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2015 (5) TMI 1210
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....sgressed the limited authority vested in him under section 12AA(3) and consequently the order of cancellation passed under section 12AA(3) is bad in law. 5. The learned Commissioner of Income-tax has transgressed the powers granted by the provisions of Section 12AA(3) while cancelling the Registration of the appellant under section 12A of the Act 6. The Learned commissioner of Income-tax has acted beyond the provisions of the Income-tax Act by cancelling the Registration retrospectively and hence the order is bad in law. 7. The Learned Commissioner of Income-tax erred in holding that the activities of the trust is not a charitable activity. Registration cannot be cancelled on an erroneous ground that the activities of the assessee in commercial in nature. The activities of the trust are being carried out in accordance with the objects of the trust. And hence it cannot be said that the said activities are in the nature of trade, commerce or business. 8. The Learned Commissioner of Income-tax ought to have followed the decided judicial Pronouncements where the collection of fee or cess to subsidise the cost of the activity is not business. Therefor....
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....isakhapatnam dt. 13.10.1994. A Certificate of exemption u/s. 80G of the Act was also given with the following noting: "As the objects of the Trust are charitable in nature and they are for the benefit of the public at large, the registration u/s. 12A and exemption u/s. 80G may be granted." 3. Based on the above noting, the Ld. CIT-I, Visakhapatnam in the impugned order, came to a conclusion that the assessee trust was granted registration, by classifying it under the last limb of the definition 'charitable purpose' u/s. 2(15) of the Act, being "the advancement of any other object of general public utility." The Ld. CIT-I, Visakhapatnam also records that for all the subsequent Assessment Years (AYs) i.e. from the AY 1994-95 onwards the assessee has been claiming that its income was exempt u/s. 11 of the Act and the Revenue has been considering this claim as within the ambit of "advancement of any other object of general public utility". 4. The Ld. CIT-I, Visakhapatnam at page 2 of his order observed as follows. "However, the successive Assessing Officers of the Department had been maintaining that despite the grant of registration u/s. 12A. the assessee trust ....
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.... 4.1. The observations of the Ld. CIT-1, Visakhapatnam with reference to the amendment brought about to the definition of "charitable purpose" u/s. 2(15) of the Act by the Finance Act, 2010 w.e.f. 1.4.2009, applicable for the AY 2009-10 are as follows: "(a) Advancement of any other object of general public utility shall not be a charitable purpose, if it involves the carrying on of any activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business, or any activity of rendering any service in relation to any trade, commerce or business, for a cess or fee or any other consideration, irrespective of the nature of use or application or retention of the income from such activity if the aggregate value of the receipts from such activity is more than Rs. 10 lakhs up to the AY 2012-13, more than Rs. 25 lakhs for the AY 2013-14 onwards. (b) This amendment introduced in the Act, would clearly divest any charitable attribute to any entity which earns income from any such activity, with the consequential effect of its income being liable to taxation. (c) When an entity, prior to the amendment had enjoyed the benefit of exemption from such activity, and supported by grant of ....
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....its ambit purposes such as relief to destitutes, orphans or the handicapped, disadvantaged women or children, small and marginal farmers, indigent artisans or senior citizens in need of aid. Accordingly, entities who have these objects will continue to be eligible for exemption even if they incidentally carry on an commercial activity, subject, however, to the conditions stipulated u/s. 11(4A) or the seventh proviso to section 10(23C). 4.2 It is wrong to hold that the trust has been created primarily and essentially to provide services of dock workers in an assured, regular and uninterrupted manner and at a' relatively cheaper rate to the business needs of the stevedores and clearing and forwarding agents at Visakhapatnam Port for the reason that the stevedores and clearing and forwarding agents and the shipping companies do have to pay higher labour charges to the trust as compared to those charged by the Visakhapatnam Port Trust, which really does not relatively benefit their business interests. 4.3 Apart from the above, the statutory provisions of section 12AA(3) do not permit the Commissioner to seek cancellation of registration already granted earlier mer....
