SAWANSUKHA FOUNDATION,KOLKATA V. CIT(EXEMPTION), KOLKATA

ITA 2155/KOL/2024

AI Insights

The case involves two appeals by the Sawansukha Foundation against the orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), Kolkata, which rejected the Foundation's applications for registration under sections 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act for the Assessment Year 2024-25. The rejections were based on the non-filing of necessary submissions and details. The Foundation argued that the rejections were unjust as they had a valid provisional registration and had inadvertently filed Form 10AB for the wrong assessment year. The Tribunal found that the rejections were not sustainable as the Foundation had a valid registration for the specified year and had inadvertently filed the form for the wrong year due to an error in the dropdown selection during the online filing process.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 37610 (ITAT-KOLKATA)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 08-01-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Partly Allowed
• Bench Allotted: B
• Assessment Year: 2024-2025
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Partly Allowed
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Keywords: Question of law; Principle of natural justice
• Section: 12A; 80G

Judgement Text

"IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “B” BENCH KOLKATA SHRI SONJOY SARMA, JUDICIAL MEMBER SHRI SANJAY AWASTHI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER I.T.A. No. 2154/Kol/2024 Assessment Year: 2024-25 & I.T.A. No. 2155/Kol/2024 Assessment Year: 2024-25 Sawansukha Foundation, Shop No. 305, 305, 3rd Floor, 6, Abinandra Nath Thakur Sarani, Kolkata - 700017 [PAN: ABBTS2486E] .....................…...…………….... Appellant vs. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), 10-B, Middleton Road, Kolkata - 700071 ...............…..….................... Respondent Appearances by: Assessee represented by : S.K. Tulsiyan, Advocate Puja Somani, CA Department represented by : P.N. Barnwal, CIT-DR Date of concluding the hearing : 02.01.2025 Date of pronouncing the order : 08.01.2025 O R D E R PER SANJAY AWASTHI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER: 1. This is a batch of two appeals for Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25 filed by the same assessee, but dealing with different, though inter-connected issues. Thus, ITA No. 2154/Kol/2024 pertains to order u/s 12A(1)(ac)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter ‘the Act’) and ITA No. 2155/Kol/2024 pertains to an order under section 80G of the Act. 1.1. Both the appeals emanate from rejection orders dated 14.09.2024 (ITA No. 2154/Kol/2024) and 14.08.2024 (ITA No. 2155/Kol/2024), passed by the Ld. CIT(E), Kolkata. In both these cases, the respective claims of the assessee trust have been dismissed on the ground of non-filing of 2 ITA Nos. 2154 & 2155/Kol/2024 Sawansukha Foundation : AY: 2024-25 submissions, details etc. Since, these two matters are inter-connected hence these two appeals are being disposed of through a single order. 2. Aggrieved with the action of Ld. CIT(E), the assessee has approached the ITAT through several grounds of appeal, for the sake of clarity the Ld. AR has filed additional grounds of appeal in both the cases as under: ITA No. 2154/Kol/2024 “That on the facts and circumstances of the case, the assessee trust inadvertently filed Form 10AB for AY 2024-25 on 30.03.2024 instead of AY 2025-26 for registration u/s 12A of the Act although the assessee trust was duly accorded provisional registration till AY 2024-25 vide order dated 28.05.2021 and thus was not required to file Form 10AB for AY 2024-25, accordingly the said Form 10AB filed by the assessee may kindly be treated as withdrawn and consequent order in Form 10AD passed by the learned CIT(E), Kolkata may kindly be quashed.” ITA No. 2155/Kol/2024 “That on the facts and circumstances of the case, the assessee trust inadvertently filed Form 10AB for AY 2024-25 on 30-03-2024 instead of AY 2025-26 for approval u/s 80G of the Act although the assessee trust was duly accorded approval till AY 2024-25 vide order dated 28-05-2021 and thus was not required to file Form 10AB for AY 2024-25, accordingly the said Form 10AB filed by the assessee may kindly be treated as withdrawn and consequent order in Form 10AD passed by the learned CIT(E), Kolkata may kindly be quashed.