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TMI Blog1982 (8) TMI 76X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts, past and present, and their contribution to the enrichment of national life, their tireless efforts in the struggle of India for liberation from foreign yoke, and above all, the exemplary spirit of devotion and the strong sense of self-sacrifice that they had displayed in the development of nationalism and national integration. A number of circulars containing the appeal to the public in this regard were also issued by him. With the above purpose he approached a number of persons requesting them to furnish their photographs and events of life together with an amount of Rs. 100 being the charges of blocks, etc. They were also requested to enroll their names as advance subscribers to the Encyclopaedia. 2. A number of Muslims of repute, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ; (b) to compile, publish and print an Encyclopaedia of such intellectuals enumerating their achievements, exemplary spirit of devotion and self sacrifice for uplift of the masses ; (c) to spread useful information about aforesaid intellectuals with a view to infuse similar spirit in the masses ; (d) i. to accept donations and funds and acquire assets, etc., for the above purpose from various donors, who will be issued receipts showing the purpose for which the donation has been made, which will tantamount to absolute divesting of funds by the donors for such purpose ii. to accept donations and funds collected by individuals for similar or allied objects in the manner mentioned in (i) above." The above institute was also register ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on Act, on the ground that these events had taken place after the end of the accounting years, relevant for the assessment years under consideration. 5. The assessee appealed to the AAC. It was contended before her that simply because the advances were of different amounts from different persons, they could not be treated as donations. It was also submitted that the money was held by the assessee in trust, for the purpose of publishing the Encyclopaedia and, therefore, it was not his income. The AAC first stated that only one life sketch of the persons from whom the amount had been received, has to be published in the Encyclopaedia produced before the ITO but no such forms for subsequent donors had been produced and further the counterfo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... His further submission was that, at the worst, the collections could be treated as cash credits and if that was the situation, they could not be treated as the assessee's income as the assessee had discharged his burden with regard to their sources, meaning thereby that they had been received from the outsiders. His final submission was that in any case collections were in the nature of advances for pre-publication orders of the Encyclopaedia and for entries of life sketches of the persons therein and if this purpose was not achieved, the assessee was bound to re-pay them. He contended that in this situation, the advances could not be treated as the assessee's income, as the assessee was accountable for them, either by supplying the Encycl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the case of Ram Kripal has no application to the present case. In the cited case, the assessee gave discourses on vedanta and for that purpose undertook tours. It was in course of these discourses that he was presented with funds to purchase a car. It was held that the assessee was carrying on a profession within the meaning of section 28(iv) of the Act and the receipt of the car was a benefit accruing to him and its entire value was taxable in his hands. In the present case, the assessee has not given any discourses. We have already stated in the beginning that his profession is journalism and at the relevant time he was working as an Editor with the U.P. Congress Committee. 9. We have perused the facts of the case. We are of the opini ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lear that we are not pronouncing any judgment on this aspect of the matter. Our finding is that the donations or the interest earned on them through advances to parties does not form part of the assessee's income and cannot be taxed in his assessments. 11. We may deal with the above issue from another angle also. It is not denied that subsequently, Encyclopaedia Publications was founded and registered under the Societies Registration Act. It had a set purpose as stated above. The assessee has also transferred the entire amount to this institute vide transfer deed dated 2-4-1979. These facts only go to show that the assessee was working in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of an institute to be founded subsequently. The institute is, therefor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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