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.... Major Port Trust Act, 1963, and, as such, its activities cannot be treated as business activity." 6. After considering the detailed submissions of the assessee, the Ld. CIT-1, Visakhapatnam cancelled the registration granted earlier to the assessee u/s. 12A of the Act vide the order No. Hqrs. No. III/41/94-95 dt. 02.03.2001, with retrospective effect, from 1.4.2009 relevant to the AY 2009-10 vide his order dt. 6.2.2013 for the following reasons. "(i) The assessee had earlier pleaded before the Ld. CIT-I, Visakhapatnam in its appeal for the AY 1999-2000 that the assessee's activity constitutes "advancement of general public utility in terms of S. 2(15) of the Act." Having made such pleadings before the First Appellate Authority as well as before the ITAT, the assessee makes a complete turnaround to plead, at the proposed stage of cancellation of registration, that its objects and activity pertain to, the specified 'charitable purpose' definition of 'relief of the poor' and is making a desperate attempt by claiming that it is engaged in relief of the poor, which remains unsubstantiated. (ii) Such attempt has been made by the assessee, for the....
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.... workers are much like stable employment for them with employer- employee relationship between the assessee trust and the workers so that they can avail of the benefits of voluntary retirement scheme as and when such schemes are floated; (e) As an indicator of the engagement of the services of the workers as employees on the rolls of the assessee trust, the employees are entitled to receive wages even on those days when there is no loading and unloading work for them." 6.1. Thereafter the Ld. CIT-I, Visakhapatnam concludes that the stand of the assessee that it is engaged in relief of the poor, stands completely demolished. He refers to Board Circular No. 11/2008 (F. No. 134/34/2008-TPL) dated 19.12.2008 for the meaning of the term 'poor' and after referring to the order of the ITAT in the assessee's own case for the earlier AY, records that the assessee Trust can be said to be engaged in the activity of rendering of any service in relation to any trade, commerce or business, for cess or fee and hence it is not entitled to claim its objects as charitable purposes relating to the relief of the poor. 6.2. On the objection of the assessee that the Trust has ....
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....CIT-I, Visakhapatnam. 7. The Ld. Counsel for the assessee Mr. C.P. Ramaswami, challenged the cancellation of registration by arguing that: "(a) The objects of the assessee are held to be charitable in nature when the Ld. CIT-I, Visakhapatnam has granted registration to the assessee originally u/s. 12AA of the Act w.e.f. 19.1.1994 vide order dt. 2.3.2001. (b) That the Visakhapatnam Bench of the ITAT in ITA Nos. 272 to 274/Vizag/2005, ITA 296 & 297/Vizag/2006 and ITA 342/Vizag/2008 for the AYs 1999-2000 to 2004-05 in the assessee's own case held that the assessee is a charitable organization and that the objects of the assessee are predominantly charitable in nature and that there is no change in objects as well as activities of the assessee till date and hence the issue is no more res-integra. (c) and submitted that the Hon'ble Delhi High Court has read down the provision so as to uphold the constitutional validity of the Proviso and had laid down the manner of interpretation of the Provisos to S. 2(15). (d) He also relied on the judgement of the Hon'ble Madras High Court in the case of CIT v. Sarvodaya Ilakkiya Pannai reported in 3....
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....nam, cancelling the registration u/s. 12A has to be upheld. For this proposition he relied on the judgement of Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of CIT v. Truck Operators Association reported in 328 ITR 636. He further relied on the decision of Hon'ble Kerala High Court in the case Infoparks v. Dy. CIT reported in 329 ITR 404, for the proposition that, if the activities of the assessee involves any trade, commerce or business, then the organization is to be excluded from the classification of charitable institutions, by virtue of first Proviso first limb, (clause (a)) itself and there is no necessity to consider stipulations laid down in Clause (b) containing the words "or any activity of rendering any service in relation to any trade, commerce or business". He submitted that interpretation has been placed by the Hon'ble Kerala High Court in the case of Info Park v. Dy. CIT, reported in 329 ITR 404, on this section and it was explained how this section should be read and understood. He further relied on the order of Amritsar Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Sukhmani Society for Citizen Services v. CIT 024 ITR (Trib.) 0438 and submitted that when a fee ....
