TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (3) TMI 86
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....strength of the students admitted in the school by charging as low as Rs. 100 per month against the scheduled rates of Rs. 500/600 per month charged from capable section of the society. It was claimed that the list of students along with fee charged was furnished before the learned CIT along with other relevant documents. 3. On the other hand, the learned Senior Departmental Representative, Shri P.K. Mitra, strongly defended the impugned order by contending that the assessee has not fulfilled the conditions as required under section 80G(5)(i) of the Act by further submitting that the assessee has not satisfied the learned CIT with documentary evidence and the activities of the assessee are of commercial nature. Therefore, with the intention of undue advantage of the provisions of section 80G of the Act, the assessee has applied for such concession. 4. I have considered the rival submissions of ld. representatives of both sides and perused the material available on record. Brief facts are that the assessee trust was formed by a trust deed and is registered under the M.P. Societies Registration Act, 1973. Registration under section 12A of the Act was also granted to the assesse....
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....led rate of 500/600 per month charged from the capable section of the society (list of student along with fee charged from them is enclosed). (5) To achieve one more objective of the applicant society, i.e. to learn the lesson of energy conservation and also about the renewable source of energy Solar Energy Panels and devices have been installed in the school building itself which inspites students to not only to conserve our available energy sources but also to make use of renewable source of energy e.g. Solar Energy. The President of the society viz. Dr. Chetan Singh Solanki working as Associate Professor in Energy Department IIT Bombay himself is instrumental in imparting this valuable knowledge to the students and their parents though school teacher. (6) The applicant society believes that apart from good infrastructure like school building and teaching tools/techniques it is the qualified and dedicated teachers only through whom objectives of overall development of student can be achieved and for this it is of utmost importance that they should be kept updated through regular training. Society has recruited trained teachers on good salary basis an....
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....re the learned Commissioner of Income-tax, Tribunal, conclusion drawn in the impugned order and the submissions of the learned Senior Departmental Representative are kept in juxtaposition and analysed, it is seen that the assessee society is registered with the Madhya Pradesh Societies Registration Act, 1973 and registration under section 12A of the Income-tax Act also has been granted by the department to the assessee society. For granting approval under section 89G(5)(vi) of the Act, the application is required to be accompanied by necessary documents which are admittedly filed by the assessee. As per the trust deed, the main activities of the assessee society are - (i) To establish and conduct the school and College especially in a rural area. (ii) To promote the awareness of social activities and culture. (iii) Physical and mental development of children through scientific method. (iv) To establish libraries and to provide books to poor students, etc. (v) To provide quality education to the students of nearby villages. (vi) To educate the children about the Indian culture at minimum fees for their all roun....
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....om the trust or institution or cause such inquiries to be made as he deems fit in order to satisfy himself about the genuineness of activities of such trust or institution. Where the learned CIT is satisfied that all the conditions as laid down in clauses (i) to (v) of section 80G(5) are fulfilled by the applicant, trust or institution, the learned CIT is to grant approval specifying the year or years for which such approval is valid. In case the CIT is not satisfied about these conditions, being unsatisfied, he shall reject the application for approval after recording reasons of such rejection in writing. The provisions of section 80G(5)(i) to (v) on the basis of which the CIT has to grant or reject the application seeking approval under section 80G are as follows - (i) where the institution or fund derives any income, such income would not be liable to inclusion in its total income under any of the provisions of sections 11 and 12 or clause (23AA) or clause (23C) of section 10 provided "not relevant......" (ii) The instrument under which the institution or fund is constituted does not, or the rules governing the institution or fund do not conta....
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....ssee trust and the objects of the assessee society. 9. Sub-section (5) applies to donation to any institution or fund referred to in sub-clause (iv) of clause (a) of sub-section (2) only if it is established in India for charitable purposes and if it fulfils the following conditions :- "where the institution or fund derives any income, such income would not be liable to inclusion in its total income under the provisions of sections 11 and 12 [* * *] [* * *] [or clause (23AA)] [or clause (23C)] of section 10: Provided that where an institution or fund derives any income, being profits and gains of business, the condition that such income would not be liable to inclusion in its total income under the provisions of section 11 shall not apply in relation to such income, if- (a) the institution or fund maintains separate books of account in respect of such business; (b) the donations made to the institution or fund are not used by it, directly or indirectly, for the purposes of such business; and (c) the institution or fund issues to a person making the donation a certificate to the effect that it maintains separate books of account....
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....ned by the assessee as even there is no whisper in the impugned order that the same are manipulated in any manner and the various documents which have been made part of the paper book clearly demonstrate that the allegations on the basis of which the application of the assessee was rejected, it is seen that such rejection is based upon incorrect assumption of material facts because while granting approval all that required to be seen by the learned CIT is whether or not the conditions set out in section 80G(5)(i) to (v) are satisfied and once the objective test contemplated in this test is satisfied, it is not open to the CIT to decline approval under section 80G on the basis of his subjective perceptions about genuineness of the charitable activities or on the basis of his apprehensions about possible non -fulfilment of the conditions subject to which exemption from income, if granted. At the same time, the objective and judicious appreciation of facts/satisfaction is the basic condition under the provisions of the Act. The first and foremost thing is to be seen is whether or not any income earned by the assessee is not being liable to inclusion in its total income under any of th....
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....2009-10 and 2010-11 were duly filed before him. Finally, in terms of provisions of section 80G(5)(v) of the Act the learned CIT has to ensure that the assessee institution or fund has the nature of one of the organizations specified in that clause. The society is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 (here for the purposes of the assessee the M.P. Societies Registration Act, 1973). Admittedly the assessee is one such form of organizations, thus, this condition is also, therefore, satisfied. Therefore, based on these findings, one cannot come to the conclusion that the charitable activities of the assessee society were not genuine in any event as I have stated earlier as well, all that the learned CIT has to see, for the purpose of deciding whether or not the approval is to be granted for the purpose of section 80G is whether or not the conditions of section 80G(5)(i) to (v) are satisfied and as per the mandate of rule 11AA(4) of the Rules, once these conditions are satisfied, he has to grant the approval. Genuineness of the charitable activity, in the absence of any specific mention about connotation of that expression in the IT Act or IT Rules, must remain confined....