Mumbai ITAT Rules: Absence of Original Section 12A Certificate No Ground to Deny Section 12AB Registration Renewal

Overview of the Case

In a significant ruling, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, decided in favour of Shree Ghughari Dasha Disawal Sahaj Trust, holding that the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) was not justified in rejecting the trust's application for renewal of registration under Section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961, merely on the ground that the original registration certificate issued under Section 12A nearly three decades ago could not be physically produced.

The impugned order dated 22.02.2026 passed by the learned CIT(Exemption), Mumbai, was set aside, and the matter was remanded for fresh consideration after proper verification of departmental records.

Background and Facts of the Case

Shree Ghughari Dasha Disawal Sahaj Trust had applied in Form No. 10AB seeking continuation or renewal of its registration under Section 12AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961. This was part of the mandatory re-registration exercise introduced by the Finance Act, 2020, which required all existing registered charitable institutions to migrate to the new registration framework under Section 12AB.

Key Background Facts

  • The Trust claimed that it had originally been granted registration under Section 12A vide Certificate No. TR/32193 dated 19.09.1996.
  • The said registration had never been cancelled, withdrawn, or declared invalid at any point in time.
  • For several decades following the original grant of registration, the Trust had been consistently assessed as a charitable institution, with exemption under Section 11 being allowed by the Income Tax Department on a regular basis.
  • Crucially, the Department itself had already granted registration under Section 12AB to the Trust in Form No. 10AC dated 24.09.2021, acknowledging its status as a registered charitable entity under the new regime.
  • The original 1996 certificate, being over twenty-five years old, was inadvertently misplaced. The Trust had also made a formal request to the Department for issuance of a duplicate certificate, which was not acted upon.

Despite all of the above, the CIT(Exemption) rejected the Trust's application solely because the physical copy of the original Section 12A registration certificate could not be placed on record.

Can registration under Section 12AB be denied to a charitable trust solely because the original Section 12A registration certificate issued several decades ago is no longer traceable, when the registration itself was never cancelled and the Department had already recognised the trust under the new regime?

This was the central issue before the Mumbai ITAT.

Arguments and Analysis by the Tribunal

1. Nature of the Rejection Order