TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (12) TMI 1546
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.... and philosophy. (ii) To establishe a Vishwa Gurukul University by opening instruction centers all over India, J&K and abroad for imparting instructins in all languages in theory and practice of "Yoga Sciences" which include the imparting instruction in the theory and practice of yogic sadhan, shat-karma Yogi sukshma Vigyan, Yogisthul vigyan, yogi pranayam etc for their tention and spiritural energy, cure of diseases, cure of mental & physical weakness, cure of obesity and other physical deformities of bodies. The assessee filed application in From No.10A for registration u/s 12A of the Act, however, the Ld. CIT(E) rejected the application of the assessee by holding as under: "5. On 14.07.2016 Sh. Saurav Mehta, CA & counsel of the assesses attended the proceedings. Filed written reply to queries raised vide letter dated 08.07.2016. In answer to a specific query regarding charitable activities being carried out by the society it has been stated vide response dated 14 July, 2016 that the applicant society is engaged in teaching and promotion of Yoga and has been organizing yoga camps at various places and, that the same is included as one of tire limbs of charitable purposes in ti....
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....land & building during the last three years. However, the applicant submitted a copy' of judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Jammu & Kashmir in the case of applicant on acquisition of land (measuring 328 kanal 05 maria) by J &K Government Going through the said order it is revealed that tire Hon'ble Court had decided tire appeal in favour of the applicant who had filed a writ petition against acquisition of land by the State Government on the ground that proper opportunity' had not been given. The case was decided in the month of November, 2000. No papers for the period there after have been adduced by the applicant to prove its ownership of land even after 16 years of judgment pronounced by tire Hon'ble Court, lire said property is also not reflected in the balance sheet filed by the applicant. No proof of other assets reflected in the balance sheet have been adduced either. In fact in an answer to a specific query the applicant's response dated 2016 clearly states that apart from ashram land "tire assessee does not own any other property". The ownership of property, income from which is sought to be exempted u/s 11 of the Act remains doubtful. (i) Based on the ....
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....egards the second objection that income tax return relating to Asst. Year: 2013-14 has not been filed, the Ld. AR invited our attention to (PB 20-25) where copies of balance sheet and income and expenditure for Asst. Year: 2013-14 was placed and it was submitted that no such query was raised by Ld. CIT(A) in the show cause notice as placed at (PB 34 to 36). The Ld. AR in this respect invited our attention to a recent judgment of Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of CIT(E) vs. Shir Shirdi Sai Darbar Charitable Trust. The Ld. AR submitted that in this case, the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that non filing of income tax return in earlier year can not lead to the conclusion that the activities are not genuine. As regards details regarding ownership of land, the Ld. AR invited our attention to (PB-121 to 132) where a copy of judgment of Hon'ble J&K High Court was placed and where the Hon'ble Court had held that the assessee was the owner of land. As regards the objection of Ld. CIT(E) that that the said property was not mentioned in balance sheet, the Ld. AR submitted that the said value was duly reflected in the balance sheet in fixed assets under the ....
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....tion explained that mandir is a part of Yogic activities and kitchen is run for preachers, students and on certain occasions for public at large. The Ld. AR also filed copies of orders in the case of Patanjali Yogpeeth decided by Hon'ble Delhi Benches of Tribunal for the proposition that even if there are certain irregularities in the books of accounts, the exemption cannot be denied. 8. The Ld. DR on the other hand, submitted that expenses incurred by assessee in the form of Bhandara Expenses were in fact expenses which had been incurred for organizing Bhandara in the form of Langar as Bhandara is generally organized for the public at large. He submitted that in the ledger account of kitchen expenses there are irregular amounts of expenditure which shows that on some special occasion huge kitchen expenses were booked which proves that there were not incurred for students or preachers. The Ld. DR in this respect filed a month wise detail of kitchen expenses for the three assessment years and submitted that the percentage of kitchen expenses to total expenses do not indicate that they were consistently incurred for students and Yoga Teachers. The Ld. DR in this respect submitted....
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....e, the society is quite old as has been noted in the order of Ld. CIT(E) and therefore, in this case, the genuineness of activities had to be verified to arrive at the conclusion as to whether the assessee was eligible for registration u/s 12AA of the Act. 9. The Ld. AR in his rejoinder submitted that the photographs, letters of various institutions and books being published by society clearly shows that assessee was actually engaged in providing Yogic Training. The Ld. AR further filed a copy of assessment order passed by A.O. in the case of Assessee for Asst. Year 2015-16 and submitted that Assessing Officer did not find any discrepancy during Assessment Proceedings and Assessing Officer himself has held that Assessee was a charitable society and the objective of society are to develop social, physical, mental and spiritual condition and also to impart learning of Yogic. 10. We have heard the rival parties and have gone through the material placed on record. We find that it is an undisputed fact that assessee is registered under Societies Act and the aims and objects as noted in the order u/s 12AA are charitable in nature as with effect from Finance Act, 2015. The Section 2(15....
