PURVANCHAL CHINMAYA SEVA TRUST,GUWAHATI, ASSAM V. INCOME TAX OFFICER, WARD-2(3) (EXEMP), WARD-2(3) (EXEMP), GUWAHATI, GUWAHATI, ASSAM

ITA 125/GTY/2025

AI Insights

The case involves the Purvanchal Chinmaya Seva Trust, which appealed against the decision of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Kolkata, rejecting their application for registration under Section 80G(5) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The trust argued that the rejection was premature and non-maintainable as they were already provisionally registered and actively engaged in charitable activities. The tribunal noted procedural confusion and a lack of detailed reasoning in the rejection, leading to the decision to remand the case for a thorough re-evaluation.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 772102 (ITAT-GUWAHATI)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 25-08-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Assessment Year: 2023-2024
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Matter Remanded
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Set aside; Opportunity of being heard; Sale consideration of property below Jantri Value; Principle of natural justice; Rectification of order; Charitable institution
• Section: 80G

Judgement Text

"IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL GUWAHATI BENCH, GUWAHATI (VIRTUAL HEARING AT KOLKATA) SHRI MANOMOHAN DAS, JUDICIAL MEMBER SHRI SANJAY AWASTHI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER I.T.A. No. 125/GTY/2025 Assessment Year: 2023-24 Purvanchal Chinmaya Seva Trust, Chinmaya Kendra Gajendra Manorama, Complex G.S. Road, Six Mile, Rukminigaon, Guwahati - 781022 [PAN: AACTP4550C] ..................…...……………....Appellant vs. Income Tax Officer, Ward-2(3) (Exemp), Guwahati, Aayakar Bhawan, Christian Basti, G.S. Road, Guwahati - 781005 …................................. Respondent Appearances by: Assessee represented by : Harsh Modi on behalf of Ramesh Goenka, Advocate Department represented by : Kausik Ray, JCIT Date of concluding the hearing : 20.08.2025 Date of pronouncing the order : 25.08.2025 ORDER PER SANJAY AWASTHI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER: 1. In this case, there is a delay in filing of the said appeal, which has been requested to be condoned as under: “1. The appellant is a public charitable trust established on 29/08/1987, having PAN: AACTP4550C and has been regularly filing its return of income. The appellant has been engaged in charitable activities since its inception. 2. The appellant was holding valid registration U/s.12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 bearing registration no.687/12A/CA/87-88/6089-91 dated 25/02/1988 issued by the C.I.T. NER, Shillong. The appellant was also holding approval U/s.80G bearing Registration No. 80G/CIT/GHY- II/TECH/2007-08/5585-93, dtd.21/02/2008. Printed from counselvise.com I.T.A. No. 125/GTY/2025 Purvanchal Chinmaya Seva Trust 2 3. Consequent to the changes in the Income Tax Act w.e.f. 01/04/2021, the appellant, on 13/06/2022, duly filed an application in Form No.10A under sub-clause (A) of clause (iv) of the first proviso to Section 80G(5) of the Act, seeking provisional approval U/s.80G(5) of the Act. Consequent to the said application, the appellant was granted provisional registration in Form 10AC vide Unique Registration Seva Trust Number AACTP4550CF20221 dtd.23/06/2022, which was valid for the period commencing from 23/06/2022 upto the Assessment Year 2025-26. Copy of order in Form 10AC dtd.23/06/2022 is enclosed Trustee herewith and marked as ANNEXURE-A 4. As the appellant had been engaged in charitable activities since its inception and continued with such activities and also had the aforementioned provisional registration, it was eligible to file an application for regular approval under clause (iii) of the first proviso to Section 80G(5) of the Act, and accordingly, filed Form 10AB under the said clause on 18/08/2022, seeking regular approval for a period of 5 years. 5. In connection with the aforesaid Form 10AB filed by the appellant on 18/08/2022, the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, issued a notice dated 30/12/2022, calling for certain document/clarification/information with respect to the application filed by the appellant. The date of compliance was fixed on 12/01/2023. In response thereto, the appellant sought adjournment on 12/01/2023 and requested extension of time upto 19/01/2023 for furnishing the requisite details. 6. Thereafter, on 20/01/2023, the appellant in compliance to the aforesaid notice dtd.30/12/2022, submitted all the requisitioned documents, including its activity report, plan of action, supporting documents establishing its ongoing charitable activities, details of donations, declarations, etc. 7. Despite the appellant's full compliance and submission of all details as requisitioned vide notice dtd.30/12/2022, the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, vide order dtd.27/01/2023, rejected the appellant's application filed in Form 10AB for registration under clause (iii) of the first proviso to Section 80G(5) of the Act. The Ld. CIT(E) held that the said application was, prima facie, non- maintainable and premature on the ground that the provisional registration granted earlier vide Form 10AC remained valid up to Assessment Year 2025- 26. Consequently, the application was treated as non-maintainable. It is pertinent to note here that in the said order dtd.27/01/2023, the Ld. CIT(E) explicitly recorded that no adverse inference was drawn against the appellant. Copy of order in Form 10AD dtd.27/01/2023 is enclosed herewith and marked as ANNEXURE-B. 8. Aggrieved by the aforesaid rejection order dated 27.01.2023, the appellant vide its petition dated 15/05/2023 filed before the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, applied for rectification U/s.154 of the Act of his order dtd.27/01/2023. The said petition was sent through Speed Post dtd.18/05/2023 (Consignment No. ES984540143IN), contending that the appellant was rightly covered under clause (iii) of the first proviso to sub-section (5) of Section 80G of the Act. The said rectification petition is yet to be disposed of. Copy of appellant's petition Trust dtd.15/05/2023 and Speed post consignment receipt dtd.18/05/2023 are enclosed herewith and collectively marked as ANNEXURE-C. 9. That as per clause (iii) of first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Act, where trust or institution has been provisionally approved, an application in the prescribed Printed from counselvise.com I.T.A. No. 125/GTY/2025 Purvanchal Chinmaya Seva Trust 3 form and manner can be made atleast six months prior to expiry of the provisional registration or within six months of commencement of its activities, whichever is earlier. Our trust is an existing Trust formed on 29/08/1987 and has been carrying out activities since then. Accordingly, the appellant's case was clearly covered under the aforesaid provisions of the Act. The statute nowhere bars filing of Form 10AB under clause (iii) of first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Act merely because a provisional registration is still in force. 