TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (11) TMI 394
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....ever disseminated i.e. by camps, specific schools or courses, etc. would address only a section of the population, which may be of benefit for specific ailments. The Revenue had also relied upon subsequent amendment to Section 2(15) of the Act which came into effect from 01.04.2016 to the effect that "charitable purpose" includes relief of the poor, education, medical relief, preservation of environment (including watershed forests and wildlife and preservation of monuments or places or objects of artistic or historic interest and the advancement of any other object of general public utility). (emphasis supplied) 2. The ITAT's findings in this regard are contained in the following extracts of the impugned order: "9.3 Besides above we want to add further that there are several pathies and and methods by which the medical relief is achieved. These pathies are allopathy, homeopathy, naturopathy, Ayurvedic, Unani, Yoga etc. and a person suffering from any disease including chronic diseases approaches these pathologies and method for the relief and for such person the pathy or method from which he gets relief is the medical relief from the method or pathy followed by him. In ot....
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....ll discuss hereunder. The contention of the Ld. AR remained that the predominant object of the appellant trust are to provide practical and theoretical training in the field of yoga, which would ultimately provide medical relief to the society at large. It was submitted that in pursuance of the said objective the appellant trust has made intertrust donations to Patanjali Yog Peeth to support their endeavors of imparting yoga education by means of organizing yog shivirs/camps across the country on daily / weekly / monthly basis in a systemized/organized manner in order to provide medical relief to people who cannot afford modern medical method or have been subjected to ill effects of modern medicine. It was submitted that imparting of yoga training through well structured yoga shiviirs / camps also falls under the category of imparting 'education' one of the charitable objects defined u/s 2(15) of the Act and accordingly the appellant's activities are not hit by the proviso inserted in the definition of charitable purpose as contained in the said section. During the course of hearing the appellant was directed to provide complete details of the Patanjali Bhartiya Ayurvig....
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....was teaching and promoting all forms of music and dance, western, Indian or any other and was run like any school or educational institution in a systematic manner with regular classes, the same therefore meet the requirement of an educational institution within the meaning of section 10(23C)(vi) of the Act. In the case of ITO vs. SRM Foundation of India (supra) the Delhi Bench of the Tribunal, where the assessee was engaged in spreading the system of transcendental meditation (TM) has held that irrespective of the fact that the assessee has its own prescribed syllabus, trained teachers, branches all over India to spread system of transcendental deep meditation among people in all walks of life, the same constituted imparting of education and the assessee was entitled to exemption u/s 10(22) of the Act. We thus come to the conclusion that any form of educational activity involving imparting of systematic training in order to develop the knowledge, skill, mind and character of students, is to be regarded as "education" covered u/s 2(15) of the Act. In view of these decisions we hold that imparting of yoga training through well structured yoga shivir/camps also falls under the catego....
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....nd Cultural Tourism. It has also been informed that the university has become operational on September, 2009. The finding of the authorities below that propagation of Yoga by the assessee does not qualify as medical relief or imparting of education is thus held as not justified." 3. As is evident from the above extract, the Tribunal had relied upon its ruling in Divya Yog Mandir Trust v. Joint Commissioner of Income Tax; ITA No.387/Del./2013. In that decision, the judgments in Kasyap Ved Research Foundation v. CIT 131 ITD 370 and CIT v. Rajneesh Foundation 280 ITR 533 (Bom) were relied upon. It was held that yoga was one of the six systems of Vedic philosophy developed by Maharishi Patanjali, who was characterized as "The Father of Yoga" and who had compiled and refined various aspects of the science/practice systematically in "Yoga Sutras". The Tribunal concluded upon analysis of the practice of yoga that it confers positive relief to certain ailments such as asthma, migraine, hypertension, stress, etc. and promotes wellness and well being generally. Having regard to the observations, the Court is of the opinion that the mere inclusion of yoga specifically w.e.f. 01.04.20....
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....o factors i.e. that the donation reported in the magazine was less than the said sum and secondly, that the amounts spent did not square up to the amount received. On this aspect, it was held that the benefit of Sections 11 and 12 could not be enjoyed as the Trust had violated Section 13. The Tribunal's finding was that the amount was by way of a corpus donation under Section 2(24)(iia) and therefore excluded from total income. The finding here is factual; the Court is of the opinion that no question of law arises. 8. As far as the sum of Rs. 14,76,01,036/- received by the assessee as membership is concerned, the Revenue had objected to the character of the funding. It pointed out that different facilities were sought to be provided to the donors depending on the quantum of contributions i.e. those contributing higher amounts and seeking certain facilities were provided such facilities whereas those contributing smaller amounts were given basic facilities. The Court is of the opinion that this objection stems from the Revenue's understanding that the assessee was providing facilities itself in an activity of general public utility and not towards medical relief. In the case of m....