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TMI Blog2023 (10) TMI 559X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... law by giving adequate opportunity to the assessee. Thus the grounds raised by the assessee are hereby allowed. - Smt. Annapurna Gupta, Accountant Member And Shri T.R. Senthil Kumar, Judicial Member For the Assessee : Shri Tej Shah, A.R. For the Revenue : Shri Akhilendra Pratap Yadav ORDER PER : T.R. SENTHIL KUMAR, JUDICIAL MEMBER:- This appeal is filed by the Assessee as against the appellate order dated 25.12.2021 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), National Faceless Appeal Centre, Delhi, (in short referred to as NFAC ), arising out of the rectification order passed under section 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act ) relating to the Assessment Year (A.Y) 2015-16. 2. The brief facts of the case is that the assessee is a charitable trust engaged in education and other charitable activities. For the Assessment Year 2015-16, the assessee Trust filed its Return of Income showing gross income of Rs. 3,81,030/- and claimed expense of Rs. 3,70,516/-. The return was taken for prima facie adjustment by Computer Processing Centre and disallowed the entire claim of expenses and demanded a tax of Rs. 1,67,290/ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with the Return of Income, thus the assessee is not eligible for benefit u/s. 11 of the Act. It is thereafter the assessee filed Form 10B duly signed by the Chartered Accountant and uploaded the same on 07-07-2020. However the Ld. NFAC dismissed the assessee appeal that Form 10B is not filed before Ld. NFAC. 5.2. Ld. Counsel drawn our attention to the Jurisdictional High Court Judgments in various cases held that furnishing of Audit Report in Form 10B along with the Return of Income is to be treated as procedural provision and therefore directory in nature and referred to: (i) The Hon ble Gujarat High Court in the case of Association of Indian Panel Board Manufacturer Vs. DCIT in Tax Appeal No. 655 of 2022 dated 21.03.2023. (ii) The Mumbai Bench of the Tribunal Decision in the case of Shree Bhairav Seva Samiti Vs. ITO (Exemption) reported in [2023] 149 taxmann.com 478. (iii) In the case of ITO Vs. Shri Laxmanarayan Dev Shrishan Seva Khendra in ITA No. 410/Ahd/2022 dated 19-05-2022. When the same was filed during the pendency of the appellate proceedings, the assessee ought not to have been denied the benefit of exemption u/s. 11 of the Act and therefore pleaded to a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssee trust is registered under section 12AA of the Act for the past 40 years and the said registration is still in existence. It is also not the case of the Revenue that the assessee has ceased to be a religious or charitable institution. Further, it is also not the case of the Revenue that the accounts of the assessee have not been audited by an accountant, and an audit report in Form 10B has not been obtained. Only on the technical aspect that Form 10B was not filed along with the return of income for the relevant assessment year, the exemption claimed under section 11 of the Act has been denied to the assessee without going into the merits. Further, no relief was granted to the assessee even when the assessee filed the application under section 154 of the Act. We find that while dealing with similar facts the Co ordinate Bench of the Tribunal in Trinity Education Trust vs ITO, ITA No. 669/Srt./2018, vide order dated 28/02/2022, decided the issue in favour of the taxpayer by observing as under: 8. We have considered the rival submissions both the parties and perused the order of lower authorities carefully. We find that there is no dispute that at the time of filing of ret ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Co-ordinate Bench of the Tribunal, the Assessing Officer is directed to decide the claim of the assessee under section 11 on merits, after accepting the Form 10B filed by the assessee. 8.3. Further very same Bench of this Tribunal in the case of ITO Vs. Shri Laxmanarayan Dev Shrishan Seva Khendra in ITA No. 410/Ahd/2022 dated 19-05-2022 held as follows: .6. We have given our thoughtful consideration and perused the materials available on record. The moot question whether it is permissible to the assessee to produce the audit report at the appellate stage is correct in law is been decided by the Jurisdictional High Court in the case of CIT Vs. Gujarat Oil Allied Industries Ltd. [1993] 201 ITR 325 (Guj.) wherein it is held that the provisions regarding furnishing of audit report along with the return has to be treated as a procedural provision. It is directory in nature and its substantial compliance would suffice. Thus the Hon ble Court Held that the benefit of exemption should not be denied merely on account of delay in furnishing the same. 6.1. Similarly in the case of Social Security Scheme of GICEA (cited supra) the Hon ble Jurisdictional High Court held as foll ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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