ARIJIT BANERJEE,J. - (1.) The scope of the challenge in this reference is limited to the object of the exercise undertaken by the department while canceling a registration granted or continuing under Section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
(2.) A particular donor of a sum of Rs.37 lakh in two tranches in February and March, 2013 apparently claimed that the donation given to the petitioner trust was bogus. Such claim was corroborated in course of the proceedings pertaining to the donor before the settlement commission. In other words, the donor claimed that the donor did not actually expend any money while obtaining a receipt for having donated a sum of Rs.37 lakh to the petitioner herein; but the donor took the amount back in cash.
(3.) Upon proceedings being initiated to cancel the registration of the petitioner trust and the cancellation of such registration, the petitioner complained to the tribunal. The primary ground canvassed was that the procedure adopted by the department was contrary to the principles of natural justice. The tribunal remanded the matter for a fresh consideration upon affording the petitioner trust a right to cross-examine the representatives of the donor who had alleged that the donation was bogus or fictitious. It is evident that there are several matters in which the same procedure had been adopted by the department and, quite routinely, the tribunal has been remanding the matters for the assessees to be given opportunities to question or cross-examine the persons who alleged that the donations claimed to have been received by the assessees were bogus.;