The income-tax department has announced that it has canceled six of the Tata Trusts registration — Jamsetji Tata Trust, RD Tata Trust, Tata Education Trust, Tata Social Welfare Trust, Sarvajanik Seva Trust, and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust.

The office of the principal commissioner of income tax Mumbai issued the order on October 31.

Tata Trusts said in a statement that: “The Trusts would like to clarify that this order of cancellation is a culmination of the decision taken by these six Trusts in 2015 to surrender, of their own volition, their registration under the Income Tax Act and do not claim the associated tax exemptions. The decision to surrender the registration (an option available in law) was taken in the best interests of the Trusts and to maximise the resources available to the Trusts for their charitable work which is the principal object and focus of the Trusts.”

“While the tax department’s order has canceled the Trusts’ registration with immediate effect, we believe that as a matter of law and consistent with the department’s own decision in the past, the cancellation should take effect from 2015, when the registrations were surrendered and the Trusts themselves consented to cancellation,” the statement added.

We are reviewing the order and will take the legal recourse accordingly, Tata Trusts said.

“The Trusts are examining the order and will take necessary next steps in accordance with the law. The Trusts have effective legal options to vindicate their grievances against the order both factually and legally,” said the statement from Tata Trusts.