Writ Petition No. 635 of 2026, High Court of Judicature at Bombay (Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction), decided 18 February 2026; Coram B. P. Colabawalla and Firdosh P. Pooniwalla, JJ. (order signed by Firdosh P. Pooniwalla, J.). Francis Xavier Church, a public charitable trust registered under Section 12A/12AB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 since 1980, challenged (i) the order dated 24.02.2025 of Respondent No. 1, Commissioner of Income-tax (Exemptions), Mumbai, rejecting under Section 119(2)(b) its application for condonation of delay in filing Form No. 10 for A.Y. 2015-16 (delay computed by Respondent No. 1 as 423 days; the trust contended 387 days), and (ii) the intimation dated 22.10.2016 under Section 143(1) issued by Respondent No. 3 (Centralised Processing Centre) denying exemption under Section 11(2) to the extent of Rs. 47,00,000/- and the consequential failure to grant exemption. Background: return for A.Y. 2015-16 filed 25.09.2015 and revised return 29.10.2015, both within time, declaring Nil income with Section 11(2) accumulation of Rs. 47,00,000/- disclosed in the Form No. 10B report; the trust contended Form No. 10 had been physically filed on 30.09.2015 but retained no copy; Form No. 10 was filed electronically on 21.11.2016; a rectification application of 20.12.2016 brought no relief; the condonation application was made on 07.10.2020. The court found the delay explained by oversight (impression that Form No. 10 had been physically filed) compounded by Covid-19, under which only Rs. 2,28,467/- of the accumulation could be utilised in A.Y. 2020-21, the balance Rs. 44,17,533/- having been offered to tax in the sixth year under Section 11(3), so that disallowance would mean double taxation; it held that Respondent No. 1 ought to have acted in a justice-oriented rather than pedantic manner, deriving support from CIT v. Nagpur Hotel Owners' Association, (2001) 247 ITR 201 (SC) (that order having held furnishing of Form No. 10 before completion of assessment to constitute sufficient compliance) and from recent Bombay High Court orders condoning similar Form No. 10 delays (Shree Jain Swetamber Murtipujak Tapagachha Sangh; KSB Care Charitable Trust, (2025) 178 taxmann.com 771 (Bom); People's Mobile Hospitals, W.P. No. 2697 of 2025; St. Anne's School, (2025) 180 taxmann.com 183 (Bom); and Columbia Global Centre in India, whose quoted text in turn invokes Mirae Asset Foundation, Sau Dwarkabai tai Karwa Charitable Trust, Kotak Family Foundation and the Gujarat High Court's Sarvodaya Charitable Trust). Holding: not condoning would cause genuine hardship, exemption having been denied and a demand of Rs. 14,07,930/- raised for belated filing. The court quashed and set aside the impugned order, condoned the delay of 423 days, and directed the Respondents to reprocess the return within eight weeks giving effect to the order on the basis that Form No. 10 was filed within time; Rule made absolute; no order as to costs.
