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TMI Blog2015 (8) TMI 1083X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . Act. - Decided in favour of assessee. - ITA No.1489/PN/2013 - - - Dated:- 17-8-2015 - SHRI R.K. PANDA AND SHRI VIKAS AWASTHY, JJ. For The Appellant : Smt. Deepa Khare and Shri D.Y. Pandit For The Department : Shri A.K. Modi ORDER PER R.K. PANDA, AM : This appeal filed by the assessee is directed against the order dated 10-05-2013 of the CIT-I, Pune rejecting the request for grant of approval u/s.80G of the Income-Tax Act, 1961. 2. Facts of the case, in brief, are that the assessee trust vide an application in Form No.10G requested for grant of approval u/s.80G of the I. T. Act. The assessee trust had been registered under the Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950 vide an order dated 28-10-1952 and also registered u/s.12A of the I. T. Act vide certificate of registration issued by the CIT-II, Pune on 27-09-2009. It may be pertinent to mention that the assessee trust had never applied for approval u/s.80G prior to making the said application. 3. The Ld. CIT after receiving the application in Form No.10G asked the assessee to explain as to why its request for approval u/s.80G should not be rejected since its objects as well as activities are predominantly r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o the Brahmins should be excluded. I am afraid, the plea thus raised by the applicant is devoid of merit. It cannot be gainsaid that honorarium is paid to the Brahmins for performing the Poojas and other related activities. In the circumstances, the honorarium thus paid cannot be disassociated from the corresponding activities; hence would partake of the colour of the religious. For the same reason, and as the religious expenses in all three years far exceed 5% of the total receipts of each year, there is clear contravention of the provisions of subsection (5B) of section 80G. As a result, the applicant Trust is not entitled to the benefit of approval u/s.80G of the Income-tax Act, 1961. It may be pertinent to mention here that while in its reply the applicant has taken into consideration only the Pooja expenses, the other expenses shown as incurred on the objects of the Trust would also have to be considered as religious expenses for the purpose of sub-section (5B) of section 80G inasmuch as the activities of the applicant trust during the years under consideration have been exclusively religious only. 5. Reference has been already made to the applicant's reliance on the de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... where the aim and object of the assessee society was to train professionals in the field of medical and health care in the spirit of Jesus Christ and to provide medical facilities in their hospitals to all persons of any caste, creed, race, religion etc. In her alternate contention, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee referred to page 10 of the paper book which was addressed to the ITO, Technical vide letter dated 23-03-2013 and drew the attention of the Bench to the following chart of actual pooja expenses for last 3 years : Sr.No. Asst. Year Total Receipts Pooja Expenses Less Honorarium paid to Brahmins Actual pooja expenses 5% of the total receipts 1 2012-13 1035551 54688 15325 39363 51778 2 2011-12 854469 54145 13900 40245 42723 3 2010-11 907408 52079 14165 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . We find some merit in the arguments advanced by the Ld. Counsel for the assessee. Nowhere it has been brought out by the Ld. CIT that the assessee does propagate any particular religion and it is meant only for a particular religious community. The submission of the Ld. Counsel for the assessee that the appellant trust does not pertain to any particular sect and the temple is open for everyone irrespective of religion, caste, creed or sect could not be controverted by the Ld. Departmental Representative. Further, the Ld. CIT has also given a finding that the trust deed has a few charitable objects also. When the main source of the income of the assessee trust is pooja and utsavs and the income is used for maintenance of the temple building, the salary paid to the Brahmins, in our opinion, should not be considered as part of pooja expenses under the facts and circumstances of the case. Therefore, if the same is excluded from the pooja expenses, the total expenditure on pooja/religious activities will not exceed 5% of the total receipts of the assessee trust as per the chart at para 8 of this order. Further, it is also to be noted that the temple is owned by the Government of Mahar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... religion and different sects following Hindu philosophy do visit temples of the Lord Vishnu, be they Jains, Sikhs, Brahmins, etc. There is no watertight compartment between different castes or sects following one particular religion. Right to freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Constitution under article 25. Therefore, the Revenue could not take such a pedantic and narrow approach that the character of the charitable trust was lost if one particular expenditure was made for repair and renovation of Lord Vishnu's temple and that too by way of contribution to another trust. Therefore, the order of the Commissioner was set aside and the petitioner-trust shall be deemed to be registered under section 80G throughout the period after April I, 2004, with all consequential benefits. 15. Since in the instant case the objects of the trust are not entirely religious and since some of the objects are charitable in nature, a finding given by the Ld. CIT himself and since the temple is open to everybody irrespective of caste, creed, sect, colour etc. and since there is no restriction of entry of any particular community and since it has been held that if the Honorarium paid to the B ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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