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TMI Blog2023 (5) TMI 785X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Tamil Nadu and it is fully maintained by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the argument of the ld. Counsel for the assessee that the assessee trust was doing services to other six temples and is open to public at large cannot be accepted. Therefore, registration u/s 12AA of the Act cannot be granted to the assessee trust. The assessee trust does not come under the purview of charitable trust or under the purview of public religious trust. It is only a private religious trust. Therefore, registration under section 12AA of the Act cannot be granted to the assessee trust. Activities of the Trust are to receive contribution from the members and not from any outsider and the expenditure is only to manage and protect their temple - If the assessee is running on the basis of mutuality, it can carry its activities and nobody will object. However, no 12AA registration can be granted to the assessee trust, being a private religious trust. Receipts of the trust do not come within the definition of income under section 2(24) - The income has to be determined depending upon the receipt, what are the expenditure incurred, what is the source of income and it has to be decided ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ust is collected by way of temple tax imposed by the periathanakarars of the community only from the members of the Trust, no profit is shared among the members and the Trust is only a convenient entity formed to carry out the objects and it does not receive any contributions from any one and thus satisfy all the ingredients required to apply doctrine of mutuality as held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Chelmsford Club, (2000) 3 SCC 214 and the learned CIT even failed to refer the judgment relied upon by the Appellant before passing the impugned judgment which is perverse. D. That the finding of the learned CIT(E) in paragraph 2 (as well as in paragraph 4) of the impugned order that the sources for the income of the Appellant Trust is from the lease amount derived from the lands donated to the temples is factually incorrect and has been rendered without any basis, either factual or legal, and hence the said finding is perverse. E. That the finding of the learned CIT(E) in paragraph 4 of the impugned order that the Trust is private religious trust is perverse and without any basis but arrived at without any application of mind and without ascertaining that the Appell ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t eligible for registration because of sec.13(1)(a) of the Act is perverse as the Trust does not hold any property as held by the learned CIT. L. That the finding of the learned CIT(E) in paragraph 7 and 8 of the impugned order relying upon the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kerala Vs. M.P.Shanti Verma Jain (1998) 231 ITR 787 that the Sec.13(1)(a) of the Act is applicable to this case is patently erroneous as the said judgment is not at all applicable to the present case and the learned CIT has arrived at the said finding without giving any opportunity to appellant to point out the inapplicability of the judgment for the case on hand is against the basic principles of natural justice and hence the finding is perverse. It is pertinent to note that the said decisions were in respect of the Trusts whose objects do not have any element of charitable purposes but herein the Trust is having object to maintain 6 public temples open to all community and to carry out also public charitable acts permissible under the Act and hence the Trust is religious and charitable one as held by the ITAT Pune, in their Orders dated 31.03.2015 passed by the ITAT Pune No.1352/PN/2014, Pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Appellant by the learned CIT and hence the impugned order is liable to be set aside. Q. That the appellant crave leave of this Hon'ble Tribunal to raise additional grounds during the arguments in the interest of justice. Therefore, for the reasons stated above and other grounds that may be raised during the course of arguments, the Appellant prays that this Hon'ble Tribunal may be pleased to set aside the impugned order dated 29.12.2017 passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Chennai u/s 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper on the facts and circumstances of the case and thus render justice. 2. Brief facts of the case are that the assessee trust, namely M/s. Arulmigu Aathi Karumapuram Sellandiamman Kudipaattukararkal Seva Trust, constituted by a trust deed dated 01.02.2017 has filed an application in Form 10A for registration under section 12AA of the Act on 20.06.2017. The objects of the assessee trust are reproduced as under: 3 OBJECTIVES OF THE TRUST: (a) To maintain, manage and carry out all rituals to the ARULMIGHU AATHI KARUMAPURAM SELLANDIAM ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a sub sect of Vellala Gounder community, whose members mostly resided in and around Karumapuram exclusively for them as a charity measure. 3.1 The ld. Counsel further submitted that as a charity measure, the assessee trust was helping to other temples namely, Vinayagar temple, Mariamman temple, Athanoor Amman, Periaamman, Perumal temple and Easwaran temple as common temples for all other people residing in those areas. All other six temples are public temple common to all people irrespective of caste or creed. 3.2 It was further submitted that though, the assessee trust was exclusively established for a particular caste, the assessee trust was doing some charity to other temples and therefore, 12AA registration can be granted. 3.3 He further submitted that the entire activity of the trust has been carried out by receiving contributions from its own members and incur expenditure and there is no profit motive involved, thereby covered under the Doctrine of Mutuality and therefore, registration under section 12AA of the Act shall be granted. 3.4 The ld. Counsel has also submitted that the receipt of the trust does not come within the purview of the income under section 2( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... el for the assessee that the assessee was doing service to six other temples namely, Vinayagar temple, Mariamman temple, Athanoor Amman, Periaamman, Perumal temple and Easwaran temple, the ld. CIT(E) deputed Inspector to make field enquiry and the field enquiry made by the Inspector of the Income Tax Department as well as reply received from the Assistant Commissioner, Hindu Religious Charitable Endowments Department, Namakkal, reveals the following factual matrix: Sub: Assessee appeal before ITAT against denial of Registration u/s 12AA - Ms. Arulmigu Athi Karumapuram Sellandiamman Trust Enquiry Report - Submission of - Reg. Ref: 1. E-mail received from the Principal CIT (DR), ITAT 'C Bench, Chennai and assessee appeal before ITAT in ITA No. 705/2018 against denial of Registration u/s. 12AA by the CIT (Exemptions), Chennai. 2. This office letter issued to the Assistant Commissioner, Hindu .Religious Charitable Endowments Department, Namakkal, dated 25.02.2019. Kindly refer to the above. In order to verify the above details, a field enquiry was made by this office Inspector on 25.02.2109 and also a letter dated 25.02.2019 was issued to the Assistan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d, if the assessee is running on the basis of mutuality, it can carry its activities and nobody will object. However, no 12AA registration can be granted to the assessee trust, being a private religious trust. 11. So far as another argument of the ld. Counsel that the receipts of the trust do not come within the definition of income under section 2(24) of the Act is concerned, the assessee cannot decide himself that the receipt of the assessee cannot come within the purview of the Income Tax Act. The income has to be determined depending upon the receipt, what are the expenditure incurred, what is the source of income and it has to be decided after considering entire details. It cannot be predetermined by the assessee that the receipts derived by the assessee cannot be an income within the meaning of section 2(24) of the Act. 12. So far as violation of Article 14 and Article 19(c) of the Constitution of India is concerned, we find that Article 14 as well as Article 19(c) has no application to the facts of the present case. In this case, whether the assessee is entitled for grant of registration under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act or not has to be determined as per the co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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