Approval under section 80G for a religious-cum-charitable trust...

Approval under section 80G for a religious-cum-charitable trust cannot be denied merely because it conducts satsang or disseminates spiritual knowledge. Expenditure on those activities remained below the five per cent ceiling for religious expenditure under Explanation (3) to section 80G. Meetings intended to spread spiritual knowledge across communities are not, by themselves, religious activities; satsang is similarly not religious unless expenditure concerns a particular deity or related activity. Where registration under section 12AB has been granted after examining the same objects, section 80G approval must follow absent breach of its specific statutory conditions. Approval was directed to be granted.