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2020 (3) TMI 629

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..... ot established. As the existence of the trust at the address given in application is clearly established by the fact that all the letters sent by O/o CIT(E) are duly delivered at the given address. The O/o CIT(E) accepted the application after thorough scrutiny of documents submitted. Since, no procedure for amendment of trust, enumerated by the Indian Trust Act or the Income Tax Act, the procedure followed by trustees by way of execution of supplementary trust deed & board resolution should be treated as valid. The O/o CIT(E) Lucknow referred the said application to CIT(E), Delhi & no reply has been given by latter. The genuineness of the activities of the appellant trust cannot be regarded as doubtful merely because of any procedural lapses in shifting of its registered office. (ii) That on the basis of facts & circumstances of the case, the CIT(E) has erred in completely ignoring & overlooking the submissions made by the Trust. Most of the grounds of rejection are mere Opinion or assumptions of Hon'ble CIT(E) or in the form of allegations that the main purpose of the Trust is to establish itself as a shadow of crime investigation agency of Government, the activities unde .....

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..... n the nature of General Public Utility & for the gross benefit of society & each and every person living in it irrespective of their age, caste, religion, color & creed. The activities of the trust are in the nature of General Public Utility & qualify for registration u/s 12AA. (iv) That on the basis of facts & circumstances of the case, the CIT(E) has erred in stating that the appellant trust has not given the true & full disclosure of the expenses incurred by it for carrying on its activities. The cost of website and other expenses incurred by trust are au y accounted for & Income & Expenditure Account & Balance Sheet are duly presented. The contention of Hon'ble CIT(E) that most of the expenses are made in cash & don't inspire confidence is not justifiable as the expenses so incurred in cash were not substantial but petty in nature & since the expenses were incurred on activities which are undertaken in different parts of the country, it is not possible for the appellant to have a bank account in each & every such state & also having regard to the amount paid, it was practically not possible to make payments by way of any mode other than cash. All the expenses whic .....

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..... mention that on the last date of hearing i.e. 19/11/2019, the case was adjourned to 22/01/2020 on the request of the Learned Counsel for the assessee. Despite notifying the date of the hearing, neither anyone attended before us on behalf of the assessee, nor any application for adjournment of the hearing was filed. In the facts and circumstances, we were of the opinion that the assessee is not interested in prosecuting its appeal and therefore, we heard the appeal ex-parte qua the assessee. 5. The facts in brief of the case are that the assessee trust filed applications on 17/10/2017 before the Learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) (in short 'the Ld. CIT(E)') in Form No. 10A and 10G seeking registration under section 12AA and grant of registration under section 80G of the Act respectively. The Learned CIT(E) call for the details of the objects of the trust and the activities carried out by the trust. After verification of the objects and the activities, the Learned CIT(E) found that object of the trust are not charitable in nature and the activities are also found to be not genuine. The Learned CIT(E) has specifically referred to the first object of the trust as to collec .....

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..... of Director General as per Oxford dictionary, Cambridge English dictionary and Wikipedia, and the screenshot from appellant's website. 8. We have heard submission of the Learned DR and perused the material on record. We find from the pages 3 to 24 of the paper book, which is a copy of the trust deed of the assessee trust, that it's objects have been bifurcated in the nature of the education, relief to poors, medical relief, and object of general public utility. The first object of the assessee appearing in clause 5(a) is reproduced as under: "a. To collect offerings, gift or donations of all kinds, whether from Government, Central or Semi-Government, all institutions, local bodies or industrial concern, limited or private, locally within the Union of India or froma broad, which will form part of the funds, available to the Trust whether the bodies are located in the union of India or abroad and Anti Corruption Help govt. of India & State Govt., Electronic Media, Print Media & Social work card. Issue all Department Crime & corruption Investigation Bearou take immediately actions, against corruption, and illegal works under Indian Penal Act." 9. We are agreed with the finding of .....

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..... applicant cannot be categorized as charitable activity within the meaning of general public utility as defined in section 2(15) of the Act. These types of activities cannot be camouflaged as charitable activity in the nature of general public utility. 5. The website of the applicant also shows that it has got 8 offices across the country. the name and place of its registered office and the office which it is presently claimed to be the registered office is not show in the website. The offices are located at Delhi (some other address), Gujarat, Bihar, Ahmednagar, Bangalore, Rajasthan, Jharkhand & madhya Pradesh. From photographs of some of the offices shown in the website it is seen that these are well maintained plush offices with split air conditions and glass doors baring logo of the applicant. Further there are video gallery/ photographs of various events conducted by the applicant claiming to the police-public partnership program. On 20.04.2018, the AR of the applicant, Mr Ankit Gupta was shown the website of the NCIB. It was asked that the cost of website creation, which appears to be a costly website, does not appear in the balance sheet. Further there are several plush b .....

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