TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (8) TMI 808
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... brief facts of the case are as follows: The assessee is a Roman Catholic Parish, coming under the Diocese of Tellicherry. The assessee had filed an application on 31.3.2015 requesting for registration u/s 12A of the Income Tax Act in the prescribed form No.10A as a Religious Institution. The CIT(E) rejected the assessee's application stating that "since the applicant has not produced original/copy of the instrument in support of creation of the trust, the objects and its activities as well as the existence of the trust could not be ascertained. I therefore, refuse to register the Trust and the application for registration u/s 12A filed on 31.3.2015 is rejected." 4 Aggrieved by the above said order, the assessee is in appeal before us. The ld AR, referring to Rule 17A of the Income Tax Rules 1962, contended that it is not necessary that the institution/trust should be established under an instrument. It was contended that what is required is the document evidencing the creation of the Trust or the establishment of the Institution together with the copies thereof. It was stated that the assessee, in the instance case, was established by an order of the Bishiop called 'decree' and....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... under an instrument, the instrument in original together with a copy thereof, has to be filed along with the prescribed form no.10A for registration. However, the second limb of Rule 17A provides that where the Trust is created or the institution is established, otherwise than by an instrument, the document evidencing the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution, together with one copy of thereof, has to be filed along with the application in form 10A for registration of the institution/trust u/s12A. Thus, the applicable Rule 17A itself provides that it is not even necessary that the institution/trust should be established under an instrument. What is required is only a document evidencing the creation of the Trust or the establishment of the institution together with a copy thereof. In the instant case, assessee is a Religious Institution (Parish) created under the conventional way by issuing a 'decree' under Cannon law by the concerned Bishop. The creation of religious institution is evidenced by the 'decree' issued by the Bishop. The true copy of the 'decree' has been placed in the paper book filed by the assessee (Pages 43 of the Paper Book) 8 The Delhi B....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ers and all the trustees and should be registered with the Registrar of Properties etc., is devoid of any merit as Rule 17A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 itself provides that where the institution or the trust is established otherwise than under an instrument, the document evidencing the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution, together with one copy thereof can be filed along with the prescribed form No.10A for registration u/s 12AA/12A of the Act. What would be the document evidencing creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution, has not been defined in the Rules. Accordingly, any evidence to establish the creation of the trust or the establishment of the institution could be filed by the assessee in support of its case. The argument of the learned CIT-DR that the assessee has not filed the names and addresses of the donors, we find that the donation can be anonymous also and the taxability thereof can be decided at the time of assessment to be framed by the Department. The plea of the learned CIT-DR, that the trustees took refuge in Sikkim which is part of India since 1975 for 35 years, no return of income was filed by the assessee nor any ....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ucing constitutive and evidential documents. When the trust is created under an instrument, the rule requires the production of the constitutive document itself, i.e., the instrument which creates the trust. When the trust is not created under an instrument, it is impossible to produce any constitutive document and, hence, the rule requires production of evidential documents, i.e., the documents evidencing the creation of the trust. The evidential documents cannot be limited to documents which directly prove the creation of the trust; they will embrace all documents which afford a logical basis of inferring creation of the trust and all such documents can be described to be 'document evidencing the creation of the trust' within the meaning of rule 17A( a). A document directly evidencing the creation of the trust is normally the constitutive document which cannot be produced when the trust is not created by an instrument and if the words 'document evidencing the creation of the trust' are construed as limited to documents directly evidencing the creation of the trust, it will be nearly impossible to have a trust registered which was not created under an instrument. T....