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TMI Blog2017 (8) TMI 931X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ous purposes. The relevant parts of Section 11 read as follows:- 1. (1) Subject to the provisions of sections 60 to 63, the following income shall not be included in the total income of the previous year of the person in receipt of the income (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; ....... ....... (4) For the purposes of this section "property held under trust" includes a business undertaking so held, and where a claim is made that the income of any such undertaking shall not be included in the total income of the persons in receipt thereof, the Assessing Officer shall have power to determine the income of such undertaking in accordance with the provisions of this Act relating to assessment; and where any income so determined is in excess of the income as shown in the accounts of the undertaking, such excess shall be deemed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he advancement of any other object of general public utility. The clause has been modified over the years such that in its present form, it includes within its ambit yoga and the preservation of environment, monuments or places or objects of artistic or historic interest. The object of Section 11 is thus laudable and seeks to extend a benefit to entities engaging in activity of a specified nature. In the present batch of appeals there is no dispute in this regard. 6. We have heard Mr.J.Narayanaswamy appearing on behalf of the Revenue and several counsels appearing on behalf of the assesses and set out in brief the submissions advanced. 7. Mr. J.Narayanaswamy would contend that the provisions of section 32 granting depreciation have not been made specifically applicable to section 11. According to him, the provisions of Section 11 extend a benefit to an assessee by way of exemption and granting depreciation in addition would amount to a double benefit that has to be specifically conferred. He would rely on the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Escorts Limited and another Vs. Union of India and others (SC) (1999 ITR 43) which deals with the grant of depreciation to an as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with the original cost of the asset despite its user for scientific research and the allowances made under the 'scientific research' clause. In our view, there was no difficulty at all in the interpretation of the provisions. The mere fact that a baseless claim was raised by some over-enthusiastic assessees who sought a double allowance or that such claim may perhaps have been accepted by some authorities is not sufficient to attribute any ambiguity or doubt as to the true scope of the provisions as they stood earlier." 10. Reliance was placed by Mr. Narayanaswamy on paragraph 7 of the judgment that reads as follows:- "I find it difficult to agree with the reasoning of the assessees. Acceding to it would amount to placing an unreasonable interpretation upon the relevant provisions and to negating the intention of Parliament. I find it difficult to agree that the Indian Legislature - as also the Parliament made a conscious departure from the English Amendment with the idea of providing an additional benefit to induce the Indian assessees to invest more in scientific research. I find the argument rather convoluted. If the intention of the Legislature/Parliament was to provi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ilable with the assessee, which goes outside the books of accounts of the Trust unless it is written back which is not done. ......... ........... " We have no doubt in our mind that business income of charitable trust also has to be computed in the same manner as provided u/s 29 of the Income Tax Act. However, the issue that requires consideration is when the expenditure incurred for acquisition of depreciable assets itself is treated as application of income for charitable purposes u/s 11(1)(a) of the Act, should not the cost of such assets to be treated as nil for the assessee and in that situation depreciation to be granted turns out to be nil. However, if depreciation provided is claimed on notional cost after the assessee claims 100% of the cost incurred for it as application of income for charitable purposes, the depreciation so claimed has to be written back as income available. In fact, going by the several decisions of the various High Courts, we are sure that based on these decisions all the charitable institutions will be generating unaccounted income equal to the depreciation amount claimed on an year to year basis which is nothing but black money. This aspect is n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... decision of the Kerala High Court. 