Skip to main content
Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law
Document Fragment View
Matching Fragments
"If we have a look at Section 2(15) of the Act which defines
"charitable purpose", it runs as under:-
2.(15) "charitable purpose" includes relief of the poor, education,
medical relief, [preservation of environment (including watersheds,
forests and wildlife) and preservation of monuments or places or
objects of artistic or historic interest,] and the advancement of any
other object of general public utility:
Provided that the advancement of any other object of general
public utility shall not be a charitable purpose, if it involves the
carrying on of any activity in the nature of trade, commerce or
business, or any activity of rendering any service in relation to any
trade, commerce or business, for a cess or fee or any other
consideration, irrespective of the nature of use or application, or
retention, of the income from such activity:]
[Provided further that the first proviso shall not apply if the
aggregate value of the receipts from the activities referred to
therein is [ten lakh rupees] or less in the previous year;]
ITA Nos.152-155 & 189/JODH/2015
C.O.Nos.14, 15,17/JODH/2015 and 07 & 04/JODH/2016
No doubt, it has been specifically provided in the first proviso that
advancement of any other object of general public utility shall not
be a charitable purpose if it involves any activity in the nature of
trade, commerce or business, or rendering any service in
connection with trade, for a cess or fee or any other consideration.
The third proviso excludes from the restraints imposed by first
proviso, where such receipts were less than Rs.10 lakhs. The
question here is whether sponsorship fee, which forms substantial
part of the amounts listed above, can be considered as receipt
from activity in the nature of trade, commerce and business. In our
opinion, advancement of traditional musical culture of Tamil Nadu
and conducting music programmes for that purpose, where such
music and dance programmes were sponsored by various persons
and sponsorship fee so received, distributed among the artists, can
never be considered as an activity in the nature of trade,
commerce or business. When a person sponsors a music
programme and sponsorship fee is paid to artist concerned, we
cannot say that sponsorship fee is a receipt in the hands of the
assessee which is in the nature of trade, commerce or business.
Similarly, conducting music coaching for the purpose of
advancement of various traditional music forms of State of Tamil
Nadu, which is an integral part of cultural life of people of Tamil
Nadu, cannot also be considered to be an activity in the nature of
trade, commerce and business. This can at the best be considered
as an educational pursuit. When there are colleges run for coaching
music, we cannot say that training imparted in music is not
education. In our opinion, the ld. DIT(E) took a very narrow view in
this regard and came to a conclusion that the sponsorship fee and
music coaching fee received by the assessee were from the activity
in the nature of trade, commerce or business. Assessee, in our
opinion, was not carrying on any activity in the nature of trade,
commerce or business but was carrying on its avowed object of
advancement of fine arts and traditional art forms, which cannot be
considered as a commercial or business activity. The nature of
receipts of the assessee, in our opinion, will not come within the
purview of first proviso to Section 2(15) of the Act except for sale
of tickets and the receipts from sale of tickets were well below a
sum of Rs.10 lakhs. We also note that the assessee has been
registered under Section 12AA of the Act and such registration is
still in vogue. In our opinion, assessee was eligible for renewal of
approval under Section 80G of the Act without doubt. Order of
DIT(E) is quashed and he is directed to grant the assessee renewal
of approval under Section 80G of the Act.