S R Educational Society, Rewari V. CIT(E), Chandigarh

ITA 962/DEL/2020

AI Insights

The case involves the S.R. Educational Society appealing against the decision of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Chandigarh, which rejected their application for registration under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act. The rejection was initially based on the society's failure to appear for a personal hearing, as they claimed not to have received the notice. The Tribunal noted the absence of a decision on merit and restored the case to the CIT(E) for a fresh examination.

• Counselvise Citation: [2023] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 130703 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 3 year(s) 5 month(s) 5 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 07-08-2023
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: PartlyAllowed
• Bench Allotted: G
• Next Hearing Date: 31-07-2023
• Assessment Year: misc
• Appeal Filed On: 02-03-2020
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Opportunity of being heard
• Section: 12AA

Judgement Text

Page 1 of 4 IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH ‘G’: NEW DELHI BEFORE, SHRI SHAMIM YAHYA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER AND SHRI YOGESH KUMAR U.S., JUDICIAL MEMBER ITA No.962/Del/2020 (ASSESSMENT YEAR-NIL) S.R. Educational Society Hotel Maharaja Palace Circular Road Rewari-123 401 Haryana PAN-AAOAS 3769H Vs. CIT(E) Chandigarh (Appellant) (Respondent) Appellant by None Respondent by Mr. H. K. Choudhary, CIT-DR Date of Hearing 01/08/2023 Date of Pronouncement 08/08/2023 ORDER PER YOGESH KUMAR U.S., JM: This appeal by Assessee is filed against the order of Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions)-Chandigarh [Ld. CIT(E)”, for short], dated 02/01/2020. Grounds taken in this appeal are as under: “1. That the Ld. CIT(E) has erred in rejecting the application of the appellant to register the Society u/s 12AA of the Income Tax Act. ITA No.962/Del/2020 S.R. Educational Society vs. CIT(E) Page 2 of 4 2. That the Ld. CIT(E) has erred in rejecting the application of the appellant to register the Society u/s 12AA of the Income Tax Act on irrelevant grounds. 3. That the appellant did not received the notice and could not be present on the impugned date thus the appellant did not get the proper opportunity to attend and submit the case. 4. That the impugned appellate order is arbitrary, illegal, bad in law and in violation of rudimentary principles of contemporary jurisprudence. 5. That the Appellant craves leave to add/alter any/all grounds of appeal before or at the time of hearing of the Appeal.” 3. None appeared for the appellant even after issuing several notices by the Registry, further one of the notices issued by the Office returned with an endorsement ‘refuse to accept’. Therefore, we are constrained to decide the matter on verifying the material available on record and also on hearing the Ld. Departmental Representative. 4. Brief facts of the case are that, the appellant filed an application in form No. 10A on 22/08/2019 before the CIT(E) Chandigarh, the CIT(E) provided opportunity of personal hearing to the appellant, but the appellant failed to appear, accordingly the CIT(E) rejected the application for grant of registration u/s 12AA of the Act filed by the Appellant on 02/01/2020. ITA No.962/Del/2020 S.R. Educational Society vs. CIT(E) Page 3 of 4 5. Aggrieved by the order of the CIT(E) dated 02/01/2020, the appellant filed the present appeal on the grounds mentioned. The appellant urged specific ground that the appellant did not received the notice and could not be present on the date on which the CIT(E) fixed for hearing. Thus, the appellant did not get the proper opportunity to attend and submit in the case. 6. The Ld. Departmental Representative submitted that the ld. CIT(E) provided ample opportunity to the appellant, but the appellant failed to appear before the CIT(E), therefore, submitted that the ld. CIT(E) rightly passed the order impugned by rejecting the registration u/s 12AA of the Act. 7. We have heard the Ld. Departmental Representative and perused the material available on record. 8. Considering the fact that the order impugned has been passed ex-parte without deciding the issues on merit, we find appropriate to restore the matter to the file of CIT(E) for de-novo adjudication, accordingly the issue involved in the present appeal is restored to the file of CIT(E) for de-novo adjudication and the assessee is ITA No.962/Del/2020 S.R. Educational Society vs. CIT(E) Page 4 of 4 directed to appear and cooperate with the proceedings. The Ld. CIT(E) is also directed to provide opportunity of being heard to the appellant and pass appropriate order in accordance with law. 9. In the result, appeal filed by the assessee is partly allowed for statistical purpose. Order pronounced in open Court on 08 th August, 2023. Sd/- Sd/- (SHAMIM YAHYA) (YOGESH KUMAR U.S.) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER JUDICIAL MEMBER Dated: 08/08/2023 Pk/R.N, Sr. ps Copy forwarded to: 1. Appellant 2. Respondent 3. CIT 4. CIT(Appeals) 5. DR: ITAT ASSISTANT REGISTRAR ITAT, NEW DELHI