2015 (1) TMI 1109
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....hat the appellant is not a commercial organization, and, therefore, is not engaged in charitable activity within the meanings of that expression under section 2 (15) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 2. That, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the learned DIT has erred in rejecting the application filed by the appellant for registration of the appellant under section 12AA read with section 12 A of the Act 3. The appeal is delayed by 73 days but the assessee appellant has moved a petition seeking condonation of this delay, and this petition is supported by an affidavit from Brigadier R K Sharma, managing director of the assessee institution. As stated in the condonation petition, the impugned order was served at the reception de....
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....etired army personnel in public and private sectors in India; (b) To arrange placement of their widows and their wards in civil; (c) To assist all the registrants in developing soft skill, personality developments and also help them in their career counselling and guidance; (d) To deal with all such things as are incidental or conducive by the society to the attainment of the objects, or any of them, or welfare of the retired army personnel, their widows and the wards of the widows; (e) To arrange registration and placement for the dependents of serving/ retired army personnel; and (f) To conduct all the above welfare activities on NO PROFIT NO LOSS BASIS to the extent possible. All the income, earning, movable and immovable properties....
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....qualify any merit for grant of a certificate which is the basic and one of conditions to be satisfied for granting registration under section 12 A of the Income Tax Act. Accordingly, the application filed by the applicant for grant of registration under section 12 A is rejected. 6. The assessee is aggrieved and is in appeal before us. None appeared for the assessee, but we have heard the learned Departmental Representative, perused the material on record and duly considered facts of the case in the light of the legal position. Having regard to all these factors, having regard to the fact that the issue in appeal lies in a narrow compass of material facts, and also having regard to the reasons we will set out in a short while in this order,....
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....on, or retention, of the income from such activity) when aggregate of such fees or cess exceed Rs. 25 lakhs in a previous year. 8. It is thus clear that so far as charging of fees or any other consideration for rendition of a service is concerned, the fact of rendition of the service vitiate charitable nature of the activity only when the service is rendered to a trade, commerce or business, and, in addition to that factor, the aggregate of such fees etc is concerned exceeds Rs. 25 lakhs. In a situation, however, in which the service is rendered to an entity other than trade, commerce or business, such a rendition of service does not affect charitable nature of the activity. In the present case, the service is rendered to ex-army personnel....
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....re are no reasons to doubts bonafides of this well intended initiative of the Indian Army, by way of Army Welfare Placement Organization which is working under direct control of the Ministry of Defence in the Government of India. There is nothing on record whatsoever to suggest that this organization is set up on any commercial basis. It is only elementary that the mere fact that a fees is received from the registrants, by itself, cannot convert a charitable activity into a commercial activity. This position is recognized by the statue itself in second limb of Explanation to Section 2(15), a specific reference made is to the receipt of such fees from trade, commerce and business, and a further monetary limit is set out even on aggregate of ....
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....he following observations made by Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Vs DGIT (Exemption) [(2011) 347 ITR 99 (Del)]: Therefore, while construing the term 'business' for the said section, the object and purpose of the section has to be kept in mind. We do not think that a very broad and extended definition of the term 'business' is intended for the purpose of interpreting and applying the first proviso to s. 2(15) of the Act to include any transaction for a fee or money. An activity would be considered "business" if it is undertaken with a profit motive, but in some cases this may not be determinative. Normally the profit motive test should be satisfied but in a given case activity may be ....