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....eed states that the in the event of the dissolution of the Trust, the remaining property shall not be distributed among the members of the Trust but shall be given or transferred to any other institution with similar objectives and aims and which is registered u/s. 12A of the Income-tax Act. The main objects for which the trust was formed, as extracted in Para -4 supra, does not depict any profit motive. The primary object of the Trust is to Identify, enroll, allot the work and regulate the operation of the private workers. It is not in dispute that the assessee is carrying on the very same activity since its inception. The surplus earned on carrying on the said activity are not to be distributed between the trustees, but to be retained by the assessee trust for the purpose of carrying on the objects of the trust. Hence in the absence of the profit motive attached to the activities carried on by the Trust, in our opinion, the activities carried on by the Trust cannot be treated as a business activity. Further the assessee trust was formed only for the purpose of the regulating the operations of the private workers in the Dock yard and said object have been approved as "Charitable p....
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....ther the CIT is required to demonstrate that the conditions stipulated in Sec. 12AA(3) are met before cancellation of registration u/s. 12A of the Act. 10.5. The Hon'ble Madras High Court in the case of M/s. Tamil Nadu Cricket Association v. DIT(E) reported in 360 ITR 633 had considered the provisions of S. 12AA(3) of the Act and has held as follows. "29. Section 12AA of the Act prescribes procedure for registration. As per this, on receipt of the application for registration, the Commissioner is to call for such documents or information from the trust or institution in order to satisfy himself about the genuineness of activities of the trust or institution. The section further empowers the Commissioner to make such enquiry as he deems necessary in this regard. Once the Commissioner is satisfied himself about the objects of the trust or institution and the genuineness of the activities of the trust, he has to pass an order in writing registering the trust or institution; if he is not so satisfied, he has to pass an order in writing refusing to register the trust or institution. 30. Section 12AA(3) of the Act inserted with effect from October 1, 2004, under ....
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.... offer a good ground for cancellation. Thus, in every case, grant of registration as well as cancellation of registration rests on the satisfaction of the Commissioner on findings given on the parameters given in section 12AA(1) and section 12AA(3) of the Act, as the case may be." Further, the Hon'ble High Court held as follows:-- "51. As already noted in the preceding paragraphs, considering the provision under Section 12AA(3) of the Act, the cancellation or registration in a given case could be done only under the stated circumstances under Section 12AA(3) of the Act and in the background of the definition relevant to the particular year of registration. As rightly pointed out by the assessee, Revenue does not allege anything against the genuineness of the objects of the assessee or its activities. It rests its order only on the ground of the assessee receiving income from holding of matches which according to the assessee were not held by it. Thus, as regards the question as to whether the particular income qualified under Section 11 of the Act or not is not the same as activity being genuine or not In the circumstances, we do not agree with the view of the Incom....
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....t came out of advertisement revenue, 54. The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal pointed out that the physical aspect of the game was one in accordance with the objects of the assesses and the activities are genuine, However, the matches held were not in advancement of any specific object of general public utility. The pattern of receipt is commercial in character and the matches conducted are not in accordance with the objects of the Association, Thus, it rejected the assesses Is case and held that both the conditions under Section 12AA(3) of the Act stood attracted. 55. As seen from the observation of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, although generally it accepted the case of the assesses that the physical aspect of the game was one in accordance with the objects, the quantum of receipt apparently led the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and the Revenue to come to the conclusion that the activities are commercial and hence by Section 2(15) proviso to the Act, the receipt from BCCI could not be called as subsidy. As for the observation of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal that the twin conditions stood satisfied is concerned, it is not denied by the Revenue that at the ....
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....s, we agree with the assessee that the Revenue has not made out any ground to cancel the registration under Section 12AA(3) of the Act. 57. As regards the observation of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal that IPL Matches and Celebrity Cricket Matches are also being held by the Association and hence it is an entertainment industry, we need not go into these aspects, for, the order of the Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) casts no doubt on the genuineness of the objects of the trust Hence, it is for the Assessing Officer to take note of all facts, while considering the same under Section 11 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. We disapprove the approach of the Tribunal in this regard. In the above said circumstances, we set aside the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. 58. In the result, the Tax Case (Appeal) stands allowed. No costs. Consequently, connected MP is closed. (emphasis ours). 10.6. Similarly the Hon'ble Madras High Court in the case of CIT-I v. Sarvodaya Ilakkiya Pannai reported in (2012) 343 ITR 300 held as follows. "6. In order to apply the above provision, there must be a specific finding by the Commissioner that the activi....
