Vigneshwara Public Charitable Trust Vs PCCIT (Karnataka High Court)
Hyper-technical refusal overturned: Karnataka HC orders condonation of Form 10B delay for charitable trust
Karnataka High Court, allowed the writ petition & set aside the order passed u/s 119(2)(b) rejecting condonation of delay in filing audit report in Form 10B for AY 2020-21. Court noted that petitioner is an undisputed public charitable & religious trust which had filed its return within time, & omission to upload Form 10B along with the return was due to bona fide oversight & unavoidable circumstances. Holding that the authority adopted a hyper-technical approach & ignored genuine hardship, Court directed that delay be condoned & Form 10B be accepted as if filed within due date, with consequential directions to grant exemption u/s 11 & proceed in accordance with law
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF KARNATAKA HIGH COURT
In this petition, petitioner seeks the following reliefs:
“Wherefore it is prayed that this Hon’ble Court be pleased to:
i) Issue a writ of certiorari or a direction in the nature of writ of certiorari quashing the order under section 119(2)(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘the Act’) dated 11.12.2024 passed by the Respondent No.1 for the assessment year 2020-21 bearing DIN &Order No. ITBA/COM/F/17/2024-25/1071116222(1) enclosed and marked as Annexure-A.
ii) Issue a writ of mandamus or a direction in the nature of writ of mandamus directing the Respondent No.1 to condone the delay in filing of audit report in e-Form 10B bearing e-filing Acknowledgement Number 500078860031123 for the assessment year 2020-21 which is enclosed herewith and marked as Annexure-B.
iii) Issue a writ of certiorari or a direction in the nature of writ of certiorari quashing the intimation dated 30.11.2021 issued under section 143(1) of the Act for the assessment year 2020-21 bearing DIN: CPC/2021/A7/164872697 issued by the Respondent No. 4, which is enclosed herewith and marked as Annexure-C.
iv) And pass or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction as this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper in the interest of justice and equity.”
2. A perusal of the material on record indicate that the petitioner is a Charitable and religious Trust and submitted its income tax returns for the assessment year 2020-21 on 12.01.2021. The said returns having been processed, the respondents issued an Intimation to the Petitioner under section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act hereinafter referred to as the ‘IT Act’ wherein benefit of exemption under Section 11 of the IT Act was not granted to the petitioner. Pursuant to the said denial of exemption under section 11 of the IT Act the Petitioner realized that the audit report in Form-10B applicable to the petitioner-Trust had not been submitted along with the income tax returns. Pursuant to the said realization, the petitioner submitted the said audit report in Form-10B along with an application on 09.02.2024 invoking Section 119(2)(b) of the I.T. Act seeking condonation of delay in submitting the said audit report. It was contended that the inability and omission on the part of the petitioner to submit the said audit report along with the income tax returns was due to bonafide reasons, unavoidable circumstances and sufficient cause, since the same was not filed by oversight. The said application was considered by the respondent, who declined to condone the delay and accordingly, passed the impugned order dated 11.12.2024, rejecting the application for condonation of delay, aggrieved by which the petitioner is before this Court by way of the present petition.
