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TMI Blog1977 (5) TMI 48X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... came to Rs. 31,314. The collections were made from various parts of India and the persons who contributed were from different cross-sections of society and included Doctors, Cinema people common man. Deducting the expenditure of Rs. 1,314 the balance of Rs. 30,000 was presented to the assessee. 3. Before the ITO it was contended that this sum of Rs. 30,000 was not given for any particular service rendered by the assessee to the donors, but represented donations given in appreciation of the personal qualities of the assessee and the high esteem in which they held him in the music filed and so it was only an accidental windfall in the form of a gift out of personal regard for him. 4. The ITO did not accept the claim on the ground that the said amount was presented to the assessee in appreciation of his service to Carnatic music for 30 years and this was clearly a receipt, directly connected with his profession and the receipts were only in the course of the exercise of his profession. So the ITO brought to tax this amount of Rs. 30,000 as income from the assessee s profession. 5. The assessee took the matter on appeal before the AAC, Special Range, Madras. It was contended b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... amount was received by the assessee in the course of exercise of his profession and vocation and therefore the amount was rightly assessed by the ITO as income from profession or vocation. 8. The learned Departmental Representative in application contended before us: (i) that the assessee s vocation is music; (ii) that Smt. Rajalakshmi Santhanam, the Organizer of the Committee is the first disciple of the assessee and that the contributions were received because of the assessee s service to Carnatic music for 30 years; (iii) that the contributions were made by various donors not out of personal esteem to the assessee, but because of his meritorious service to Carnatic music; (iv) that the contributions were made to encourage the assessee to continue the vocation of music; (v) that the contributions were made only in appreciation of the assessee s service to carnatic music, and (vi) that the various VIPs who sent greetings to the organiser of the function had extolled the services rendered by the assessee to Carnatic music and so the motive of the donations was not the personal regard the donors had to be assessee. 9. Against this, the learned counsel for the assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rogramme of Music and television many a time. He had been a play-back musician not only for Telugu films but for Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil films as well. In 1960 he became the principal of the newly established Government College of Music and Dance at Vijayawada and served it for a period of three years." To aforesaid facts clearly show that music is the vocation of the assessee, but the question still survives whether the amount of Rs. 30,000 presented to him becomes taxable in his hands. 11. Fortunately for us we have a recent decision of the Madras High Court rendered on 2nd Nov., 1976 in S.A. Ramkrishnan vs. CIT, Madras (Tax Case No. 217/1972 decided on 2 Nov., 1976 (Mad), the ratio of which would help us in deciding the present issue. In the case before the Madras High Court one Shri Anantharama Dikshidar was an exponent of epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata and who had given performances and discourses all over India in that regard was presented with an amount of Rs. 19,700 on the occasion of his Sashtiabdapoorthi. He had claimed the entire amount as not taxable. The ITO considered that Rs. 6,700 represented presents and donations by way of personal esteem and exclude ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Rs. 30,000 (which came out of Rs. 31,314) given to the assessee was the remuneration paid in connection with past performances. Whenever performances were rendered in the past, the assessee was always specifically remunerated for the same. There is no material to suggest any direct nexus whatsoever between the receipt of this amount of Rs. 30,000 and any past performance or performances rendered by the assessee. In our view, the facts of the present case falls squarely within the ratio of the judgment of the Madras High Court referred to above and without stating anything more we can dismiss the appeal of the Department. 13. However, for the sake of completness we would also refer to some of the other cases which were noticed at some stage or the other in these proceedings. In the case of P. Krishna Menon vs. CIT Mysore (35 ITR 48 (SC) the Supreme Court had upheld the assessment including the income certain gifts made by one J.H. Levi, a disciple of Krishna Menon to him. The gifts were made at periodical intervals and during the material time Levi was a disciple of Krishna Menon. The Supreme Court held in that case that the amount was taxable because of the fact that the impar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... When a person gives money to another without any material return, he donates that sum. An act by which the owner of a thing voluntarily transfers the owner of a thing voluntarily transfers the title and possession of the same from him self to another, without any consideration, is a donation. The hope of spiritual benefit or political good-will, the spontaneous affection that benefication brings, the popularisation of a goods cause of the prestige that publicised bounty fetches, these and other myriad consequences or feelings may not mar a donation to make it a grant for quid pro quo. Wholly motiveless donation is rate, but material return alone negates a gift or donation." If the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in the aforesaid case are applied to the present case, we have to conclude that there is no material to show that the donors gave the amounts in question out of any motive other than the personal esteem and regard they had for the assessee built up by his creditable performances in the filed of music. The various donors expected on material return and for their giving the amounts there was no quid pro quo. 17. The Calcutta High Court in the case of David Mitch ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ave drawn, we would agree with the contention of the assessee that the donation which went to form the purpose were voluntary and made without any contractual obligation and further they were only made out of personal goodwill and because of esteem in which the assessee was held by the various persons for the in the process of exercising his profession the assessee commended admiration and applauses from the public and this created his own personal admirers and fans and a certain amount of general good-will, personality, hero-worship and personal halo was built up. It is said that many of the person who had contributed various amounts do not even know him personally. Mrs. Rajalakshmi Santhanam who was in charge of the function has stated in her affidavit as under: "This amount was contributed purely by friends and relatives and they have nothing to do with him as an artist or his profession. He never rendered any services to any one of them either singly or as a group. These amounts were not given to him for any services rendered. I have no hesitation in affirming that this amount was given to him in admiration of and as a token of our appreciation of his personal qualities and a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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