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....ction 12AA, the Commissioner is empowered to grant or refuse the registration and after granting registration, would be empowered to cancel and that too, only on two conditions laid down under section 12AA(3) of the Act. Whether the income derived from such transaction would be assessed for tax and also whether the trust would be entitled to exemption under section 11 are entirely the matters left to the assessing officer to decide as to whether it should be assessed or exempted. 10. The Tribunal had allowed the case of the assessee with the finding that none of the conditions under section 12AA(3) were violated and therefore, the satisfaction which was arrived at by the Commissioner of Income Tax was not justified. In that view of the matter, we find no reason to interfere with the order of the Tribunal and accordingly, both the questions require no further consideration. The tax case appeal is dismissed as devoid of merits." (emphasis ours). 10.7. In the case on hand the Ld. CIT clearly gives a finding that the assessee is carrying on its activities in accordance with the objects. There is no finding arrived at by the Ld. CIT, that the activities of ....
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....d cancel the registration granted to a trust/institution prior to 1st Oct. 2004. The Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court Lucknow Bench in the case of Oxford Academy for Career Development(supra) at headnotes held as under: The order cancelling the registration granted to a trust or institution u/s. 12AA being a quasi judicial order does not fall within the category of orders mentioned u/s. 21 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, which provides that the power conferred on an authority to issue orders includes the power conferred on an authority to issue orders include the power to rescind such orders, and the CIT earlier granting the registration to a trust or institution. S. 12AA(3) was incorporated w.e.f 1st Oct. 2004, to empower the CIT to cancel the registration granted to a trust or institution. The object of this provision is not clarificatory or explanatory. So prior to that date, the authorities granting registration had no inherent power to withdraw or revoke the registration already granted. (Emphasis ours). 9. In the above decision, the Hon'ble High Court has clearly held that s. 12AA(3) has no retrospective effect as it is neither explanator....
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....be effective from the date it was introduced and onwards and therefore CIT was not justified in cancelling, saying there was nothing to show cause notice in the impugned order alleging that the petitioner had obtained the registration by practicing fraud or forgery." 11.5. Similar is the proposition in the case of DIT v. NH Kapadia Education Trust, ITAT Ahmedabad Bench reported in 136 ITD 111 (Ahmd.) 11.6. Coming to the decision relied upon by the Ld. D.R. i.e. in the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Sinhagad Technical Education Society v. CIT (2012) 343 ITR 23 : 249 CTR 45 (Bom) (High Court) it was held as under: "S. 12AA : Trust or Institution-Registration-Charitable purposes-Registration-Constitutional validity-Amendment of section 12AA(3) is held to be valid. The Commissioner issued the notice under section 12AA(3) on 31st July, 2007 for cancellation of the registration granted to the petitioner for the assessment year 1999-2000 on the ground that the petitioner is charging capitation fee and donations in respect of admissions and diverting them in respect of personal gain of trustees. The proceedings were initiated and order was passed cancelling the....
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....sue that comes up for our consideration is whether the registration can be cancelled on the ground that the activities of the assessee attract the provisos to S. 2(15) of the Act. 13. We have in the earlier part of the order at para 10 page 14 extracted in para 10, 10.1 of the order of the ITAT in the assessee's own case for the A.Y. 1999-2000 to 2004-05. A perusal of the same demonstrate that it is held that the assessee is not operating with a profit motto and that its activities are not in the nature of business and that the objects and activities of the trust are charitable in nature as recognized by the Ld. CIT when registration was granted. "Profit motto" is sine-qua-non of business or service in the nature of business. As there is no profit motive, there is no business activity. 13.1. Now we consider the propositions of law laid down by various High Courts on the interpretation of the two Provisos to Sec. 2(15) of the Act. 13.2. The Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of GSI India v. DIT reported in 360 ITR 138 held that: "Section 2(15) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, was amended by the Finance Act, 2008, with effect from April 1, 2009, and a proviso ....
