TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (3) TMI 871
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....:- "1. Whether on the facts and circumstances of the case and in law the Ld. CIT (A) has erred in holding that the activities carried out by the assessee are not in the nature of trade, business or commerce or rendering services in relation to the same." 2. At the outset, ld. counsel for the assessee submitted that this issue stands covered in the case of the assessee by the order of the Tribunal for the Assessment Year 2010-11 vide order dated 23.01.2020. 3. The brief facts of the case are that the assessee claims to be an apex body of all the major ports which are centrally administered under Ministry of Shipping, Government of India and was granted registration u/s.12A. The main objects of the assessee society was to undertake and....
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....and allowances of Rs. 99,21,958/- and the balance of Rs. 16,74,414/- under various heads, viz. Transport hire charges, audit fee, Sundry expenses etc. The assessee has shown expenditure as grant of Rs. 60,00,000/- to associated organizations on Schedule XIII which is mere a book entry. The Ld. Assessing Officer proceeded to disallow these unpaid expenses of Rs. 2,34,58,706/- by treating the same as surplus derived by the assessee and since the exemption u/s 11 of the Act has been denied to the assessee, this surplus was brought to tax by the Ld. Assessing Officer in the assessment. 8. We find that the assessee had pleaded before the CIT(A) that it is not engaged in any type of activity which in the nature of trade, commerce or business. ....
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....the Ld. AO. 11. We find that the issue in dispute had been addressed by the decision of the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry vs DIT(Exemption) reported in 357 ITR 296 (Del.), wherein, the relevant operative portion is reproduced herein:- "The nice question as to whether by rendering specific services to members and non-members for a fee, a trade, professional or similar association can be said to be carrying on a business activity needs to be examined. The further question to be addressed, with reference to Section 11 (4A), would be whether such activities (which amount to a business) were incidental to the attainment of the objectives of trust or institution and whether separate bo....
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....ale of entry and gate tickets, fees for arbitration etc. would be exempted from tax under Section 11 read with Section 2(15) of the Act. The "dominant purpose" test was applied to hold that the activities to earn income were not driven with the motive of profitmaking. In this judgment, separate opinions were expressed by each of the three learned judges and while Justice Pathak (as His Lordship then was) considered the matter to be covered by the majority opinion of the Supreme Court in Additional Commissioner of Income-tax, Gujarat vs. Surat Art Silk Cloth Manufacturers Association (1980) 121ITR page 1, Sen, J. and Venkataramiah, J, held different opinions but considered themselves bound by the majority opinion in Additional Commissione....