Urban Improvement Trust Vs Ward Exemption (ITAT Jodhpur)
Summary: The Jodhpur Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal allowed the appeal filed by Urban Improvement Trust, Pali against the order dated 20.03.2026 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Jaipur [CIT(E)], rejecting its Form No. 10AB application seeking renewal/continuation of registration under sections 12A/12AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
The CIT(E) had rejected the application principally on the grounds that Form No. 10AB was incomplete and that the assessee had not furnished registration under the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959. The CIT(E) had relied upon section 12AB(1)(b)(i), observing that compliance with other laws material for achieving the objects of the institution was required to be examined.
The assessee submitted that it was an Urban Improvement Trust, Pali, constituted under the statutory framework of the State Government and functioning as a statutory/public authority for urban improvement and development. It therefore could not be treated like an ordinary private public trust requiring registration under the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, 1959. Reliance was placed on section 77 of the Rajasthan Public Trust Act, which provides that the Act does not apply to a public trust administered by an agency acting under the control of the State Government or by a local authority.
