Chandraprabha Medical Trust Vs CIT (Exemptions) & Ors (Bombay High Court)
The Bombay High Court allowed the writ petition filed by a charitable trust challenging the rejection of its application for condonation of delay in filing Form 10B for Assessment Year (AY) 2020-21. The Court quashed the order passed under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act and condoned the delay of 113 days in the acceptance and e-verification of Form 10B.
The petitioner, a public charitable trust registered under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950 and under Section 12A of the Income-tax Act, had been engaged in providing medical services since 1997. For AY 2020-21, it filed its return of income on 31 October 2020 after claiming exemption under Section 11. The statutory audit report in Form 10B was also uploaded by the auditor on the same date.
However, while the audit report had been filed, the trust failed to complete the separate process of e-verifying or accepting Form 10B within the prescribed time. The Court noted that this lapse occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic when the trust’s managing trustee, who was over 80 years of age, was working from home. According to the trust, the omission was inadvertent. Upon discovering the error, the trust completed the verification process on 8 May 2021.
