TMI Blog2013 (6) TMI 221X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... kind of authoritarian approach, and unwillingness to give legal reasons, does not anyway befit conduct of any public authority in a democratic set up like ours, wherein rule of law is of paramount importance. As held in the case of Bhagwat Swarup Shri Shri Devraha Baba Memorial Shri Hari Pamarth Dham Trust v. CIT [2007 (8) TMI 380 - ITAT DELHI-B] it is not open to the Commissioner to keep an application for registration under section 12A pending indefinitely, and when the application is not disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing the application, the approval is deemed to have been granted. Clearly, in the present case, the period of six months of the date of application has passed and no order has been passed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rom village to the Asansol is also a difficult task. It is explained before us that the assessee was following up with the Commissioner's office for consideration by the Commissioner, as against this rejection by the ITO (Technical), and thus a review of the matter. However, there was no response. It was also stated that as there was no regular Commissioner posted at Asansol, and the additional charge of this office was held by some other Commissioner of Income Tax posted elsewhere. The assessee could not even thus meet the Commissioner. It was in this backdrop and for these reasons that the delay is said to have taken place. Learned Departmental Representative did oppose the petition seeking condonation of delay but he had little to say wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ot hold so, the consequences and corollaries of such a finding. We have heard the learned representatives on this issue, we have considered applicable legal position as also factual matrix of the case. 5. In our considered view, an application made to a statutory authority, for his exercise of powers vested in him by the statute, can only be disposed of him and not by any other person to whom he may like to delegate such an authority. A statutory power vested in an authority cannot be delegated by the authority to any other authority, unless there is a specific enabling provision to that effect in the statute itself. It is, therefore, beyond much controversy and debate that it was for the Commissioner to dispose of the application for reg ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... disposal of application under section 12 AA is concerned, shown complete lack of conduct befitting someone holding a public office to implement the provisions of a legal statute i.e. Income Tax Act, 1961. 7. It is also important to bear in mind the fact that, as held by a Special Bench of this Tribunal in the case of Bhagwat Swarup Shri Shri Devraha Baba Memorial Shri Hari Pamarth Dham Trust v. CIT [2008] 111 ITD 175 (Delhi), it is not open to the Commissioner to keep an application for registration under section 12A pending indefinitely, and when the application is not disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing the application, the approval is deemed to have been granted. Clearly, in the present case, the period of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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