Atma Bodhodaya Sangham Vs CIT (Exemptions) (Kerala High Court)
The appellant, a charitable trust engaged solely in charitable activities, stated that it had originally obtained registration under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, on 23 March 1988. According to the appellant, while applying for provisional registration for the assessment year 2020-21, a mistake occurred due to a system error whereby Section 10(23) was selected instead of Section 12A. As a result, provisional registration was granted under Section 10(23), followed by final registration under the same provision on 22 September 2021, which remained valid until March 2024.
The appellant submitted that upon noticing this error, it approached the tax authorities and was advised to surrender the registration obtained under Section 10(23). After surrendering that registration, it filed a fresh application seeking registration from the year 2021, relying on CBDT Circular No. 7/2024 dated 25 April 2024. According to the appellant, the authorities considered the application only for the current period and granted provisional registration only for the year 2023-24. Consequently, the appellant claimed that it remained without registration for the period covering the years 2022-2023. Challenging this position, the appellant pursued remedies before the authorities and eventually approached the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Kochi. The ITAT rejected the appellant’s claim, holding that registration under Section 12A could not be granted with retrospective effect.
