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TMI Blog1988 (2) TMI 120X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tee of Lord Sri Venkateswara started a temple and feeding of pilgrims in Appanapalli. Since the temple attracted large number of pilgrims, a Hundi was set up for accepting the offerings made. Out of these collections, the appellant used to feed the pilgrims, distributes sarees and present gold Mangalsutras to the needy brides. In this process he ultimately acquired assets worth Rs. 25 lakhs (approx.). After enquiries were got made by the Income-tax Officer through his Inspector which disclosed that the hundi collections went as high as Rs. 5 to 20 lakhs per annum, he estimated the expenditure on establishment at the rate of Rs. 70,000 per month. 4. Stopping here and switching on to the other facet of the case, it may be stated that the Endowment Department of the Andhra Pradesh Government appeared on the scene during 1981 by invoking the provisions of the A.P. Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act 17 of 1981 (hereinafter referred to as the A.P. Endowments Act) by appointing an Executive Officer and directing him to take charge of records, accounts, movable and immovable properties from the executive authorities of the temple and report to the Commissioner, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), Visakhapatnam who vide order dated 31-12-1986, impugned before us, reduced the net income of the appellant to Rs. 1 lakh, thus providing him with a relief of Rs. 60,000. It seems useful to extract a passage from the order of the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) which is the basis for the acceptance in part of the first appeal before him : "During the course of hearing of the appeal, the A.R. contended that entire collections both cash and kind received to the share of the appellant were spent away for the benefit of the people at large by constructing choultries, school buildings and for providing medical facilities, etc., and the appellant is leading the life as an ascetic renouncing all wordly pleasures. It is also stated that the appellant maintained strict day to day account from 22-3-1982 onwards as per directions of the High Court and the accounts relevant to the asst. year 1983-84 were subjected to audit by a Chartered Accountant. Further the appellant is under bona fide belief that the contributions received voluntarily from the public and being applied for religious and charitable purposes are not taxable and hence the appell ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t it was a case of Trust as was also evident from the High Court directions ; that it was a typical case wherein right from the stage of notice under section 139 till up to the completion of the assessment and demand notice all communications from the Income-tax Officer were refused by the appellant which had to be served only by affixation ; that it has all along been the appellant's case that he was the owner of the temple and its belongings and that is why the High Court of A.P. directed 50 per cent of hundi collections to be retained by him and that the assessee was also served with a notice under section 144 on 10-3-1983 by affixation three days later whereby the Income-tax Officer specifically notified the proposed assessment at Rs. 1,60,000 which too was not responded back. Sharply objecting to the prayer for remand of the case, the learned Departmental Representative contended that it would be rather uncharitable to the Income-tax Officer to do so who did his level best to solicit the assessee's participation in the assessment in which he did not succeed due to intentional non-co-operation from the assessee. 9. We have given our utmost consideration to the controversy in h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Income-tax Officer only on 31-3-1986, the learned departmental representative appears to be wholly justified in taking exception, inter alia, on the ground that the assessment had already been completed on 27-3-1986 ; that the Income-tax Officer was under a statutory obligation to have completed the assessment on or before 31-3-1986 ; thirdly, that if the assessee had any real intention to the consideration of the auditor's report by the Income-tax Officer which had taken birth as early as during October 1984 (exact date not given), duty bound as he was, he ought to have placed it before the authorities in time ; and lastly, that even when the Income-tax Officer had not granted audience to Mr. Subba Rao, the so-called accountant of the appellant, nothing prevented the filing of the auditor's report at the receipt counter on 27-3-1986. Not alone this, the learned departmental representative also seems to carry force in pressing that even on merits, the auditor's report does not improve upon the situation as it lacks the usual certification to the correctness of the expenditure claimed to have been incurred by the appellant. 13. Learned counsel for the assessee also placed reliance ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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