2017 (12) TMI 1221

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....antage and benefit in all possible directions to develop and foster amongst its members a sense of love and brotherhood and collectivity." Since the objective clause indicates that the society exists only for Gujarati community settled at Vijayawada, is against the provisions of section 2(15) of the Act, and the objects appear to be not charitable in nature, the Ld.CIT refused to grant the registration u/s 12AA of the Act. Hence, the application filed by the assessee was rejected. 3. Aggrieved by the order of the CIT, the assessee filed the appeal before this Tribunal. During the appeal hearing, the Ld.AR argued that the objectives of the society is not only for particular Gujarati Community, but also for other general objects. The Ld.AR submitted that as per MoA, the objects of the society are as under : (a) To bring together all the members of the Gujarati Community from Gujarat Domicile in Vijayawada into an association for their advantage and benefit in all possible directions and to develop and foster amongst themselves the sense of love and brotherhood and collectivity and to retain & develop their culture, tradition and customs. (b) To render all possible assistance ....

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....he time granting registration to the society, if the objects are charitable in nature the registration should be granted and the same should not be rejected as per the decided case laws. The AR further argued that while granting registration, the objects beneficial to the general public should not be ignored. He has invited our attention to the decision of CIT(Exemption) vs. Bayath Kutchhi Dasha Oswal Jain Mahajan Trust (243 Taxman 0060), the Hon'ble Gujarat High Court had answered the following question raised by the revenue as under: "(a) Whether the appellate Tribunal is correct in allowing registration to the assessee, disregarding the fact that the assessee trust is hit by section 13(1)(b) of the Act, as the trust is not created for the benefit of general public but is created for the benefit of a particular religious community i.e. "Jain Community?" The Hon'ble High court held that "7. It can thus be seen that the Commissioner focused his attention to clause 4.2 of the objects of the trust to come to the conclusion that the same were for the benefit of a certain religious communities only, in the process ignoring various other objects, for e.g. as per clause 4.1, the tr....

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....ptions) to be set aside and requested to grant the registration. 5. On the other hand, Ld.DR vehemently opposed the arguments of the Ld.A.R and argued that the society is in existence only for a particular community, hence, the CIT has rightly rejected the application of the assessee for granting registration u/s 12AA and requested to uphold the order of the Ld.CIT. 6. We have heard both the parties and perused the material placed on record. We have gone through the objects of the society which reads as under : "(a) To bring together all the members of the Gujarati Community from Gujarat Domicile in Vijayawada into an association for their advantage and benefit in all possible directions and to develop and foster amongst themselves the sense of love and brotherhood and collectivity and to retain & develop their culture, tradition and customs. (b) To render all possible assistance to the general public of Vijayawada in times of distress and to assist the local administration in maintaining Unity & Peace between different communities in of need and to render all possible help in times of famine, cyclone, flood, hurricane, typhoon, natural calamities and in any other disaster o....

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....stes of the people speaking Gujarati residing in Vijayawada. Since the other objects include public charitable purposes and the general public as held by Hon'ble High court of Gujarat in the decision of CIT(Exemption) vs. Bayath Kutchhi Dasha Oswal Jain Mahajan Trust (supra), the registration cannot be refused merely relying on one of the object ignoring other objects. Similarly at the time of granting registration as held by Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad in the case of CIT vs. Sri Sai Darbar Trust, there is no application of section 13(1)(b). For ready reference, we extract relevant paragraph of the decision of Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad reported in 98 CCH 0016 as under: "We have heard learned counsel for both the sides at length and have no difficulty in answering the questions in favour of the assessee. The assessee had filed an application for registration under Section 12AA of the Act. The question of granting of exemption under Sections 11 and 12 to a trust would only arise when a claim was made by the assessee for the same. The stage in the present case had not yet arrived. No finding has been recorded at any stage of the proceeding that the assessee had made any cl....