Dakuben Saremalji Sancheti (Nadol Charitable Trust) Vs CIT Exemptions (Bombay High Court)
The writ petition challenged two orders dated 6 March 2025 passed under Section 119(2)(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, whereby the application filed by a charitable trust for condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10 and Form No. 10B for Assessment Year 2020–21 was rejected. The rejection was based solely on Circular No. 16/2024 dated 18 November 2024, which prescribed a three-year limitation for entertaining such applications. The rejection resulted in denial of exemption to the trust. During the pendency of the petition, a subsequent order dated 11 December 2025 was passed condoning the delay in filing the return of income for the same assessment year, leaving only the issue of condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10 and Form No. 10B for consideration.
The petitioner trust, engaged in providing medical relief to the poor and to animals, was required for the first time in AY 2020–21 to file its audit report in Form No. 10B one month prior to the due date of filing the return of income. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the due date for filing returns was extended up to 15 February 2021. The trust filed Form No. 10 and Form No. 10B electronically on 25 March 2021 and filed a belated return of income under Section 139(4) on 27 March 2021, declaring nil income and claiming exemption. The delay amounted to approximately 38 days for Form No. 10 and 69 days for Form No. 10B.
