Gujarat High Court
Pareviya Veer Mandir Trust Through ... vs Income Tax Officer on 8 April, 2025
Author: Bhargav D. Karia
Bench: Bhargav D. Karia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 5000 of 2021
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PAREVIYA VEER MANDIR TRUST THROUGH TRUSTEE KALIDAS
NAGARDAS PATEL
Versus
INCOME TAX OFFICER
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Appearance:
HLP ASSOCIATES LLP(9263) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MS MAITHILI D MEHTA(3206) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE D.N.RAY
Date : 08/04/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA)
1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Chintan Dave for the petitioner and learned Senior Standing Counsel Ms. Maithili Mehta for the respondent.
2. By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:
"(10)(A) Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ in the nature of mandamus and/or an appropriate writ, order or direction, directing the respondent authority to furnish the copy of the registration Page 1 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined certificate bearing no. CIT/GNR/12AA/PTN-8-2002-
03 issued to the petitioner - trust under Section 12AA of the Income-Tax Act, 1961;
(B) Your Lordships may be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction directing the respondent authority to allow the claim of exemption of the petitioner based on the details of the registration certificate being certificate no. CIT/GNR/ 12AA/PTN-8/2002-03 that is already provided in the returns of income filed by the petitioner - trust; (C) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition, Your Lordships may kindly be pleased to stay the assessment proceedings as already initiated vide issuance of notice dated 25.09.2020 by the respondent authority;
(D) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to grant such other and further relief and/or order in the interest of justice in favour of the petitioner."
3. The petitioner is a public charitable trust under provisions of the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. The petitioner trust was established on 09.08.2000 with an objective of construction, maintenance and conducting religious activities. The petitioner filed an application for registration under section 12A of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 ('the Act' for short) so as to get benefit of Page 2 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined exemption of income under section 11 of the Act. The application made by the petitioner is available at page 22, Annexure B filing Form 10A as provided under Rule 17A of the Income-Tax Rules, 1962 ('the Rules' for short). The said application was filed by the authorised officer of the petitioner trust before the Commissioner of Income Tax, Gandhinagar Range, Ahmedabad on 22.11.2002.
3.1 It is the case of the petitioner that pursuant to the aforesaid application, the order under section 12AA of the Act was passed granting the registration and certificate was also issued under section 12AA of the Act having Registration No. CIT/GNR/12AA/PTN-8/2002-03.
3.2 The petitioner trust thereafter regularly filed return of income claiming exemption under sections 11 and 12 of the Act which were duly accepted by the respondent authority under section 143(1) of the Act.
3.3 It is the case of the petitioner that due to torrential rainfall in the year 2012, most of the documents of the petitioner trust were washed out and along with the relevant documents, the Page 3 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined petitioner also lost the certificate of registration under section 12AA of the Act issued by the respondent authority. 3.4 It is the case of the petitioner that for the Assessment Year 2013-14, the petitioner could not submit the copy of the certificate under section 12AA of the Act and therefore, by assessment order passed under section 143(3) of the Act, claim of exemption of the petitioner trust was disallowed by the Assessing Officer on the ground of non-production of registration certificate issued under section 12AA of the Act. The petitioner, however, did not challenge the said order by preferring an appeal due to smallness of amount. 3.5 The petitioner trust on realisation that the copy of certificate of registration is necessary, made an application under the Right to Information Act, 2005 on 17.12.2018 to the CIT, Gandhinagar. However, the said application was not entertained by order dated 28.12.2018 on the ground that the respondent authority has lost the records containing certificate of registration of the petitioner trust and therefore, the respondent authority was not in a position to provide the copy of Page 4 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined the certificate of registration to the petitioner. 3.6 Being aggrieved, the petitioner has preferred this petition with the aforesaid prayers.
4. Learned advocate Mr. Chintan Dave for the petitioner submitted that it is not in dispute that the petitioner had preferred an application in Form 10A as per Rule 17A of the Rules in the year 2002 under section 12A of the Act for registration. It was submitted that the registration was granted to the petitioner by following procedure prescribed in section 12AA of the Act by issuance of Registration Certificate No. CIT/ GNR/12AA/PTN-8/2002-03 which was reflected in the returns of income filed by the petitioner. It was, therefore, submitted that the petitioner is entitled to get a copy of registration certificate issued under section 12AA of the Act by the respondent authority.
4.1 It was submitted that in view of the provisions of section 12AB of the Act, the petitioner would not be in a position to apply for a fresh registration and as the petitioner has already been granted the registration under section 12A as it stood at Page 5 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined the relevant point of time by issuing certificate under section 12AA of the Act, the respondent authorities are required to provide a copy of the registration certificate so as to avoid any complication of granting exemption to the petitioner under provisions of sections 11 and 12 of the Act.
5. On the other hand, learned Senior Standing Counsel Ms.Maithili Mehta for the respondent authority submitted that the petitioner is regularly filing return of income claiming exemption under sections 11 and 12 of the Act and as per the order dated 28.12.2018 passed under the Right to Information Act, the respondent authority has shown the inability to trace its own records and therefore, the copy of the certificate under section 12AA of the Act as prayed for by the petitioner cannot be issued.
5.1 It was further submitted that the petitioner has accepted the order of dis-allowance for the Assessment Year 2013-14 without preferring an appeal and therefore, the petitioner is not entitled to exemption under sections 11 and 12 of the Act and the petitioner failed to produce the copy of the registration Page 6 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined certificate under section 12AA of the Act. It was, therefore, prayed that the respondents have even tried to search the records pursuant to the order passed by this Court on 27.01.2025 calling upon the respondent to produce the original record, however, in spite of the best efforts from the office of the respondent, records for grant of registration to the petitioner could not be traced.
6. Having heard learned advocates for the respective parties and considering the facts of the case, it appears that the respondent has not denied the registration of the petitioner trust under section 12A of the Act by issuance of the certificate under section 12AA of the Act after the respondent passed an order for registration. The respondent has also not disputed registration number stated by the petitioner in the returns of income being Registration Certificate No. CIT/GNR/12AA/PTN- 8/2002-03.
7. Therefore, the factum of the registration of the petitioner trust under section 12A of the Act by issuance of the certificate under section 12AA of the Act is an undisputed fact. The Page 7 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/5000/2021 ORDER DATED: 08/04/2025 undefined respondent authority has also not disputed regarding the loss of certificate of the petitioner in the year 2012. The respondent authorities are therefore required to issue copy of the certificate under section 12AA of the Act by reconstructing their own file as it is reported that the old records have been lost and the respondent authorities are unable to trace the original file.
8. In view of the above facts, the only remedy available is to direct the respondent to reconstruct the file of original records on the material available with the respondent with the help of the petitioner and issue a copy of registration certificate under section 12AA of the Act with Registration Certificate No.CIT/GNR/12AA/PTN-8/2002-03 so as to enable the petitioner to claim the exemption under sections 11 and 12 of the Act without any hindrance. Such exercise shall be completed within a period of 12 weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order. The petition is accordingly disposed of. Notice is discharged.
(BHARGAV D. KARIA, J) (D.N.RAY,J) Bharat Page 8 of 8 Uploaded by BHARATKUMAR SUBHASHCHANDRA KOSHTI(HC01064) on Wed Apr 16 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 18 23:54:30 IST 2025