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TMI Blog1992 (6) TMI 7X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the apportionment made by the Income-tax Officer was not incorrect and the deduction permitted by the Income-tax Officer was not inadequate are based on no material and/or are perverse?" The facts, briefly stated, as appear from the statement of case are that the Income-tax Officer made certain disallowances out of the claims of the assessee in the assessment year 1982-83 on account of motor car upkeep, trustees' allowance and horses and cartage expenses, etc. They are as follows : Amount Amount claimed disallowed Rs. Rs. (i) Motor car upkeep 28,069.12 17,451.00 (ii) Trustees' allowance 42,000.00 33,600.00 (iii) Horses and cartage expenses 9,315.04 4,658.00 The assessee, being aggrieved by the order of the Income-tax Officer for making the above-mentioned disallowances out of his claim, preferred an appeal before the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals). The Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) followed the judgment in the case of CIT V. Sri Jagannath Jew [1977] 107 ITR 9, wherein the Supreme Court gave its decision with regard to provision to pay remuneration and meet expenses of shebaits and allowances to members of the family, upkeep of horses, carriages, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd should not be interfered with. In the case of CIT v. Sri Jagannath Jew [1977] 107 ITR 9 (SC) the testator, a wealthy and pious Hindu Brahmin, executed in 1887 a comprehensive will the draftsman of which was an English solicitor. The will opened with the words : "I hereby dedicate and make debutter by Thakoorbaree . . . ." and specified a mansion built by the testator's father. The will proceeded: "I do hereby dedicate and make debutter in the name and for the worship of my Thakoor Sree Sree Jagannath Jew the following properties . . . ." and these words were followed by a list of properties and a string of directions addressed to "shebaits and trustees" or "shebaits or trustees" or these two mentioned singly. The testator further provided: "I hereby give, dedicate and make debutter all the jewels .... heretofore used, for the worship of the Thakoors . . . ." and the will have the particulars of the jewels and other ornaments. Besides directions for spending amounts on charitable objects like feeding the poor, maintenance of garden, a menagerie of non-carnivorous animals and birds and an art gallery, the will also provided for payment of certain fixed allowances to the acting s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of the High Court, on an interpretation of the will, (i) that the testator gave away his estate to the deity and created an absolute debutter thereof and obligated the managers of the debutter with responsibility to discharge certain secular but secondary behests including benefit to family members, their residence and transportation. The deity was the legal owner of the whole estate and liable to be assessed as such. (ii) That the directions in the will did not divert the income at source but merely directed the shebaits to apply the income received from the debutter properties for the specified purposes, and, therefore : (a) the income of the deity was not restricted to the amounts spent by the shebaits for the daily puja and religious ceremonies to the deity ; (b) the amount spent for the remuneration of the shebaits, payment of allowances to the widows of shebaits, expenditure in maintaining horses, carriages and cars and repairs, etc., could be included in the income of the assessee ; (c) the surplus income of the estate after defraying expenses were not held in trust for charitable purposes and were not exempt from taxation under section 4(3)(i) of the Indian Income-tax A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on with the many points forcefully urged by Shri B. Sen and adverted to earlier ? We think that the expressions 'shebaits and trustees', 'shebaits or trustees', 'shebaits', 'trustees' and 'trusts' were indiscriminately used, indifferent to sharp legal semantics and uncertain of the precise import of these English legal terms in the Indian context. More, an English solicitor's familiar legal diction superimposed on an unfamiliar Indian debutter, rather than an exercise in ambiguity or deliberate dubiety, explains the odd expressions in the will. The author merely intended to dedicate to Sree Jagannathji and manage through shebaits. Of course, the reference to the board of trustees, the majority vote and the like, strike a discordant note but the preponderant intent is what we have held it is. The magnitude of the expenditure on the items, secular and sacred, may vaguely affect the conclusion but cannot conclusively decide the issue, the religious uses related to Sree Jagannathji, the Lord of the Universe, cannot be narrowly restricted to rituals but must be spread out to embrace universal good, especially when we read the mind of a Hindu highly evolved and committed to a religion ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ebaits for the time being who shall actually take part in the performance of the duties of the shebaits and the execution of the trusts of this fund as and by way of remuneration for their services the sum of rupees five hundred a month. . . .' 'I direct that the widows of my three deceased sons, Greendro, Soorendro and Jogendra, who assist in the work of preparing articles of offerings to the Thakoors and for the feeding and distribution to the poor and all the widows of shebaits hereby appointed and future shebaits who shall in like manner assist in the said work shall be fed and clothed and maintained and shall receive a remuneration of the sum of rupees fifty each a month from the income of the debutter fund. . . .' So the shebaits first get the income and then apply it in conformity with the directives given in the will. The rulings relied on by both sides do not shake the position we have taken and may not merit any discussion. These conclusions we have drawn mean that the appeals have to be allowed and the reference answered in favour of the Revenue and against the assessee. Accordingly, we answer questions Nos. 1 and 2 referred at the instance of the assessee, against ..... 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