Charitable trust property exemption under wealth tax upheld for assets held for public charitable and religious purposes.

A trust already recognised as charitable for income-tax purposes was treated as a public charitable and religious trust for wealth-tax purposes, because property held by a trust for a public purpose of a charitable or religious nature falls within the exemption under section 5(1)(i) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957. On that basis, the properties held by the trust were regarded as exempt from wealth tax.

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Issues: Whether the assessee trust was a public charitable and religious trust and whether the properties held by it were entitled to exemption under section 5(1)(i) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The assessee had already been held to be a charitable trust entitled to exemption under section 11 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. On that basis, and in view of the scope of section 5(1)(i), which grants exemption to property held by a trust for public purpose of a charitable or religious nature, the properties belonging to the trust fell within the exempted category.

Conclusion: The assessee was held entitled to exemption under section 5(1)(i) of the Wealth-tax Act, 1957.

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