Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Hyderabad
Nehru Yuvajana Seva Sangham, Chittoor vs Assessee on 8 August, 2014
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
HYDERABAD BENCH 'B', HYDERABAD
BEFORE SHRI P.M.JAGTAP, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
AND SHRI SAKTIJIT DEY, JUDICIAL MEMBER
ITA No.1575/Hyd/12
&
ITA No.1576/Hyd/12
Nehru Yuva Jana Seva V/s. Commissioner of Income-tax
Sangham, Chittoor Tirupati
( PAN - AACEP 4562 F )
(Appellant) (Respondent)
Appellant by : Shri S.Rama Rao
Respondent by : Smt. Pallavi Agarwal DR
Date of Hearing 05.08.2014
Date of Pronouncement 08.08.2014
ORDER
Per P.M.Jagtap, Accountant Member:
These two appeals filed by the assessee are directed against a common order of the learned Commissioner of Income- tax, Tirupati, dated 31.7.2012, whereby he rejected the applications filed by the assessee for registration under S.12 A of the Income Tax Act,1961 and for recognition under S.80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
2. At the outset, it is observed that there is a delay of 12 days on the part of the assessee in filing these appeals before the Tribunal. In this regard, the assessee has filed application seeking condonation of the said delay. After having gone through the submissions made therein, we are satisfied that small delay of 12 days on the part of the assessee in filing these appeals is for 2 ITA No.1575 & 1576/Hyd/2014 Nehru Yuva Seva Sangham, Chittoor sufficient cause. The said delay is, therefore, condoned and these appeals of the assessee are being disposed off on merits.
3. The assessee in the present case is a society which was formed on 22.5.1976 under the Registration of Societies Act. It filed applications on 20th January, 2012 to the learned Commissioner of Income-tax seeking grant of registration under s.12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and recognition for exemption under S.80G of the Act. Both these applications, however, were rejected by the learned Commissioner of Income-tax, after recording his observations in paragraph 2 of the impugned order as under-
"2. Vide this office letter dated 18.06.2012, the applicant has been asked to produce books of account and vouchers for the last three years. Original trust deed/MOA for verification, note on immediate plan of action and the applicant has also been asked to furnish details of charitable activities conducted by the society and evidence thereon, etc., fixing the date of hearing on 03.07.2012. The assessee has appeared and submitted the information. The applicant society was formed/registered before the Registrar of Societies on 22.05.1976. Application for registration u/s. 12A & exemption u/s. 80G is filed on 20.01.2012, i.e., after a lapse of about 36 years. The applicant society has neither filed any explanation for the said delay of about 36 years nor explained orally regarding the delay."
4. Aggrieved by the order of the learned Commissioner of Income-tax, assessee has preferred the present appeals before the Tribunal.
5. We have heard the arguments of both sides and also perused the relevant material on record. As per the provisions of S.11 and 12 of the Act, the income from property held for 3 ITA No.1575 & 1576/Hyd/2014 Nehru Yuva Seva Sangham, Chittoor charitable or religious purposes and income of Trust or institutions from contributions respectively are exempt from tax, subject to the satisfaction of terms and conditions. The basic condition for availing the benefit of the provisions of S.11 and S.12 is that the Trust or institution claiming the said benefit should be registered under S.12AA of the Act. This condition is stipulated in S.12A of the Act, the provisions of which read as under:
"Conditions for applicability of sections 11 and 12.
12A. (1) The provisions of section 11 and section 12 shall not apply in relation to the income of any trust or institution unless the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:--
(a) the person in receipt of the income has made an application for registration of the trust or institution in the prescribed form and in the prescribed manner to the Commissioner before the 1st day of July, 1973, or before the expiry of a period of one year from the date of the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution, whichever is later and such trust or institution is registered under section 12AA] :
Provided that where an application for registration of the trust or institution is made after the expiry of the period aforesaid, the provisions of sections 11 and 12 shall apply in relation to the income of such trust or institution,--
(i) from the date of the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution if the Commissioner is, for reasons to be recorded in writing, satisfied that the person in receipt of the income was prevented from making the application before the expiry of the period aforesaid for sufficient reasons;
(ii) from the 1st day of the financial year in which the application is made, if the Commissioner is not so satisfied:
Provided further that the provisions of this clause shall not apply in relation to any application made on or after the 1st day of June, 2007;4
ITA No.1575 & 1576/Hyd/2014 Nehru Yuva Seva Sangham, Chittoor (aa) the person in receipt of the income has made an application for registration of the trust or institution on or after the 1st day of June, 2007 in the prescribed form49 and manner to the Commissioner and such trust or institution is registered under section 12AA;
(b) where the total income of the trust or institution as computed under this Act without giving effect to the provisions of section 11 and section 12 exceeds the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income-tax in any previous year, the accounts of the trust or institution for that year have been audited by an accountant as defined in the Explanation below sub-section (2) of section 288 and the person in receipt of the income furnishes along with the return of income for the relevant assessment year the report of such audit in the prescribed form duly signed and verified by such accountant and setting forth such particulars as may be prescribed.
(2) Where an application has been made on or after the 1st day of June, 2007, the provisions of sections 11 and 12 shall apply in relation to the income of such trust or institution from the assessment year immediately following the financial year in which such application is made."
6. In the present case, although the assessee society was formed on 22.5.21976 under the Registration of Societies Act, it filed the application seeking grant of registration under S12A of the Income Tax Act,1961 only on 20th January, 2012, and as rightly submitted by the learned counsel for the assessee, even if the learned Commissioner of Income-tax was not satisfied that the delay on the part of the assessee in making the application under S.12AA was for sufficient reasons, he should have considered the application of the assessee as per sub-section (2) of S.12A, in order to give the benefit of the provisions of S.11 and 12 to the assessee from assessment year 2012-13, being the assessment year immediately following the financial year in which such application was made. He has contended that the matter, therefore, may be remanded back to the learned Commissioner of Income-tax for considering and disposing off the applications of the assessee, as 5 ITA No.1575 & 1576/Hyd/2014 Nehru Yuva Seva Sangham, Chittoor per the provisions of sub-section (2) of S.12A. We find merit in this contention of the learned counsel for the assessee and since the learned Departmental Representative has also not raised any objection in this regard, we restore the matter to the file of the learned Commissioner of Income-tax for disposing off the applications of the assessee for registration under S.12A of the Act as well as for recognition under S.80G of the Act, in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2) of S.12A, and after giving reasonable opportunity of hearing to the assessee.
7. In the result, appeals of the assessee are treated as allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the court on 8th August, 2014 Sd/- Sd/-
(Saktijit Dey) (P.M.Jagtap)
Judicial Member Accountant Member
Dt/- 8th August, 2014
Copy forwarded to:
1. Nehru Yuva Jana Seva Sangham (Chittoor) C/o. M/s. K.G.M.Gupta & Co., Chartered Accountants, 10/67, Gandhi Road, CHITTOOR 517 001
2. Asst Commissioner of Income-tax Circle 1(1), Tirupati
3. Commissioner of Income-tax Tirupati
4. Departmental Representative, ITAT, Hyderabad.
B.V.S