\" 2.1 Since, the additional grounds of appeal do not require any new examination of facts and pertain to a claim of a question of law only hence the additional grounds are admitted for adjudication. 3. Before us, the Ld. AR argued with the help of written submissions, which have been placed on record for our perusal. It has been averred that in both the cases the assessee has a valid registration from AY 2022-23 to 2024-25. However, inadvertently, they filed Form No. 10AB for AY 2024-25 in both these cases. Thereafter, the situation was compounded further due to non-compliance of notices fixing dates for hearing before the Ld. CIT(E). In fact, it has been mentioned for ITA No. 2155/Kol/2024 that the notice was issued fixing the date of hearing on 21.08.2024, whereas the order of rejection itself is dated 14.08.2024. Needless to say, both the applications were rejected by the Ld. CIT(E) allegedly on account of failure to clarify the 3 ITA Nos. 2154 & 2155/Kol/2024 Sawansukha Foundation : AY: 2024-25 facts. It is necessary to extract certain relevant portions from the Ld. AR’s submissions: “The assessee reiterates that inadvertently it filed Form 10AB for AY 2024-25 on 30- 03-2024 instead of AY 2025-26 for registration u/s 12A of the Act although it was not required to do so as it was duly accorded provisional registration till AY 2024-25 vide order dated 28-05-2021. The fact that the assessee was having registration till AY 2024-25 was in the knowledge of the learned CIT(E), Kolkata since in the Form filed in Form 10AB on 30-03-2024 the earlier registration number i.e. ABBTS2486EE20214 was duly mentioned. Had he perused the Form, he would have noted that registration form AY 2024-25 was already available to the assessee and there was no need to again file Form 10AB for AY 2024-25. Due to this inadvertent error at the time of choosing assessment year in the drop down menu while filing Form 10AB on 30-03-2024, the assessee is debarred from claiming exemption u/s 12A of the Act for AY 2024-25 which the assessee is otherwise eligible to claim by virtue of Form 10AC dated 28-05-2021 which accorded provisional registration to the assessee from AY 2022-23 to AY 2024-25. Copy of Form 10AC is enclosed at page 16-18 of the paper book. In the present case, the registration u/s 12A of the Act for AY 2024-25 was not accorded to the assessee since the assessee failed to reply to the notices issued to him. In this regard, it may kindly be noted that the Ld. C.I.T.(Exemption) while rejecting the application in Form-10AB has violated the principle of natural justice by incorrectly alleging non-receipt of replies from the applicant- assessee in spite of the fact that in response to notice dated 14.08.2024 fixing hearing on 21.08.2024, the applicant vide petition dated 19.08.2024 sought time till 05.09.2024 and against notice dated 03.09.2024 fixing hearing on 10.09.2024, time was sought till 23.09.2024 vide petition dated 10.09.2024, whereas the impugned order rejecting the registration was passed on 14.09.2024. The Ld. C.I.T.(Exemption) erred in having alleged non-production of various details/documents to verify the genuineness of the claim of the applicant in spite of the fact that vide application in Form- 10AB, most of the required details and information with supporting relevant documents and evidences such as trust deed, audited accounts of the assessee and Form 10AC were also uploaded along with Form 10AB e-filed on 30-03-2024.” The assessee reiterates that inadvertently it filed Form 10AB for AY 2024-25 on 30- 03-2024 instead of AY 2025-26 for approval u/s 80G of the Act although it was not required to do so as it was duly accorded provisional approval till AY 2024-25 vide order dated 28-05-2021. The fact that the assessee was having approval till AY 2024- 25 was in the knowledge of the learned CIT(E), Kolkata since in the Form filed in Form 10AB on 30-03-2024 the earlier