10. That due to inadvertence, procedural confusion, and the bona fide belief that the application had been rejected merely for statistical purposes and not through a final adjudication, the appellant did not file an appeal immediately. Moreover, the appellant was under the impression that the provisional approval granted in Form 10AC, valid up to A.Y. 2025-26, remained effective. Furthermore, the appellant was expecting that its petition dtd.15/05/2023 U/s.154 of the Act filed on 18/05/2023, for rectification of Order dtd.27/01/2023 passed by CIT(E), Kolkata, shall be considered and allowed. However, the said petition is still pending for disposal. The delay in filing the present appeal is therefore, entirely unintentional, and deserves to be condoned in the interest of justice. 11. That upon consultation with legal and tax professionals, the appellant was advised that such a rejection order is indeed appealable U/s.253(1)(c) of the Act, and the same is required to be contested to safeguard the appellant's rights. 12. That the order under appeal was passed on 27/01/2023. This appeal ought to have been filed on or before 29/03/2023. Thus, there is a delay of 780 days in filing this appeal. 13. That the delay in filing the appeal is purely unintentional and caused by a bona fide and reasonable belief, without any malafide intention or negligence. Under the circumstances, it is prayed that the delay in filing this appeal may and it be admitted for hearing for doing substantial justice in the matter.” 1.1 Considering the detailed reasons given in the said petition, the delay is hereby condoned and the appeal is admitted for adjudication. 2. In this case, the appeal arises from the order under Section 80G of Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter “the Act”) passed by the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions)], Kolkata [hereafter “the Ld. CIT(E)”], dated 27.01.2023. We find that in the impugned order, there is a very cryptic finding as under: “The assessee has filed an application for registration under section 80G(5)(iii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in Form No. 10AB. This application was found to be prima-facie non-maintainable and accordingly vide letter dated 30.12.2022, certain clarifications were sought from the assessee. Printed from counselvise.com I.T.A. No. 125/GTY/2025 Purvanchal Chinmaya Seva Trust 4 The application filed by the assessee is premature as the earlier order in Form 10AC is still valid till A. Y. 2025-2026. Accordingly the application filed by the assessee is treated as non-maintainable and for statistical purpose the application filed by the assessee is treated as rejected\". However, no adverse inference is drawn against the assessee.” 2.1 Aggrieved with this finding, the assessee is in appeal with the following grounds: “1. That the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), Kolkata, erred in law as well as on facts in rejecting the application for registration/approval U/s.80G(5) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 by treating the same as non- maintainable. 2. That the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, erred in law as well as on facts in not deciding the application filed by the appellant U/s.80G(5) of the Act, on merits, after taking into account the submission made by the appellant. Thus, the rejection of application was in gross violation of principles of natural justice. 3. That the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, erred in law as well as on facts in not granting proper opportunity of being heard to the appellant, inasmuch as the written submission filed on 20/01/2023 was not 3 considered by him before passing the order dtd.27/01/2023, holding that application filed by the appellant in Form 10AB under clause (iii) of first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Act was premature and hence, non-maintainable. 4. That the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, ought to have held that there was no bar in filing of Form 10AB under clause (iii) of first proviso to section 80G(5) of the Act, despite the fact that the earlier order in Form 10AC was valid till A.Y. 2025-26. Thus, the order dtd.27/01/2023 passed by Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata, is liable to be set-aside for consideration of entire matter de novo after taking all the materials into account. 5. That the appellant craves leave to add, amend, modify, rescind, 5 supplement, re-frame or alter any of the ground/s of appeal stated above on or before the hearing of the appeal.” 3. Before us, the Ld. AR stated that the Ld. CIT(E) has rejected the assessee’s application merely because the application was filed while the earlier order in Form 10AC was still valid till AY 2025-26. The Ld. AR stated that this was not in conformity with the law and requested that the Ld. CIT(E) should be directed to consider the application u/s 80G of the Act on merit. 3.1 The Ld. DR relied on the orders of Ld. CIT(E). 4. We have carefully considered the submissions of Ld. AR/DR and Printed from counselvise.com I.T.A. No. 125/GTY/2025 Purvanchal Chinmaya Seva Trust 5 have gone through the records. We find that the Ld. CIT(E) has dealt with this issue in a very cryptic and non-speaking manner. It has also not been mentioned as to why an application filed while an earlier exemption was still in force, could not be entertained by him. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned order and direct the Ld. CIT(E) to consider the assessee’s application on merit for the purposes of registration u/s 80G of the Act. 5. In result, this appeal is allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced on 25.08.2025 Sd/- Sd/- [Manomohan Das] [Sanjay Awasthi] Judicial Member Accountant Member Dated: 25.08.2025 AK, Sr. PS Copy of the order forwarded to: 1. The Appellant 2. The Respondent 3. CIT(A)- 4. CIT- 5. CIT(DR) //True copy// By order Assistant Registrar, Kolkata Benches Printed from counselvise.com "