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....ld be wholly, substantially or in part must be funded by voluntary contributions. A practical and pragmatic view is required to examine the data, which should be analysed objectively and a narrow and coloured view will be counter-productive and contrary to the language of section 2(15). The second proviso applies when business was/is conducted and the quantum of receipts exceeds the specified sum. The proviso does not seek to disqualify a charitable organization covered by the last limb, when a token fee is collected from the beneficiaries in the course of activity which is not a business but clearly charity for which it is established and it undertakes." 13.3. The Delhi Bench of the ITAT in Delhi and District Cricket Association v. DIT(E), New Delhi in ITA No. 3095/Del/2012 vide order dt. 13th January, 2015, for which one of us is an author (Accountant Member) at para 10.4 culled out the propositions in the following manner. "(a) For the cancellation of registration u/s. 12AA(3), the Commissioner should record a satisfaction that the activities of the Trust or Institution are not genuine or that the activities are not being carried on in accordance with the objects of ....
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....s anti-thesis of activity having an element of self interest. Charity is driven by altruism and desire to serve others, though element of self preservation may be present. For charity, benevolence should be omnipresent and demonstrable but it is not equivalent to self sacrifice and abnegation. (g) The antiquated definition of charity, which entails giving and receiving nothing in return is outdated. (h) Enrichment of oneself or self-gain should be missing and the predominant purpose of the activity should be to serve and benefit others, the mandatory features being, selflessness or illiberal spirit. (i) The quantum of fee charged, the economic status of the beneficiaries who pay, commercial values in comparison to the fee, purpose and object behind the fee etc. are several factors which decide seminal question, is it business? (j) The Revenue cannot take a contradictory stand that, the assessee carries on charitable activity under the residuary head "general public utility", but, simultaneously record the said activity as business. (k) There is no statutory mandate that a charitable Institution falling under the residuary Clauses, should....
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.... be satisfied, therefore, is that the institution must be established for 'charitable purposes'. Charitable purpose is defined in Section 2(15) as indicated above. It is an inclusive definition and includes relief of the poor, education, medical relief, advancement of any other object of general public utility and "preservation of environment (including watersheds, forests and wildlife) and preservation of monuments or places or objects of artistic or historic interest". Insofar as the present case is concerned, we are concerned only with the advancement of any other object of general public utility, which has been regarded as a residuary object. Rule 2C specifies the "prescribed authority" as the Chief Commissioner or the Director General to whom an application is to be furnished under Section 10(23C)(iv) or (v) by a fund, trust or institution. The form of application has been specified as Form No. 56. Once such an application is made, the prescribed authority [in this case, the Director General of Income-tax (Exemptions)] has to determine the eligibility for granting approval to an institution for the purposes of exemption stipulated in Section 10(23C)(iv). We have noted ....
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....able purpose of advancement of an object of general public utility. The difficulty that has arisen for the petitioner is because of the introduction of the proviso to Section 2(15). The said proviso has two parts. The first part has reference to the carrying on of any activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business. The second part has reference to any activity of rendering any service "in relation to" any trade, commerce or business. Both these parts are further subject to the condition that the activities so carried out are for a cess or fee or any other consideration, irrespective of the nature or use or application or retention of the income from such activities. In other words, if by virtue of a 'cess' or 'fee' or any other consideration, income is generated by any of the two sets of activities referred to above, the nature of use of such income or application or retention of such income is irrelevant for the purposes of construing the activities as charitable or not. 45. To be clear, if an activity in the nature of trade, commerce or business is carried on and it generates income, the fact that such income is applied for charitable purposes, wou....
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....t in a given case activity may be regarded as a business even when profit motive cannot be established/proved. In such cases, there should be evidence and material to show that the activity has continued on sound and recognized business, principles and pursued with reasonable continuity. There should be facts and other circumstances which justify and show that the activity undertaken is in fact in the nature of business." 49. In Bureau of Indian Standards (supra), this court, while considering whether the activities of the Bureau of Indian Standards (supra) in granting licences and trading certificates and charging of fee amounted to carrying on business, trade or commerce, held as under:" "73,. In these circumstances, "rendering any service in relation to trade, commerce or business" cannot, in the opinion of the Court, receive such a wide construction as to enfold regulatory and sovereign authorities, set up under statutory enactments, and tasked to act as agencies of the State in public duties which cannot be discharged by private bodies. Often apart from the controlling or parent statutes, like the BIS Act, these statutory bodies (including BIS) are empowered ....
