TMI Blog2022 (9) TMI 599X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing of its application for approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) for A.Y. 2012-13, but accepting its alternative contention that as its application for the said year i.e. A.Y. 2012-13 was pending consideration and the impugned order came to passed only on 13.11.2013, therefore, it could not have filed an application for the subsequent assessment year i.e. A.Y. 2013-14, had therein remanded the matter to the file of the CIT, Exemption with a direction to consider the same as the assessee s application for the succeeding year i.e. A.Y. 2013-14. Thus we herein remand the matter to the file of the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal with a direction to consider the present application filed by the assessee for approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) as that filed for the immediate succeeding year i.e. A.Y. 2015-16. We, though we decline the assessee s request for condonation of the delay involved in filing of its application for approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) for A.Y. 2014-15, but at the same time remand the matter to the file of the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal with a direction to consider the aforesaid application of the assessee as that filed for the immediatel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly as on 16.12.2014 i.e. beyond the prescribed period as enshrined in the Act, the Commissioner of Income- Tax (Exemption), Bhopal was of the view that the application so filed by the assessee was liable to be rejected on the said ground itself. Accordingly, the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal after drawing support from certain judicial pronouncements concluded that as the assessee had failed to apply for the approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) within the stipulated time period, therefore, the application so filed before him was not maintainable. 4. The assessee being aggrieved with the order of the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal has carried the matter in appeal before us. As the assessee appellant despite having been intimated about the hearing of the appeal had failed to put up an appearance, therefore, we are constrained to dispose off the appeal as per Rule 24 of the Appellate Tribunal Rules, 1963 after hearing the respondent department and perusing the impugned order before us. 5. We have heard the Ld. Departmental Representative (for short DR ) and perused the order passed by the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal declining the as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... roval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) for A.Y. 2015-16 to the department which had delayed disposing off its application for the year in question i.e. A.Y. 2014-15. 7. Before proceeding any further we deem it fit to cull out the provisions of Sec. 10(23C)(vi) of the Act, which reads as under : Incomes not included in total income In computing the total income of a previous year of any person, any income falling within any of the following clauses shall not be included (i) to (v) .. (vi) any university or other educational institution existing solely for educational purposes and not for purposes of profit, other than those mentioned in sub-clause (iiiab) or sub-clause (iiiad) and which may be approved by the prescribed authority Although the provisos appended to Sec. 10(23C)(vi) had undergone an amendment w.e.f. 01.06.2020, however, as the case before us pertains to a period prior to the aforesaid date, therefore, we herein cull out the provisions as were applicable during the year under consideration, as under : First and second provisos substituted by the Finance Act, 2020, w.e.f. 1.6.2020. Prior to their substitution, first and second pro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... me forth with a double facet claim, viz. (i) that the delay in filing of the application for A.Y. 2014-15 be condoned; or (ii) that the application in hand be considered as an application for the next year i.e A.Y. 2015- 16. 9. Adverting to the request of the assessee that the delay involved in filing the application for approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) be condoned, we are afraid that the same not being as per the mandate of law cannot be accepted. Admittedly, the application which was filed by the assessee society on 06.04.2015 for approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) for A.Y. 2014- 15 as per the fourteenth proviso (as was at the relevant point of time available on the statute) was required to be filed latest by 30.09.2014. Apropos the delay involved in filing of the aforesaid application is concerned, the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal was vested with no power under the Act to condone the same. Our aforesaid view is fortified by the judgment of the Hon ble High Court of Madras in the case of All Angels Educational Society Vs. Chief CIT, Chennai-III, 72 taxmann.com 251. In its aforesaid order the Hon ble High Court had after considering the judgments of the Hon ble ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere concerned whether in the absence of any statutory provision to condone the delay in presenting the application under section 10(23C)(vi), the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax can exercise any such power . On the basis of the aforesaid position of law, we are of the considered view that as the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal was not vested with any power to condone the delay involved in filing of the application by the assessee society under Sec. 10(23C)(vi), therefore, the same had rightly been rejected by him. We, thus, finding no infirmity in the view taken by the Commissioner of Income-Tax (Exemption), Bhopal who had rightly rejected the assessee s application for approval under Sec. 10(23C0(vi), uphold the same. 10. We shall now take up the grievance of the assessee that as the assessee s application for approval under Sec. 10(23C)(vi) was disposed off by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Exemption), Bhopal vide his order dated 24.02.2016, therefore, for the said reason the assessee was precluded from reapplying for the aforesaid approval for the immediately succeeding year i.e. A.Y. 2015-16. Having given a thoughtful consideration to the aforesaid claim ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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