Dawat E Islami Hind Vs CIT (Exemptions) (Bombay High Court)
The Bombay High Court examined a writ petition challenging an order dated 07.10.2025 passed under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The impugned order rejected the petitioner’s application seeking condonation of delay in filing the audit report in Form 10B for Assessment Year (A.Y.) 2018–19. As a result of the rejection, the petitioner was denied the benefit of exemption under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act.
The petitioner is a public religious-cum-charitable trust engaged in various activities including providing aid and relief to the poor and needy, education, educational assistance, and other charitable activities. These activities are carried out from donations received during financial years. The petitioner filed its return of income for A.Y. 2018–19 on 20.12.2018 and also uploaded its audit report in Form 10B on the same date. The statutory due date for filing the return and the audit report was 31.10.2018.
The audit report was therefore filed with a delay of 50 days. The petitioner stated that the delay occurred due to a shortage of qualified accountants needed to collate information for preparing financial statements and submitting financial records to its Chartered Accountants for audit. Because of the delayed filing of Form 10B, the petitioner was denied exemption under Section 11 through an intimation issued under Section 143(1)(a), resulting in a tax demand of ₹10,30,95,810.
