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Showing contexts for: charitable trust objects in Nazareth Hospital Society,, Allahabad vs Deputy Comm. Of I T(Exemption), Lucknow on 18 February, 2021Matching Fragments
14. In view of the judgment of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Mool Chand Khairati Ram Trust (supra), it is clear that the expression "such purposes" appearing in Section 11(1)(a) of the I.T. Act in the context of application of income refers of those charitable purposes for which the properties, from which the income is derived, are held under the trust i.e. income derived from the property held under trust can be applied only to the objects of the donor trust or such incidental objects which have close nexus with or, conducive to the fulfillment of main object of donor trust. Such income cannot be applied for getting exemption for a purpose, even though charitable, which is not object of the donor trust. Thus, every application of income will have to be examined on the touch stone of the object of the trust which intends seek to exemption on account of application of its income u/s 11(1)(a).
18. I am of the opinion that this case is also not going to help the appellant as it is not open to any Court to add any word or read something in statute on the basis of some supposed intendment of the statute. However, in the present case only the statute as appearing on the l.T. Act were properly appreciated. The provisions of Section 11(1)(a) clearly stipulate that only that income which has been applied for "such purposes" will not be included in total income of the trust which has been used for such purposes by the trust. The meaning of word "such purposes" has been clearly discussed in preceding paragraphs of this order to mean as purposes for which the donor trust has been established. The donation given by donor trust to donee trust can be considered as application of income of donor trust within the meaning of Section 11(1)(a) of the Act, only if the same are utilized by donee trust for fulfilling the charitable objects of donor trust. However, in the present case the donor trust i.e. the appellant whose objects are running maintaining hospital and nursing school Nazareth Hospital Society AY-2012-13 have made donation to another charitable trust namely M/s Roman Catholic Diocese Pvt. Ltd., whose objects are clearly different from the objects of the donor trust and who have admittedly utilized the donations not on running and maintaining any hospital but educational institutions maintained by it. Thus, this donation is clearly not utilized by donee trust for the purposes of objects of the donor trust and, accordingly, in the light of the provisions of the Income Tax Act and also in the light of the decision of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Mool Chand Khairati Ram Trust (supra), it is held that donation of Rs.72 lacs made by the M/s Nazareth Hospital Society has not been utilized for the purposes of appellant trust.
[(a) income derived from property held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purposes, to the extent to which such income is applied to such purposes in India; and, where any such income is accumulated or set apart for application to such purposes in India, to the extent to which the income so accumulated or set apart is not in excess of [fifteen] per cent of the income from such property; :
Thus, the provision of Section 11(1)(a) of the 1961 Act provides that (subject to provisions of Section 60 to 63 of the 1961 Act) income derived from property held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purposes shall not be included in the total income of the previous year or the person in receipt of the income, to the extent such income is applied to such purposes in India, and , where any such income is accumulated or set apart for application to such purposes in India , to the extent to which the income so accumulated or set apart is not in excess of fifteen percent of the income from such property. Thus, the AO while granting exemption u/s 11 of the 1961 Act has to make enquiry that income derived by assessee from property held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purposes is applied for 'such' purposes in India. Thus, the use of the word 'such' here necessarily has to be given restrictive meaning and refers to the purposes for which the trust or institution was established which is defined in its object clause, otherwise the law makers would have used the words that the income is applied for charitable or religious purposes instead of using the word 'such purposes' which , in our Nazareth Hospital Society AY-2012-13 considered view , shall relate back/refer to the income derived from property held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purposes , as the tax-payer will be granted exemption u/s 11(1)(a) of the 1961 Act of the income derived from property held under wholly for charitable or religious purposes and its utilization for such purposes in India, as per the language used in Section 11(1)(a) itself. The ld. CIT has already made enquiry/satisfaction as to genuineness of the activities of the trust and of its objects , before granting registration u/s 12AA of the 1961 Act. Thus, the utilization of voluntary contribution/donation received by trust/institution has to be for such purposes as are intra-vires to its object clause and it cannot be extended to cover each and every object which is charitable or religious in nature which otherwise is ultra-vires to its object clause. It is well established principle of interpretation that every word used by lawmakers in the statute has to be taken into effect while interpreting statute and no word used by lawmaker is surplus. Thus, the use of word 'such purposes' in Section 11(1)(a) of the 1961 Act, in our considered view, narrows the application of income derived from property held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purposes to the purposes as are intra-vires to its object clause and it cannot be stretched to cover each and every object which is charitable or religious in nature , but is otherwise not authorized by its object clause and are found to be ultra vires. Even , referring to provisions of Section 11(2) of the 1961 Act clearly stipulates that in case of voluntary contribution having not been applied to charitable or religious purposes in India during the previous year , but is accumulated or set apart , for application to such purposes in India. Thus, the accumulation of income is also given a restrictive meaning by qualifying to accumulation to such purposes in India , which shall again relate back to the object clause of the charitable entity and has to be intra-vires to its object clause. The provisions of Section 11(3) of the 1961 Act provides that in case of accumulation of income , if the same is applied to purposes other than charitable or religious purposes as aforesaid, then the same shall be deemed to be income of Nazareth Hospital Society AY-2012-13 the tax-payer in the year in which it is so applied. Thus, the charitable or religious purposes is qualified by use of words 'as aforesaid' to give it restrictive meaning to charitable or religious purposes as are provided in the object clause of the trust or institution . Similarly, provisions of Section 11(3A) of the 1961 Act provides that in case of accumulation of income , if due to circumstances beyond the control of person having received income, any income deposited or invested in accordance with 11(2)(b), cannot be applied or accumulated for the purposes for which it was accumulated or set apart, the AO , may on application , made to him in this behalf, allow such person to apply such income for such other charitable or religious purposes in India as is specified in application made by said person to AO and as in conformity with the objects of the trust. Thus even under provisions of Section 11(3A),the purposes of application has to be in conformity with the object clause of the trust or institution. The said sub-section 11(2), (3) and (3A)of the 1961 Act are reproduced below:
23. In Dawoodi Bohara Jamat (supra), the Supreme Court had referred to Section 11 of the Act and observed as under:--
". . . . . The income of a charitable or religious trust is exempt from taxation under the correlated provisions of sections 11, 12, 12A, 12AA and 13. Section 11 deals with income from trusts for charitable and religious purposes and sets out which income shall be exigible to taxation. Section 11(1) relates to application of income towards the objects of the trust and exempts income of trusts with objects wholly charitable or religious or parts of income which relate to such objects."