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....ions which are carrying on regular business from the scope of "charitable purpose". The purpose of introducing the proviso to Section 2(15) of the Act can be understood from the Budget Speech of the Finance Minister while introducing the Finance Bill 2008. The relevant extract to the Speech is as under:" "Charitable purpose " includes relief of the poor, education, medical relief and any other object of general public utility. These activities are tax exempt, as they should be. However, some entities carrying on regular trade, commerce or business or providing services in relation to any trade, commerce or business and earning incomes have sought to claim that their purposes would also fall under "charitable purpose". Obviously, this was not the intention of Parliament and, hence, I propose to amend the law to exclude the aforesaid cases. Genuine charitable organizations will not in any way be affected. The expressions "business", "trade" or "commerce" as used in the first proviso must, thus, be interpreted restrictively and where the dominant object of an organisation is charitable any incidental activity for furtherance of the object would not fall within the ex....
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....ng statutes it is used in the sense of an occupation, or profession which occupies the time, attention and labour of a person, normally with the object of making profit. To regard an activity as business there must be a course of dealings, either actually continued or contemplated to be continued with a profit motive, and not for sport or pleasure." (Underlining added) 72. There is nothing on record to indicate the assertion of the petitioner that its activities are not fuelled by profit motive is incorrect. Absence of profit motive, though not conclusive, does indicate that the petitioner is not carrying on any business" 53. From the said decision, it is apparent that merely because a fee or some other consideration is collected or received by an institution, it would not lose its character of having been established for a charitable purpose. It is also important to note that we must examine as to what is the dominant activity of the institution in question. If the dominant activity of the institution was not business, trade or commerce, then any such incidental or ancillary activity would also not fall within the categories of trade, commerce or busines....
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....the Finance Act, 2008 was directed to prevent the unholy practice of pure trade, commerce and business entities from masking their activities and portraying them in the garb of an activity with the object of a general public utility. It was not designed to hit at those institutions, which had the advancement of the objects of general public utility at their hearts and were charity institutions. The attempt was to remove the masks from the entities, which were purely trade, commerce or business entities, and to expose their true identities. The object was not to hurt genuine charitable organizations. And, this was also the assurance given by the Finance Minister while introducing the Finance Bill 2008. 56. In G.S. 1 (supra) it was contended by the revenue that GS1 (India) had acquired intellectual property rights from GS 1 (Belgium) and thereafter received registration fees from third parties in India. This was sought to be equated to royalty payments. It was also contended that GS1 (India) had huge surpluses of receipts over expenditure and that payments were made to GS1 (Belgium). According to the revenue, all this entailed that GS 1 (India) was engaged in 'business, ....
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....and not to recoup or reimburse in monetary terms what is given to the beneficiaries. Element of give and take is missing, but decisive element of bequeathing is present. In the absence of "profit motive" and charity being the primary and sole purpose behind the activities of the petitioner is perspicuously discernible and perceptible. The court also held:-- "27. As observed above, fee charged and quantum of income earned can be indicative of the fact that the person is carrying on business or commerce and not charity, but we must keep in mind that charitable activities require operational/running expenses as well as capital expenses to be able to sustain and continue in long run. The petitioner has to be substantially self sustaining in long-term and should not depend upon government, in other words taxpayers should not subsidize the said activities, which nevertheless are charitable and fall under the residuary clause - general public utility. The impugned order does not refer to any statutory mandate that a charitable institution falling under the last clause should be wholly, substantially or in part must be funded by voluntary contributions. No such requiremen....
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....) The finding of the Ld. CIT, Visakhapatnam is that the assessee falls under the category "advancement of any other object of general public utility" u/s. 2(15) of the Act. Hence is a charitable organization. The only issue is whether the assessee falls within the ken of the provisos inserted to S. 2(15) of the Act by the Finance Act, 2010 w.e.f. 1.4.2009; When the finding of the ITAT is that the assessee activities are not with any "profit motive" and when it is held that the assessee is not carrying on any business, then the provisions to sec. 2(15) of the Act are not attracted in the case on hand and exemption cannot be withdrawn. (b) In this case the fee/labour charge that has to be charged, are fixed by Visakhapatnam Port Trust through the Visakhapatnam Dock Labour Board and this fee is charged for supply of labour, which is in turn paid to the labour force. Such charge of fee, can not in our opinion be construed as commercial activity carried out by the Trust, when the tests laid down by various Courts are applied to the facts of this case. (c) The main and predominant object of the assessee is to promote the welfare of the workers. The assessee is admittedl....