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TMI Blog2022 (11) TMI 1253X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ied in allowing benefit of exemption u/s 11 of the IT Act to the assessee while activities carried out by the society during the instant assessment year were not found to be covered by any limb of 'charitable purpose' as defined in section 2 (15) of the IT Act, 1961." 3. For the sake of reference, we are referring ITA No.1401/Del/2020 for AY 2014-15. 4. Brief facts of the case are that assessee is a Society registered under the Societies Act as well as under Section 12AA of the Act. It carries out object of education. It has schools in Uttarakhand and Western UP. The ld. Assessing Officer noted the return filed by the assessee on 26.09.2014 declaring 'NIL' income for the assessment year 2014-15 claiming exemption under Section 11 of the I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent order, it is noticed that the AO has attempted to trace out the history of assessee society from official website of Good News for India and based, his findings on the premise that assessee society runs schools with the motive to evangelize. However, there is no material or data on record to prove that t e assessee society under the garb of running school and colleges applied for affiliation with ICSE and UGC has converted Indians into Christianity, particularly, where from the aims and objects of the assessee society, it is apparently clear that it is imparting education and providing help to the orphans without any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste and creed. The assessee society has to be judged according to the rules an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... IV of 1918 and which has been recognized under section 2 (f) the UGC Act 1956 by the Government. It is also noticed that the assessee society does not carry out Bible translation which is done by an organization known as Wycliffe Bible translators. Furthermore, it is observed that the society has not established any Churches or Missionaries that could be used to propagate Christianity. 18. Therefore, irrespective of the views as stated on the website Good News for India, the assessee society has neither been set up for the purposes of serving a particular religious community, nor have its activities been directed towards furtherance of a particular religion or a particular religious community. It is pertinent to mention here that the asse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... refore, it allowed the assessee benefit of exemption u/s 10 (23C) (iiiad) of the Act. Recently the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT vs Dawoodi Bohra Jamat (2014) 364 ITR 361 favoured exemption u/s 11 to be given to the orqanization. The facts of this case were that the assessee's application for registration u/s 12A was rejected by the CIT(A) holding that as the object and purpose of the trust was confined only to a particular religious community, the same would attract the provisions of section 13 (1)(b). In this case, the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the objects of the trust were not indicative of a wholly religious purpose but were collectively indicative of both charitable and religious purposes. It held that whil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ey were propagating and promoting Christianity, the society itself has confined its activities to the aims and objectives laid down in the Memorandum of Association in as much as in Theology can be described as vocational training and the school, run by it, impart a secular education. Accordingly, merely because it bears its activities on the basis of a religious calling, there is no reason to hold that section 13 (1) (b) of the Income Tax Act would be attracted to it. Therefore, in my considered opinion, the assessee society is eligible to claim exemption u/s 11 of the Income Tax Act. 21. On identical facts and the issue, the Ld. CIT (Appeals), Dehradun has allowed the appeals for the AY 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 & 2012-13 in favour of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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