9911796707
TMI Blog2001 (5) TMI 24X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... said trust was formed for the benefit of the trustees and employees of the Birla group of companies. In spite of the said appellate order which was binding on the Wealth-tax Officer who was also acting as the Income-tax Officer, he issued a notice under section 17 of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, on the ground that wealth-tax was leviable on the trust property since exemption under section 5(1)(i) meant for public charitable trusts was not available because of the user of the trust property by the trustees thereby attracting the provisions of section 21A(i). Such notice was issued on March 25, 1978. On May 15, 1980, an order was passed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal upholding the order dated December 1, 1976, of the Appellate Assis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hargeable to tax for the assessment year 1973-74 had escaped assessment and he proposed to assess the same. The case of the petitioners is that the said trust is a public charitable trust and it is exempted under the provision of section 5(1)(i) of the 1957 Act and there was no application on the part of the said wealth-tax return and further there has been no escapement of any wealth chargeable to tax. Affidavits have been filed in this writ application. It has been alleged ill the affidavit-in-opposition that the exemption under section 5(1)(i) is not available to the petitioners in view of the provisions of section 21A(1) of the said 1957 Act. The basis of the said reason is that the materials received in the course of the income-ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5(1)(i) of the 1957 Act. The question therefore whether the trust is entitled to get an exemption under section 11 of the 1961 Act arose in the assessment years 1972-73 and 1973-74. In the course of the said assessment proceedings, it appears that the settlers / trustees used the trust property against payment to show charges as were payable by any other member of the public was duly disclosed before the Income-tax Officer and the Income-tax Officer took the view that the trust was formed for the benefit of the trustees and for the benefit of the Birla group of companies. On appeal, the said findings of the Income-tax Officer for the assessment years 1972-73 and 1973-74 were negatived by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Income- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he trust was entitled to get an exemption under section It of the 1961 Act for the assessment year 1974-75 and further on July 17, 1981, the Tribunal, following its order for the earlier years held that the trust was a public charitable trust and is entitled to get an exemption under section 11 of the 1961 Act, and further held that the use of the trust property by the settlers / trustees against the payment of the usual charges as were payable by the other members of the public did not disentitle it from the exemption. Therefore, Mr. Khaitan submitted that it cannot be contended by the Revenue that the trust property is not exempted under section 5(1)(i) of the 1957 Act. He further contended that the income-tax proceedings for the assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... anthi Trust v. WTO [1989] 178 ITR 1 (Mad). After hearing the submissions made on behalf of the petitioners, I do not have any hesitation in respect of the contention of Mr. Khaitan inasmuch as the order passed by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner concerning the said period held that the said trust is entitled to get benefit under the provisions of section 5(1)(i) of the 1957 Act and further there was no obligation to file any wealth-tax return. It further appears from the orders passed in the matter by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and further by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal for the assessment years 1972-73 and 1973-74 whereby the order passed by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was upheld and subsequent thereto the or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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