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....ommissioner or Commissioner of receipt of an application for registration of trust or institution u/s 12A of the Act will call for such documents or information as he thinks necessary in order to satisfy himself about the genuineness of activities of the trust or institution and he is also required to satisfy himself about the objects of the trust or institution and if he is satisfied with the objects of the trust or institution and genuineness of the activities of the trust or institution he shall pass an order in writing registering the said trust or institution. As regards the satisfaction regarding objects of trust or institution, the Ld. CIT(E) had no objection. He had only objection with respect to genuineness of activities of the trust. On the basis of balance sheet and other information provided by assessee, the Ld. CIT(E) has held the activities of the society were not genuine as in his opinion there was no expenses attributable to the propagation of Yoga and no return for Asst. Year: 2013-14 was filed and further details regarding ownership of land was not provided and the said property was not reflected in the balance sheet. In this respect, we find that these objection....
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....o as a great source for physical and mental health and spiritual attainment. When a large number of people feel that meditation is a great source for physical, mental and spiritual well being, it must be held that these activities are for the advancement of general pubic utility. Maintaining Samadhi of Guru is also charitable purpose in accordance with Section 2 (15) o the Act and Pooja of such Samadhi reminds people of ideology of Guru, in whose memory pooja is carried out. Organizing bhandara is an activity of providing foods to persons irrespective of any cost or religious Such bhandara activities are like day meal food scheme of the government. When the government is running such scheme, under those circumstances, it cannot be said that objects of the trust are not charitable. Running gaushala, Piaau and providing dana to birds is also charitable activities. The assessee discharged the burden in this regard by furnishing all necessary details of copy of trust deed pointing out various charitable objects of the trust and expenditures incurred on charitable activities." We do not find any error of law in the findings recorded by the Tribunal. From the object of the trust it cann....
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....d that assessee was imparting education in Yoga and spiritualism and which itself was a public purpose and therefore, the Hon'ble High Court had also held that assessee was imparting the education in Yoga. The order was passed by Hon'ble High Court on 10th Nov. 2000 and which was available with Ld. CIT(E) during the proceedings. The Hon'ble High Court has decided the issue of land in favour of the Assessee and has also held that Assessee was using this land for imparting education in Yoga. For the sake of completeness the relevant findings of the Hon'ble Court are reproduced below. "The next argument of Mr. Wazir, learned "counsel for the petitioners is that the acquisition of the land is colorful exercise of powers and malafide The Ashrarn and the land, subject-matter of the dispute is being used by the petitioner for imparting * education in Yoga and spiritualism which itself is a public purpose. The creation of facilities for pilgrims have not been defined in the Act under Section 3(G) as a public purpose. The respondents have also not stated, aa to what facilities will be created which would be more useful to the public to that of the activities run-by the Ashram for the Publi....
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....th such a proposition in Farid Ahmed Vs. Ahmedabad Municipality AIR 1976 SC 2085 has held as under: "The heart of Section 5A of the band Acquisition Act is the hearing of objections and under sub-section (2) of that section a personal hearing is mandatorilyy provided for. When therefore/Section 5A of the band Acquisition Act is applicable under Appendix I of the Bombay Act and there is nothing to show expressly or by necessary implication that the said section or any part of it is excluded under Section 284N or under any other provision in Chapter XVI as a whole the right to personal , hearing under the Bombay Act cannot vanish or be defeated." This court in Onkar Nath Vs. State, reported in 1983 KUT 122, relying upon AIR 1974 SC 1380 and following the mandate of the Judgment pronounced in Farid Ahmed Vs. Ahmedabad Municipality AIR 1976 SC 2095(Supra) has recorded in the course of the judgment as under ; "It is a well settled that failure on part of the band Acquisition Collector to comply with its provisions by not giving a hearing to the owner in support of his objections renders all proceedings taken subsequent thereto. Including notification u/s 6 without jurisdiction, AIR ....