registration number i.e. ABBTS2486EF20214 was duly mentioned. Had he perused the Form, he would have noted that registration form AY 2024-25 was already available to the assessee and there was no need to again file Form 10AB for AY 2024-25. Due to this inadvertent error at the time of choosing assessment year in the drop down menu while filing Form 10AB on 30-03- 2024, the assessee is debarred u/s 80G of the Act for AY 2024-25 which the assessee is otherwise eligible to claim by virtue of Form 10AC dated 28-05-2021 which accorded provisional approval to the assessee from 28-05-2021 to AY 2024- 25. Copy of Form 10AC is enclosed at page 17-18 of the paper book. In the present case, approval u/s 80G of the Act for AY 2024-25 was not accorded to the assessee since the assessee failed to reply to the notices issued to him. In this regard, it may kindly be noted that the Ld. C.I.T.(Exemption) while rejecting the application in Form-10AB has violated the principle of natural justice by incorrectly 4 ITA Nos. 2154 & 2155/Kol/2024 Sawansukha Foundation : AY: 2024-25 alleging non-receipt of replies from the applicant-assessee in spite of the fact that in response to notice dated 14.08.2024 fixing hearing on 21.08.2024, the applicant vide petition dated 19.08.2024 sought time till 05.09.2024 and against notice dated 03.09.2024 fixing hearing on 10.09.2024, time was sought till 23.09.2024 vide petition dated 10.09.2024, whereas the impugned order rejecting the approval u/s 80G was passed on 14.09.2024. The Ld. C.I.T.(Exemption) erred in having alleged non-production of various details/documents to verify the genuineness of the claim of the applicant in spite of the fact that vide application in Form- 10AB, most of the required details and information with supporting relevant documents and evidences such as trust deed, audited accounts of the assessee and Form 10AC were also uploaded along with Form 10AB efiled on 30-03-2024. In the present case, it is not the case where the activities of the trust has been found to be ingenuine or not for the objects of the trust. There has been no specified violation in the case of the assessee. The approval u/s 80G of the Act was not accorded to the assessee for the sole reason that the assessee has failed to respond to the notices issued to it. Since, the assessee itself has filed Form 10AB for the wrong assessment year ie AY 2024-25 for which approval u/s 80G of the Act was duly available to it vide order dated 28-05-2021 in Form 10AC, it is humbly requested before Your Honours to treat the said Form 10AB filed by the assessee on 30-03-2024 as withdrawn and quash the consequent order in Form 10AD passed by the learned CIT(E), Kolkata dated 14- 09-2024.” 3.1 The Ld. DR supported the action of Ld. CIT(E) and stated that there was no option but to reject both of the application since the assessee did not avail of any opportunity for hearing. 4. We have perused the impugned orders and heard the rival submissions at length. In this matter, the facts are clear in as much as the assessee has a valid registration for AY 2024-25 in both the cases. It is also clear that inadvertently a fresh application filed for the year 2024-25 got rejected in an ex-parte manner. Since, there is a valid registration available with the assessee for AY 2024-25, in both the cases, the action of Ld. CIT(E) cannot be sustained in principle. However, while giving the effect to this appellate order, the Ld. CIT(E) is directed to verify the existence of valid registrations in both the cases for AY 2024-25 and thereafter, allow the registration to continue for AY 2024-25 as per the original order granting such registration. 5 ITA Nos. 2154 & 2155/Kol/2024 Sawansukha Foundation : AY: 2024-25 5. In the result, both these appeals filed by the assessee are allowed for statistical purposes. Order pronounced in the court on 08.01.2025 Sd/- Sd/- (Sonjoy Sarma) (Sanjay Awasthi) Judicial Member Accountant Member Dated: 08.01.2025 AK, P.S. Copy of the order forwarded to: 1. Sawansukha Foundation 2. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), Kolkata 3. CIT(A)- 4. CIT- 5. CIT(DR) //True copy// By order Assistant Registrar, Kolkata Benches "