Mahavatar Babaji Charitable Trust Vs CIT (Madras High Court)
Summary: The Madras High Court considered a writ petition challenging the order dated 22.03.2025 rejecting M/S.Mahavatar Babaji Charitable Trust’s application for condonation of delay under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The application concerned a one-day delay in filing the audit report in Form 10B for Assessment Year 2020-2021.
The petitioner submitted that Form 10B had been filed on 16.01.2021 with a delay of one day and that the return of income had been filed on 13.02.2021. The delay was attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The petitioner contended that the impugned order had rejected condonation by relying upon Circular No.16/2024. Reliance was also placed on the Madras High Court’s earlier order dated 03.07.2026 in John and Marie Almeida Educational Trust v. The Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemptions), W.P. Nos.15587 and 16818 of 2025, where the Court held that clause (b) of Section 119(2) does not prescribe a time limit for making an application for condonation.
The Revenue submitted that the application had been filed beyond the time limits specified in Circular No.16/2024 and that condonation was therefore not possible.
The Court noted that the petitioner was a Charitable Trust and that exemptions had been claimed for the relevant assessment year. The audit report had been filed with only a one-day delay during the COVID-19 period. The Court found that the sole reason for rejecting the application was the time limit prescribed in Circular No.16/2024.