16. Mr. R. Kumar, appearing for the assessee/respondent in TCA.No.993 of 2015 would point out that the orders of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in the same assessee's case for the previous years on the identical issue, had considered the judgment of the Supreme Court in Escorts and had distinguished the same. The aforesaid orders of the Tribunal dated 25.03.2011 have attained finality. Thus, while adopting the arguments of other counsels, he would add that the principle of consistency stood violated in his case. 17. Mr.N.V.Balaji, would address us specifically on Accounting Standard 6 dealing with Depreciation Accounting issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and made mandatory on or after 1.4.1995 in the following terms: "The reference to commercial, industrial or business enterprises in the aforesaid paragraph is in the context of the nature of activities carried on by the enterprise rather than with reference to its objects. It is quite possible that an enterprise has charitable objects but it carries on, either wholly or in part, activities of a commercial, industrial or business nature in furtherance of its objec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reciation would ensure setting aside out of the revenue of an accounting period, the estimated amount by which the capital investment has expired during that period. This provision, incurred for the use of that asset for the purpose of earned profit should be charged against those profits as and when earned. Spicer, and Pegler, at page 45, states as follows:- "If depreciation is not provided for, the books will not contain a true record of revenue or capital. If the asset were hired instead of purchased, the hiring fee would be charged against the profits; having been purchased, the asset is, in effect, then hired by capital to revenue, and the true profit cannot be ascertained until an analogous charge for the use of the asset has been made. Moreover, unless provision is made for depreciation, the Balance Sheet will not present a true and fair view of the state of affairs, since the assets will be shown at an amount which is in excess of the true amount of the unexpired expenditure incurred on their acquisition." 22. The claim of depreciation is thus part of standard accounting practice which is required for fair presentation of a company's financials. The computation of inc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gh Court in CIT Vs. Sheth Manilal rachhnoddas Vishram Bhavan Trust 198 ITR 598; Punjab and Haryana High court in CIT Vs. Market Committee Pipli (330 ITR 16) and CIT Vs. Tiny Tots Education Society (330 ITR 21); Madhyapradesh High Court in CIT Vs. Devi Sakuntala Tharal Charitable Foundation (358 ITR 452) and the Calcutta High Court in CIT Vs. Silluguri Regulated Market Committee (366 ITR 51). In addition, the Delhi High Court in DIT Vs. Vishwa Jagriti Mission 262 CTR 558 and the Karnnataka High Court in DIT (Exem) Vs Al-Ameen Charitable Fund Trust (2016) 67 taxmann.com 160 have accepted the claim of the assessee distinguishing both the judgment of the Supreme Court in Escorts as well as that of the Kerala High Court. 27. In view of the discussion above, the question of law is answered in favour of the assessee and against the revenue. TCA.No.949 of 2015 28. T.C.A.No.949 of 2015 has been filed by the assessee raising the following two substantial questions of law. "1. Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in disallowing the claim of depreciation on assets acquired by way of application of funds in the earlier years, contrary to judgments of se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n or any wrong statement therein, he may furnish a revised return at any time before the expiry of one year form the end of the relevant assessment year or before the completion of the assessment, whichever is earlier." 32. The import of the above amendment is that a return may be revised both in cases of original returns filed under sub section (1) or under sub section (4) within the extended period of one year from the end of the relevant assessment year or before completion of assessment, whichever is earlier. The amendment is intended to confer a benefit on an assessee and the retrospective application thereof has to be examined by the assessing authority. We remand this issue to the file of the assessing authority for the limited purpose of examining the applicability of the amendment extracted above. If the amendment is found applicable to the assessee, the rationale of the decision of this Court in Matriseva (supra) shall be applied on merits. 33. Adverting to question No.1, the Tribunal has, in denying the benefit of depreciation to the assessee, applied the provisions of sub section 6 of section 11 reading as follows; "(6) In this section where any income is required to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e a person voluntarily opts for the special dispensation it should be governed by these specific provisions and should not be allowed flexibility of being governed by other general provisions or specific provisions at will. Allowing such flexibility has undesirable effects on the objects of the regulations and leads to litigation. . .. 7.6 Applicability. These amendments take effect from 1st April, 2015 and will, accordingly, apply in relation to the assessment year 2015-2016 and subsequent assessment years. 35. Para 7.6 of the Circular states that the amendment would apply to assessment year 2015-16 and subsequent assessment years. Reliance was placed on the judgment of the Supreme Court in CIT Vs. Alom Extrusions Ltd (2009) and CIT vs Vatika Township (367 ITR 466) for the proposition that an amendment that increases the liability of an assessee is liable to be applied only prospectively. Mr. Narayanaswamy would object stating that the amendment had been inserted to a correct an existing anomaly and thus was clearly clarificatory, and consequently retrospective in operation. 36. We do not agree with the Revenue. The amendment, inserted specifically with effect f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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