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Judgment
Per Renu Jauhri, Accountant Member:
The above captioned appeal is preferred by the assessee against the order dated 20.10.2025, passed by CIT(Exemptio n), Lucknow , u/s 12AB(1)(b)(ii) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”) for A.Y. 2026-27.
The assessees has raised following grounds of appe al:
“1 . That on the (acts and circumstances of t he c as e and in law, the impugned order dated 20.08.2025 in For m I0AD passed by t he Commissioner of Income Ta x Exempti on, L uck now [“C T1(E)”] r ejecting/ dismissing the applicatio n for r egistration under section I2AB of the Income Tax Ac t, 1961 [“the Ac t”] is illegal and bad-i n-law.
2.That on the f acts and circumst ances of the case and in l aw, the CIT(E) erre d i n rejecting the applicati on filed by t he appel lant for r enewal of r egistrati on under section I2AB by t reati ng it as non-mai ntainable on the sol e tec hnical ground that t he application was filed under s ub-clause (ii) which is not the c orrect provision [c orrect bei ng sub-clause (iii)] of secti on 12A(1 )(ac ) of the Ac t.
2.1That the CIT(E) err ed on fac ts and in law in not appr eciati ng t hat merely a technical/ procedural defect of mentioni ng i nco rr ect s ub-clause of secti on I2A(1)(a c) in the appl ication for r enewal cannot result i n denial of subst antive claim for registrati on, especially when the applicatio n was o therwis e complete and supported by the requisit e docume nts .
2.2.That t he CIT (E) erred on facts and in law in dismissing t he appli cation wi thout appreciati ng t hat there is not dispute t hat the - (i) appella nt U niversi ty is impar ti ng ‘education’ covered i n definition of ‘char itabl e pur poses' under sec tion 2(15 ) of the Act: (ii) the activities of the appellant are genui ne; and (iii) appellant is compliant with all (he applicable laws.
2.3.That t he CIT (E) erred on facts and in law in dismissing the application fo r renewal as not mai ntainabl e without any prior show cause notice confr onti ng the appellant with propos al for such dismissal (l ette r dated 04.07.2025 referred i n impugned order was neve r served on the appella nt), which is in violati on of sectio n 12AB of the Act and pri nci ples of nat ural justic e.”
Brief facts are that the assessee is a registered trust, and had applied for registration u/s 12AB of the Act by filing an application in Fo rm 10AB on 07.02.2025. Ld. CIT( E) no ted that the application was filed u/s 12 A(1)(ac)(ii) of the Act which is applicable in cases where the applicant is already registered u/s 12AB(1)(a) for a period of five years and whose period of registration is due to expire. However, the assessee did not possess any regular or provisional reg istration u/s 12A of the Act. He accordingly held the application to be no n-maintainable on technical grounds. Hence, the application was rejected vide order dated 20.08.2025. Aggrieved the assesse e is in appeal before the Tribunal.
We have heard the r ival submissio ns and perused the material on record. We note that the assessee has been granted provisional registr ation u/s 12A(1)(ac)(vi) in Form 10AC by the CPC dated 03.08.2022 for the period A.Y. 2023-24 to A.Y. 2025-26. We, therefore, set aside the order of ld. CIT(E) and direct him to consider the application on merits under relevant provisions of the Act after allowing the assessee to amend the error in mentioning the relevant clause of section 12A(1), if any. Needless to add, the assessee shall be g iven due opportunity of being heard before passing the final order on merits.
In the result, appeal of the asse ssee is allo wed for statistical purposes.