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Judgment
Balia, J.—Rule - Service of rule is waived by Mr. Mihir Joshi, the learned counsel for the, respondents.
Heard the learned counsels for the parties. The short issue raised by the petitioner claiming to be a public charitable trust is that it applied for
registration under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 u/s 12A on 11-1-1989. Another trust, namely, Adivasi Pragati Mandal, Meghraj,
having the same management, which is also a registered public charitable trust, also applied for the registration u/s 12A on the same date.
According to the petitioner, on 31-7-1989, both the trusts were granted registration u/s 12A. While the other trust, Adivasi Pragati Mandal, has its
registration certificate in its possession, the registration certificate in the case of the petitioner is not traceable. The difficulty faced by the petitioner
is that they have filed returns of their income for the assessment years 1991-92 to 1994-95 and claimed exemption under sections 11 to 13 of the
Act and which have been accepted by the revenue. However, for the assessment year 1995-96, the ITO demanded production of the certificate
of registration u/s 12A. As the same is not traceable, the petitioner has applied for issue of duplicate certificate. However, no response has been
received from the revenue.
The learned counsel for the revenue urges that, though the application dated 11-1-1989 is on record, the order made thereon is not traceable
with them either. In these circumstances, assessment for the assessment year 1995-96 has been completed by treating as if there is no registration
and the claim to exemption has been rejected for which an appeal against that order has been filed. However, in the absence of registration
certificate, the same difficulty is likely to be faced by the petitioner in appeal.
In the circumstances, the respondents are directed to decide the application of the petitioner for issuing duplicate certificate within a fortnight If it
is found that by any inadvertence no order actually has been made on the application dated 11-1-1989, the same may now be considered and
decided in accordance with law, also within this period.
Rule is, accordingly, made absolute with no order as to costs. Direct service is permitted.