IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI “B” BENCH: NEW DELHI BEFORE SHRI SATBEER SINGH GODARA, JUDICIAL MEMBER &

SHRI MANISH AGARWAL, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER [Assessment Year : NIL]

Gyan Devi Memorial Cultural & vs CIT(Exemption), Educational Society, New delhi-110002.

F-26, Bali Nagar, Delhi-110015 PAN-AAATE8521G APPELLANT RESPONDENT Appellant by Shri Nishant Gupta, CA Respondent by Ms.Monika Singh, CIT DR Date of Hearing 17.07.2025 Date of Pronouncement 15.10.2025 ORDER PER MANISH AGARWAL, AM :

The present appeal is filed by the assessee against the order dated 30.01.2020 passed by Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), New Delhi [“Ld. CIT(E)”] u/s 12AA(1)(b) r.w.s. 12A and order u/s 80G(5)(vi) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [“the Act”] rejecting the registration application for grant of registration u/s 12A of the Act.

2. Brief facts of the case are that assessee is a society engaged in the running of school in the name of “Adarsh Public School” at Dayal Sar Road, Uttam Nagar, Delhi. The assessee has filed applications online on 17.07.2019 in Form 10A & 10G for seeking registration u/s 12AA and exemption u/s 80G of the Act.

3. Ld.CIT(E) by observing that the assessee has paid rent to its President in last year though, no rent was paid prior to that and further observed that fire safety certificate was issued for only Ground +1 floor whereas school is running in Ground + 3 floor therefore, the genuineness of the trust is not established and thus the application for registration u/s 12A was rejected.

4. Against the said order, the assessee preferred appeal before Tribunal by taking various grounds of appeal in Form No. 36.

5. During the course of hearing, Ld.AR was directed to file precise grounds of appeal therefore, the assessee has filed revised grounds of appeal which read as under:-

Ground No.1 “That the Ld. CIT (Exemption) failed to appreciate that the Appellant Trust is primarily engaged in providing Primary education to the poor and needy children of the society as defined in the 'Charitable Activities' section 2(15) of the Act. Hence, the Ld. CIT(E) erred in facts and on law in treating the activities of the trust as non-genuine because (i) the rent was paid by the Appellant since last one year however the school was running for the last 4-5 years and that the rent was being paid to the president of the society and the society has not been able to justify the same w.r.t. prevailing rent and that (ii) the previous Fire Safety Certificate was valid up to 04.05.2019 and the same was not renewed as on date of filing of application and that Fire safety certificate was available only for Ground + 1 floor, and the school was being operated from the ground + 3 floors, which is neither the requirement of the Act, nor changes the charitable nature of the Appellant Trust. Therefore, on the facts and circumstances of the case, the order passed by the learned CIT (Exemption) rejecting the application for registration furnished by the assessee under section 12A(a) of the Act, is bad both in the eye of law and on facts: -

Ground No.2 The appellant craves leave to add, amend, alter, delete, rescind, forego or withdraw any or all the grounds of appeal at any time before or during the course of hearing.”

6. Ground of appeal Nos. 1 (i) and 1(ii) raised by the assessee, are with respect to the rejection of the registration u/s 12A of the Act therefore, they are taken together for consideration.

7. Before us, ld.AR submits that the assessee is a charitable society established on 22.01.2003 and registered under the Society Registration Act, 1860. The assessee is dedicated to provide quality primary education to the needy and poor children of society at nominal fees. It is further submitted that the assessee is running primary school in the name of the “Adarsh Public School” upto class 5 which is duly approved by Department of Education, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and affiliated to CBSE. The assessee filed an application seeking registration u/s 12