ITA No.4010/DEL/2025 Assessment Year: 2022-23 Haryana Football Association C-1002, Essal tower pilot court 10th Floor Gurgaon Haryana PAN No.AAAAH3747G Vs. CIT (Exemptions) Chandigarh (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) Appellant by None Respondent by Ms. Monika Singh, CIT- DR Date of hearing: 12/01/2026 Date of Pronouncement: 12/01/2026 ORDER PER SUDHIR KUMAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER: This appeal by the assessee is directed against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), Chandigarh [hereinafter referred to as “CIT(E)”] vide order dated 17.11.2022. 2. This appeal is time barred by 375 days. As, per the assessee no copy of the order was served on the assessee, so the appeal could not be filed within time. No benefit could have accrued to Printed from counselvise.com 2 assessee by not filing the appeal within time therefore, we condoned the delay in filing the appeal and admit the appeal for adjudication. 3. The assessee has raised the following grounds in appeal: 1. No service of notices and no copy of the impugned order has been served and the appellant was unknown to the proceedings. 2. The impugned order has been passed against the appellant is in contradiction with principle of Natural justice. 3. No opportunity to be heard has been given to the appellant 4.The brief facts of the case are that assessee submits the application for registration u/s 12AB of the Act on 03-05-2022. A questionnaire was issued to the assesse on 06-09-2022 requesting the appellant to furnish the documents. The assessee did not file any submission before the Ld. CIT(E ). The Ld. CIT(E) rejected the applications of the applicant for registration as well as for provisional registration obtain by the applicant. The Ld. CIT(E) rejecting the registration application observed as under :- “5. In view of the above, discussion the present application of the assessee filed in Form 10 AB u/s 12A(1) (ac)(iii) of the Act is disposed of as being deficient in factual evidence in the absence of the requisite submissions and appearances of the assessee. This is despite the granting of at least three opportunities as above. It is pertinent to mention here that it is mandated by the provisions of section 12A(1) (ac) (iii) of the Act that where the trust or institution has been provisionally registered u/s 12AB it has to make an application for registration u/s 12AB within six months of Printed from counselvise.com 3 commencement of activities. In the absence of any submission from the applicant it is not possible to ascertain the objects and activities carried out by the applicant. Accordingly the application filed by the applicant for registration u/s 12AB of the Act is hereby rejected, which rejection and consequent lack of registration will apply from this A.Y.2022-23 on wards and also supersede any registration granted u/s 12AB or 12AA of the Act by ant authority at any earlier time.” 5. The Ld. DR has submitted that the Ld. AR has failed to provide the relevant documents before the Ld. CIT(E), the application was rightly rejected. 6. We have heard the Ld. DR and perused the material available on record. None is present for assessee. The assessee did not file any evidence to establish the activities of the trust, by which, the Ld. CIT(E) rejected the registration application. Since in the instant case the Ld. CIT(E) has dismissed the appeal for non-compliance therefore, considering the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice, we deem it proper to restore the issue to the file of the Ld. CIT(E) with a direction to grant one final opportunity to the assessee to substantiate, its claim and decide the issue as per fact and law. The assessee is also directed to appear before the Ld. CIT(E) and co-operate in the proceedings. The grounds raised by the assessee are accordingly allowed for statistical purposes. 7. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purpose. Printed from counselvise.com 4 Order pronounced in the open court on 12.01.2026. Sd/- Sd/- (S. RIFAUR RAHMAN) (SUDHIR KUMAR) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER (JUDICIAL MEMBER) SR BHATNAGGAR Date: 14.01.2026 Copy forwarded to: 1. Appellant 2. Respondent 3. CIT 4. CIT(Appeals) ` 5. DR: ITAT ASSISTANT REGISTRAR ITAT DELHI Printed from counselvise.com "