IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL LUCKNOW BENCH ‘A’, LUCKNOW BEFORE SHRI SUDHANSHU SRIVASTAVA, JUDICIAL MEMBER AND SHRI NIKHIL CHOUDHARY, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER ITA No.26/LKW/2021 Assessment Year: NA Hind Charitable Trust Vs. PCIT(Central) Lucknow Block B, Church Road, Indira Uttar Pradesh-226010.

Nagar, Lucknow-226016. TAN/PAN:AAATH5498M (Appellant) (Respondent)

Appellant by : Shri G. C. Srivastava, Advocate Shri Kalrav Mehrotra, Advocate Shri P. K. Tandon, C.A.

Respondent by : Shri R. K. Agarwal,CIT (DR)

ORDER

PER SUDHANSHU SRIVASTAVA, J.M.:

This appeal has been preferred by the assessee against the order dated 19.02.2021 passed by the Ld. Principal Commissioner of Income Tax (Central) [hereinafter called the ‘PCIT(C)’], Lucknow, wherein, vide the impugned order, the ld. PCIT(C) has exercised jurisdiction under Section 12AA (3) and Section 12AA (4) of the Income Tax Act, 1961(hereinafter called ‘the Act’) to cancel the registration previously granted to the Assessee under Section 12A of the Act. A critical facet of this cancellation is its retrospective application, whereby the registration has been revoked with effect from 01.04.2007.

2.0 The brief facts of the case are that the Assessee Trust was originally granted registration under Section 12A of the Act vide the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax-I, Lucknow, dated 28.07.2006, effective from 01.04.2005. The Trust was established with charitable objectives and it operates the Hind Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS), which conducts MBBS and paramedical courses, and the Hind Hospital, a teaching hospital providing medical treatment to patients.

2.1 A search and seizure operation was conducted under Section 132 of the Act on 31.07.2013, at the registered office of the Trust and the premises of its trustees, Dr. A.K. Sachan and Dr. Richa Mishra. During this search, physical cash, loose papers, and digital evidence in the form of hard disks were seized.

2.2 Based on this search, the Assessing Officer (AO) originally framed the assessment orders for Assessment Years (AYs) 2008- 09 through 2014-15 on 31.03.2016, making substantial additions on the grounds of alleged unrecorded capitation fees, inflated In-Patient Department (IPD) receipts, and violations of Section 13(1)(c) of the Act. Later, these original assessment orders were relied upon to form the basis and the satisfaction recorded by the Ld PCIT(C) in the impugned order to conclude that the activities of the Trust were not genuine. The Ld. PCIT (C) issued a show cause notice on 28.02.2018 requiring the assessee to show cause as to why the registration granted to the Trust u/s 12A of the Act should not be cancelled in view of the various findings recorded by the AO in the assessment orders.

2.3 The assessee filed a Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India before the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court against the issuance of the above said show cause notice issued by the Ld. PCIT (C) but the said Writ Petition was dismissed by the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court vide order dated 11/04/2018 by declining to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 but left it open for the assessee to raise all the relevant pleas before the concerned authority.

2.4 Meanwhile, the Assessee challenged the original assessment orders before the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), who confirmed the additions in November 2019.

2.5 The Ld. PCIT (C) duly took note of the dismissal of assessee’s appeals by the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and, thereafter, vide order dated 19/01/2021 proceeded to pass the impugned order u/s 12AA (3) of the Act thereby cancelling the registration granted to the assessee u/s 12A of the Act w.e.f. 01/04/2007 i.e. with retrospective effect. The assessee is in appeal before us against this retrospective cancellation of registration and the following grounds have been raised by the assessee in its grounds of appeal: “1.The Ld. Principal Commissioner of Income-tax (Central), Lucknow, erred in