Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Delhi
Sahyog Sarvodaya Mandal, New Delhi vs Assessee
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
(DELHI BENCH "G" DELHI)
BEFORE SHRI A.D. JAIN AND SHRI SHAMIM YAHYA
ITA No. 310(Del)2010
Assessment year:
Sahyog Sarvodaya Mandal, Commissioner of Income Tax,
Vill.& Post Mirzapur Poli, v. Muzaffarnagar.
Saharanpur.
(Appellant) (Respondent)
Appellant by: S/Shri Anil Jain & Rishab Jain, Adv.
Respondent by: Shri T. Vasanthan, Sr. DR
ORDER
PER A.D. JAIN, J.M.
This is assessee's appeal directed against the ld. CIT's action in denying continuation of exemption u/s 80 G(5)(vi) of the Income Tax Act to the assessee society.
2. The facts as per the statement of facts filed before us are that the assessee is a registered society in the name of Sahyog Sarvodaya Mandal, Saharanpur w.e.f. 7.3.90 and the registration u/s 12A has been granted by the CIT, Meerut on 1.4.98 vide letter dated 23.6.08; that exemption u/s 80 G has been granted from 30.12.05 to 31.3.09; that the assessee society was filing its income tax returns regularly 2 ITA 310(Del)2010 and there was no default in the compliances; that the assessee society is engaged in the public charitable activities of running and maintenance of Goshala in which the old and ill cows which are seized by the police for slaughter are maintained by the society, preservation of environment by plantation of trees, to create public awareness of Pulse Polio Programmes and other Govt. programmes of general public utility; that the assessee applied for the renewal of exemption u/s 80 G before the CIT, Muzaffarnagar who has referred the matter to the Addl. CIT, Saharanpur for his report and also get physical verification of the activities of the society examined through the Income Tax Inspector; that the Addl. CIT, Saharanpur issued a notice to the assessee society in response to which the documents in support of the charitable activities of the society were filed before him and it is understood that he has submitted a favourable report to the CIT, Muzaffarnagar as the copy of the report is not given to the assessee; that the Inspector of Income Tax has physically inspected the premises of the assessee society and also the activities undertaken by them and his report was sent to the CIT; that the CIT, Muzaffarnagar conducted proceedings which were attended by Shri G.S. Lamba, President of the society 3-4 times and his attendance was 3 ITA 310(Del)2010 duly marked on the order sheet of the file of the CIT. He had filed all the documents to justify the charitable activities of the society and being not much educated, the documents submitted on the file were without any covering letter and his attendance was marked on the order sheet; and that the CIT has passed order dated 11.11.2009 rejecting the renewal of exemption u/s 80 G on the ground that the assessee had not filed any evidence to prove the charitable work done by the society whereas all the evidences had been duly submitted before the Addl. CIT, Saharanpur as well as before the CIT, Muzaffarnagar which could be examined by calling the records as the assessee was not having any covering letter to justify the same.
3. The learned counsel for the assessee has, broadly, reiterated the stand of the assessee as mentioned in the statement of facts filed before us. It has been stated that though all the evidences which the assessee society was required to file to justify its charitable activity, were duly filed before the Addl. CIT and also before the ld. CIT, the ld. CIT has erred in rejecting the assessee's application for grant of exemption u/s 80 G(5)(vi) of the Act on the basis that the assessee had failed to file any evidence to support its claim.
4 ITA 310(Del)2010
4. The learned DR, on the other hand, has strongly supported the impugned order. It has been submitted that the ld. CIT has categorically observed in his order that the assessee had failed to produce evidence in support of its case; that therefore, the application of the assessee was rightly rejected by the ld. CIT; and that as such, there being no merit therein, the appeal filed by the assessee had ordered to be dismissed.
5. We have heard the parties and have perused the material on record. The order under appeal is a short one and it would be appropriate to reproduce it here:-
"The assessee society filed the application for g rant of fund u/s 80 G in form 10 C on 13.04.2009. Several letters were issued by this office to the Society i.e., 23.06.2009, 25.08.2009, 23.10.2009 and 04.11.2009 with specific requirements to furnish the evidences of charitable work done by the society as claimed by the society. But no evidences have been furnished by the society even after repeated requests. The society was asked to furnish books of accounts along with all vouchers etc. But only cash book was produced and no bills, vouchers etc. have been furnished to substantiate/authenticate the books of accounts. The society was also asked to explain how the activities of the society are called charitable and for public utility as per section 2(15) of the I.T. Act, 1961. No explanations/evidences have been furnished in this regard.
In view of above reasons, I am of the opinion that the society is not involved in any charitable and any public utility work. Therefore, the application for grant of fund u/s 80 G(5) of the I.T. Act, 1961 is, hereby, rejected."
5 ITA 310(Del)2010
6. A perusal of the impugned order shows that the ld. CIT has observed that despite opportunities, the assessee society did not file evidence to support its claim for exemption u/s 80G(5)(vi) of the Act. As per the ld. CIT, no bills, vouchers, etc., were filed to substantiate/authenticate the books of account. It was also observed that the assessee has failed to furnish evidence regarding the charitable activities of the assessee as per section 2(15) of the Act.
7. Juxtaposed with the above, the assessee has maintained that the proceedings before the ld. CIT were attended by Shri G.S. Lamba, President of the assessee society; that his attendance has duly marked in the file of the ld. CIT; that he had filed all the documents to justify the charitable activity of the assessee society; that being not much educated, he had submitted the documents without any covering letter; and that the evidence was also filed before the Addl.CIT. In support of this contention, the assessee has also furnished on record before us an affidavit of Shri G.S. Lamba, President of the assessee society.
8. As such, the assessee has gone on record by way of averment in the statement of the facts, the oral arguments and the affidavit of the President of the assessee society, to contend, reiterate and stress that all the evidences supporting the assessee's claim of exemption u/s 80 6 ITA 310(Del)2010 G(5)(vi) of the Act was duly filed not only before the ld. CIT but also before the Addl. CIT.
9. In the given situation, we deem it appropriate to remit this matter to the file of the ld. CIT to examine it afresh and to decide it de novo in accordance with law on considering the situation as discussed hereinabove, particularly in the light of the affidavit filed by the assessee. We would like to point out here that in case the ld. CIT considers the evidence to be deficient in any regard, he would allow the assessee an opportunity to make good the same and to decide the matter in the light thereof. The assessee, no doubt, shall cooperate with the ld. CIT(A).
10. In the result, for statistical purposes, the appeal of the assessee is treated as allowed.
Order pronounced in the open court on 22.03.2010.
Sd/- sd/-
(Shamim Yahya) (A.D. Jain)
Accountant Member Judicial Member
Dated: 22.03.2010
*RM
7 ITA 310(Del)2010
copy forwarded to:
1. Sahyog Sarvodaya Mandal,
Vill.& Post Mirzapur Poli,
Saharanpur.
2. CIT, Muzaffarnagar.
3. CIT(A)
4. Addl. CIT
5. DR
true copy
by order
Deputy Registrar