2011 (9) TMI 1064 - HC - Income Tax

Receipts towards advertisement in souvenir - disallowance of claim of depreciation - No substantial question of law involved -

Summary

Issues:
1. Whether the deletion of addition made on account of receipts towards advertisement in souvenir is justified.
2. Whether the deletion of disallowance of claim of depreciation is justified.

Analysis:
1. The respondent, a charitable Trust running educational institutions, received voluntary contributions in the form of advertisements in a souvenir. The Revenue contended that since the donations lacked specific directions to be part of the Trust's corpus, they should not be tax exempt. Both the C.I.T. (Appeals) and the Tribunal supported the Assessing Officer's view. The Revenue appealed against this decision, questioning the deletion of the addition of Rs. 53,71,154 made on account of the advertisement receipts. The Court noted that a similar appeal by the Revenue was rejected earlier, and as the issue was identical, it did not require further consideration.

2. The second question raised pertained to the claim of depreciation by the assessee, which was disallowed by the Assessing Officer. The matter reached the Tribunal, which ruled in favor of the assessee, citing a decision by a Division Bench of the Court in another case. The Court observed that the issue was squarely covered by previous decisions of the Court and other High Courts. Referring to various judgments, including those by the Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Madras High Courts, the Court emphasized the necessity of allowing depreciation for charitable institutions to maintain correct accounts. It held that depreciation must be deducted to determine the income available for charitable purposes. As the issue was identical to previous cases, the Court did not delve into it further.

In conclusion, the Court dismissed all Tax Appeals as the facts and questions raised were similar across all cases.