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....ts clearly showed the value of buildings only on which assessee had claimed depreciation. The objection of Ld. DR that the balance sheet filed during the appellate proceedings and balance sheet in the Paper Book are different seems to be inadvertent mistake because there is no difference in any of the figures and assessee had claimed deprecation @ 10% which is applicable for building and the claim of deprecation on building on the entire W.D.V itself proves that the fixed Assets declared in the Balance Sheet reflected only investment towards Building The assessee being engaged in the imparting of teaching of Yoga is also quite apparent from the letter dated 14.07.2016 filed by assessee with Ld. CIT(E) placed at (PB 37 to 39) wherein the assessee vide para 14 had submitted as under: "14. The main object of the assessee society is to promote and teach yoga to general public. The society has been working for promotion of yoga for the last many years. The society has been organizing yoga camps at various places. Besides the society is also helping many organizations/ institutions by allowing them to conduct yoga camps at their premises. The yoga camps are conducted under the expert g....
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....present case. While considering registration the Ld. CIT(E) was required only to examine the objects of the society which undoubtedly are charitable in nature. The other aspect was to examine the genuineness of activities of the society. The Assessee during proceedings before him had filed sufficient evidences regarding Yoga activities being carried out and had filed supporting evidences vide letter dated 14.07.2016 but the Ld. CIT(E) carried himself to another direction, wherein he objected about non filing of papers for land and objections relating to Bhandara expenses etc. Even if we assume that there were certain irregularities in the books of accounts, the same cannot be used to deny the exemption to assessee specifically in view of the fact that assessee had clarified the objections of Ld. CIT(E). The case laws relied on by Ld. DR are distinguishable on the facts as in those cases the assessee could not satisfy that charitable activities were being carried out whereas in the present case vide letter dated 14.07.2016 the Assessee had submitted evidence of Yogi activities being carried out but Ld. CIT(E) did not comment on those evidences and neither he rebutted the same. More....
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....tal and spiritual conditions for all human beings of all classes, creeds, religions, races, colours and castes by imparting learning based on Yoga, Vedic, Vedantic and Ancient Indian Culture and Philosophy. To establish a Vishav Gurukul University by opening instruction Centers all over India and abroad for imparting instructions in all languages in theory and practice of 'Yoga Science" including imparting instructions of Yogic Sadhana, Shat Karma, Yogic Sukshma Vigyan, Yogic Sthul Vigyan Yogic Pranayam etc. To establishe Ayurdevedic Research centers for imparting study and development of the theory and practice of Ancient Ayurdevic methods of healing with reference to modern methods. The petitioner is imparting Yoga and spiritual education in this Asharam which has the capacity to provide all facilities to the persons securing such education in the Asharam. The land under the Asharma is being used for the welfare of the public and all those persons who are interested in learning Yoga and spiritual education. These activities of the Asharam are being done without any profit or gain." As regards objects of society there is no dispute that those are charitable in nature. Therefore,....
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....f the Act are the provisions of the Act in substitution of the earlier provisions of Section 10(22) of the Act as to which income shall not be included in computing the total income of any person. Therefore, the provisions of Sections 11, 12 or Section (23C) of the Act, deal with the income of a Trust or of the Institution and the circumstances as to when such income is to be excluded for computing the total income, but the basis of such benefit is the registration under Section 12AA of the Act. Unless a Trust or Institution is registered under Section 12AA of the Act, such Trust or Institution shall not be entitled to exclude from its total income, deductions or contributions or from other sources. Therefore, the principles laid down for excluding the income from consideration under Section 10(22) now 10(23)(C) or Sections 11 and 12 are not applicable while considering the application for registration under Section 12AA of the Act. The application for registration is required to be made within one year of the creation of the Trust. Section 12AA of the Act, requires satisfaction in respect of the genuineness of the activities of the Trust, which includes the activities which the T....
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....se remarks have been recorded by the CIT (E) with regard to the objects contained in the memorandum of the assessee-trust to come to the conclusion that its activities are not genuine. Thus, it has been rightly directed by the Tribunal to the CIT (E) to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act. The relevant observations recorded by the Tribunal read thus:- "We have heard the learned representatives of both the parties, perused the findings of the authorities below and considered the material available on record. The first reason on the basis of which the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) has refused to grant registration to the assessee is that the assessee has not been filing its income-tax returns in the earlier years. We do not find that it is a good reason to reject the application for registration since the two conditions which the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) has to satisfy while granting the registration under Section 12A of the Act, are that the objects of the assessee are charitable in nature and the activities are genuine. Just because the assessee has not filed its income tax returns in earlier years, it cannot be said that the activities of th....