Income Tax Appellate Tribunal - Chennai
Arulmigu Sri Kamatchi Amman Trust, ... vs Assessee on 11 November, 2010
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
CHENNAI BENCH 'B' : CHENNAI
[BEFORE DR. O.K. NARAYANAN, VICE-PRESIDENT AND
SHRI HARI OM MARATHA, JUDICIAL MEMBER]
I.T.A No. 110/Mds/2011
Assessment year : N.A
Arulmigu Sri Kamatchi vs The Income-tax Officer
Amman Trust Ward I(1)
498/43, Kalaiyappa Nagar Karaikudi
Kalanivasal
Karaikudi 630 002
[PAN - AACTA0227D ]
(Appellant) (Respondent)
Appellant by : Shri G. Baskar
Respondent by : Shri P.B.Sekaran, CIT
ORDER
PER HARI OM MARATHA, JUDICIAL MEMBER:
This appeal of the assessee-trust is directed against the order of the ld. CIT-I, Madurai, dated 11.11.2010, vide which he has rejected the application filed for registration u/s 12AA of the Act.
2. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that only because one of the objects of the assessee-trust is religious activity in addition to charitable activities, the ld. CIT doubted the genuineness of the trust. He also found that the trust was not carrying out charitable activities in terms of the trust deed as it could not establish the documentary :- 2 -: ITA 110/11 evidence. Therefore, the ld. CIT refused to grant registration u/s 12AA to the assessee-trust. The trust is in appeal before us by raising following grounds:
"1. The order of the Commissioner of Income-tax is wrong, illegal and opposed to facts and circumstances of the case.
2. The Commissioner of Income-tax went wrong in his interpretation of the provisions of section 2(15) of the Income-tax Act. He erred in proceeding to dispose of the application with pre-conceived notions.
3. The Commissioner of Income-tax erred in observing that the donation receipts and list of donors were not produced when it is neither required to be enquired into at the stage of grant of registration nor was there any direction to produce them. He failed to note that all details called for were produced.
4. The Commissioner of Income-tax was not justified in ignoring the assurance of Finance Minister in the parliament, which is binding on him as held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in R&B Falcon(A) Pty. Ltd. vs CIT, 301 ITR 309(SC) and was also not justified in ignoring the Board Circular No.11 of 2008 dated 19th December 2008, when both the objects and activities were clearly consistent with the explanation of law in the Board Circular which was binding on him under section 119 of the Act.
5. In any event the conclusion of the Commissioner of Income-tax is hyper technical and superfluous.
6. The application is liable to be allowed and registration u/s 12A granted."
3. The ld. CIT found that the objects of the trust are basically charitable but it also has the object to carry out religious activities. There is no longer a provision having admixture of both religious and charitable objects. In this regard, decisions of Hon'ble Supreme Court :- 3 -: ITA 110/11 rendered in the case of CIT vs Upper Ganges Sugarmills Ltd, 227 ITR 578, and that of State of Kerala vs M.P.Shantiverma Jain, 231 ITR 787, are relevant.
4. As per the requirement of the law as on today, the trust can have both kinds of objects i.e charitable as well as religious, to get registration u/s 12AA of the Act. Therefore, we find it a fit case for allowing registration u/s 12AA. We direct the ld. CIT to grant registration u/s 12AA of the Act to the assessee-trust.
5. In the result, the appeal stands allowed.
Order pronounced in the open court on 13.6.2011.
Sd/- Sd/-
(DR. O.K. NARAYANAN) (HARI OM MARATHA)
VICE-PRESIDENT JUDICIAL MEMBER
Dated: 13th June, 2011
RD
Copy to:
1. Appellant
2. Respondent
3. CIT(A)
4. CIT
5. DR