LIONS CLUB OF BURDWAN WELFARE CHARITABLE TRUST,BURDWAN V. C.I.T., EXEMPTION, KOLKATA

ITA 2184/KOL/2024

AI Insights

The case involves the Lions Club of Budwan Welfare Charitable Trust appealing against the decision of the CIT (Exemption), which had rejected their application for registration under section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Income Tax Act. The rejection was initially due to the non-appearance of the assessee at the scheduled hearings. However, it was later revealed that the notices for these hearings were sent to an incorrect email address, leading to the non-appearance. The Tribunal found this procedural error significant enough to warrant a re-adjudication of the case.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 473863 (ITAT-KOLKATA)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 28-03-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Partly Allowed
• Bench Allotted: C
• Assessment Year: 2024-2025
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Partly Allowed
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: GAURAV KANAUJIA
• Assessee Lawyers: R. PATODIA
• Keywords: Opportunity of being heard; Charitable institution

Judgement Text

" IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “C” BENCH, KOLKATA BEFORE SHRI RAJESH KUMAR, AM AND SHRI SONJOY SARMA, JM ITA No.2184/KOL/2024 (Assessment Year:2024-25) Lions Club of Budwan Welfare Charitable Trust, Tinkonia, Goods Shed Road, Burdwan, West Bengal 713101 Vs. CIT (Exemption) Income Tax office, 10B, Middleton Road, Kolkata-700071,West Bengal (Appellant) (Respondent) PAN No. AAATL9897Q Assessee by : Shri R. Patodia, AR Revenue by : Shri Gaurav Kanaujia, DR Date of hearing: 17.03.2025 Date of pronouncement : 28.03.2025 O R D E R Per Rajesh Kumar, AM: This is an appeal preferred by the assessee against the order of the CIT (Exemption) (hereinafter referred to as the “Ld. CIT(A)”] dated 09.02.2024. 02. The only issue raised by the assessee in the various grounds of appeal is against the order of ld. CIT (E) dated 09.02.2024, whereby the application of the assessee in form no.10AB of the Act read with section 12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Act, was rejected on the ground that the assessee did not appear on the various dates fixed for hearing. 03. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee filed the application in 10AB for registration u/s 12A(1)(ac)(iii) of the Act. The ld. CIT (E) issued notices on 10.12.2023 and on 10.01.2024, fixing the hearing Page | 2 ITA No.2184/KOL/2024 Lions Club of Burdwan Welfare Charitable Trust; A.Y. 2024-25 on 26.12.2023 and 15.01.2024, respectively which the assessee failed to appear. The ld. CIT (E) thereafter dismissed the appeal of the assessee in limine. 04. The ld. AR vehemently submitted before us that the assessee did not receive any notice issued by the ld. CIT(E) fixing the date of hearing on two occasions i.e. 26.12.2021 and 15.01.2024 on the email address given in the ITR i.e. [e-mail] by referring to copies of return available for A.Y. 2022-23 and 2023-24 at page no.73 and 75 of the Paper Book. The ld. AR thereafter referred to page no.69 which is an extract from the Gmail issued by the ld. CIT (E) to Lions Club of Burdwan Welfare Charitable Trust, which states that the notices were issued on email address [e-mail] and therefore, submitted that the notices were sent on the wrong email address. The ld. AR therefore prayed that the order of ld. CIT (A) may be restored to the file of the ld. CIT (E) for re-adjudication of the matter. 05. The ld. DR on the other hand left the issue to the wisdom of the Bench. 06. After hearing the rival contentions and perusing the materials available on record, we find that in this case notices were sent on the wrong email and not the correct one as furnished by the assessee in the return of income filed for A.Y. 2022-223 and 2023-24 copies of which are available at page no.73 and 75 of the Paper Book. We observe from the extract of the from the website of the department which showed that the notice was dispatched on a wrong email address. Considering these facts, we are of the considered view that the end of justice would be met if the assessee is given one more opportunity before the ld. CIT (E), to present its case. Accordingly, we Page | 3 ITA No.2184/KOL/2024 Lions Club of Burdwan Welfare Charitable Trust; A.Y. 2024-25 restore the issue to the file of the ld. CIT (E) for fresh adjudication after giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard to the assessee. 07. In the result, the appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the open court on 28.03.2025. Sd/- Sd/- (SONJOY SARMA) (RAJESH KUMAR) (JUDICIAL MEMBER) (ACCOUNTANT MEMBER) Kolkata, Dated: 28.03.2025 Sudip Sarkar, Sr.PS Copy of the Order forwarded to : 1. The Appellant 2. The Respondent 3. CIT 4. DR, ITAT, 5. Guard file. BY ORDER, True Copy// Sr. Private Secretary/ Asst. Registrar Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata "