Absence of explicit irrevocability clause in public charitable trust deed does not render trust revocable or justify section 12AB registration rejection; irrevocable by law unless express revocation; form compulsion to false declaration arbitrary.

JUDGMENT :

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Respondents waive service. By consent of the parties, the Writ Petition is taken up for final disposal at this stage itself.

2. The Petitioners before us represent a cross-section of charitable trusts and bodies representing the tax-practising community. Petitioner No. 1, i.e., The Chamber of Tax Consultants, is a society established in 1926. It is one of the oldest voluntary non-profit organisations of tax practitioners, and its members are advocates, chartered accountants and tax practitioners. It is formed with the object of spreading education in tax laws and making representations to authorities on issues of public interest. Petitioner No. 2, i.e., the Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society, was established in 1949, and is a voluntary organisation of Chartered Accountants with over 11,500 members. It is actively involved in the dissemination of knowledge and regularly makes representations on public interest issues concerning tax laws. Petitioner Nos. 3 to 8 are public charitable trusts registered under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act, 1950 ("MPT Act"). These trusts have been enjoying registration under sections 12A and 12AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act") for several years and are the aggrieved parties whose applications for renewal of registration are rejected by Respondent No. 1.

3. This Writ Petition, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, basically challenges the action of Respondent No.1, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), in rejecting applications for renewal of registration under section 12AB of the Act. The Petitioners impugn the rejection orders passed against Petitioner Nos. 3 to 8 and also seek broader reliefs for all similarly situated trusts.

4. The core issue arising for our determination revolves around a view taken by Respondent No. 1 (which the Petitioners allege is untenable) while processing renewal applications filed in Form 10AB under the registration regime effective from 1^st April 2021 in terms of section 12AB of the Act. Respondent No. 1 has rejected the applications for renewal of registration of Petitioner Nos. 3 to 8, primarily, on two grounds:

a. the trust deed or instrument constituting the concerned entities does not contain an explicit clause stating that the trust is "irrevocable" and/or providing for the manner of dissolution;

b. the applicants, in their online Form 10AB, were compelled to answer "Yes" to the question in Row 6, viz., "Whether the trust deed contains clause that the trust is irrevocable?". Since, the trust deeds were silent on this aspect, Respondent No. 1 has treated this reply as furnishing "false or inc