आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, इंदौर (cid:586)ायपीठ, इंदौर IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL INDORE BENCH, INDORE BEFORE SHRI B.M. BIYANI, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER AND SHRI PARESH M. JOSHI, JUDICIAL MEMBER ITA No.419/Ind/2024 Assessment Year: 2017-18 Harda Nagar Bal Vikas ITO-1 Samiti Harda, Harda Near Vitthal Mandir, बनाम/

Sarswati Shishu Mandir, Vs.

Harda (Assessee/Appellant) (Revenue/Respondent)

PAN: AAAAH2391C Assessee by Shri Santosh Deshmukh & Parth Jhawar, ARs Revenue by Shri Ashish Porwal, Sr. DR Date of Hearing 24.04.2025 Date of Pronouncement 06.05.2025 आदेश / O R D E R Per B.M. Biyani, A.M.:

Feeling aggrieved by order of first appeal dated 06.03.2024 passed by learned Commissioner of Income-Tax (Appeals)-NFAC, Delhi [“CIT(A)”] which in turn arises out of assessment-order dated 30.12.2019 passed by learned ITO-1, Harda [“AO”] u/s 144 of Income-tax Act, 1961 [“the Act”] for Assessment-Year [“AY”] 2017-18, the assessee has filed this appeal on following grounds:

“1. On the facts and circumstances and in law the Ld. CIT(A) erred in conforming the addition made ofRs. 59,02,063/-.

2. On the facts and circumstances and in law the Ld. CIT(A) erred in not considering that the society is an education institution duly approved under section 10(23C)(vi) ofthe Income Tax ActforAY 2017-18 which was approved beyond the due date offiling ofincome tax return u/s 139(4C) and also erred in conforming the addition for the reason that the assessee society has not filed the return of income. He failed to appreciate that the provisions of granting exemption u/s 10(23C)(vi) are beneficial provisions and have to be interpreted in favourofthe assessee society.

3. On the facts and circumstances and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in relying the case law which was related to the claiming of deduction u/s 80P of the Act and erred in properly appreciating the legal position that claiming ofdeduction u/s 80P is notidenticalas to the exemption u/s 10ofthe Act.

4. On the facts and circumstances and in law the Ld. CIT(A) failed to see that even the Ld. AO has not adjusted the Deficit of Harda Nagar Bal Vikas Samiti and only assessed the surplus generated by both the school institutions. He also dismissed the ground relating to the charging of tax u/s 115BBE on the addition without considering that the addition was notunder section 69A or69C.”

2. The precise facts of present appeal, as culled out from assessment- order and as per submissions made by Ld. AR for assessee, are such that the assessee-society named as “Harda Nagar Bal Vikash Samiti Harda” is engaged in educational activity by running two educational institutions (schools) in the names of “Saraswati Vidhya Mandir”and “Saraswati Shishu Mandir” which are affiliated to M.P. Board of Education. Uptill AY 2016-17, the assessee’s income was fully exempted u/s 10(23C)(iiiad) as the annual receipts of educational institutions did not exceed the prescribed eligibility limit of Rs. 1 crore. However, for AY 2017-18, the annual receipts of educational institutions exceeded the eligibility limit of Rs. 1 crore; the data of annual receipts and profit/surplus generated therefrom are as under:

Since the annual receipts exceeded the eligibility limit, the assessee ceased to be eligible for exemption u/s 10(23C)(iiiad) from AY 2017-18. Therefore, the assessee filed an application to CIT(Exemption), Bhopal [“CIT(E)”] for grant of approval for exemption u/s 10(23C)(vi). Such application was admittedly filed on 18.08.2017 i.e. well before 30.09.2017 being the due date by which the assessee was required to file return of income u/s 139(4C) read with section 139(1). The CIT(E) passed Order No. ITBA/EXM/S/EXM11/2018-19/1011025904(1) dated 10.08.2018 granting approval u/s 10(23C)(vi) from AY 2017-18 (Copy at Page 16-17 of Paper- Book). Based on such approval, the assessee became eligible for exemption u/s 10(23C)(vi) from AY 2017-18 under consideration.

3. While the application of assessee dated 18.08.2017 for approval u/s 10(23C)(vi) was pen