TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (1) TMI 467
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.... original certificate of the registration u/s 12A of the Act was misplaced and on the legal advice filed fresh application in Form 10A for grant of registration u/s 12AA of the Act on 04.03.2020. 3. On perusal of the application in Form 10A, ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) had issued a questionnaire on 08.06.2020 calling for the appellant to file certain details. The ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), on perusal of the information filed and the trust deed, held that the objects of the trust are religious in nature and also observed that the appellant society is engaged in the activities of running an Event Hall and a Bhaktniwas and enjoying the receipts of the rentals income attracting the proviso to section 2(15) of the Act. The ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) also held that the receipts the income of the trust were not fully applied for charitable purpose instead the surplus funds were invested in the form of FDs with banks. Based on these observations, he had come to the conclusion that the activities as well as the objects of the trust are not charitable and also not satisfied with the genuineness of activities of the trust and, accordingly, he....
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....n that the objects of the trust are not charitable in nature because the some of the objects are religious in nature. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Fazlul Rabbi Pradhan vs. State of West Bengal, AIR 1965 SC 1722 clearly held that the religious activity also falls within the ambit and scope of charitable activities. Further, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT vs. Dawoodi Bohra Jamat, 364 ITR 31 also held that whereby the objects of the trust are mixed in nature i.e. religious, partly religious and partly nonreligious the registration cannot be denied u/s 12AA of the Act. These ratio of the judgements was followed by us consistently in series of decisions of the Tribunal like in the case of Jain Shwetambar Mandir Trust vs. CIT (Exemptions) vide ITA No.2901/PUN/2017 order dated 04.11.2020 (wherein one of us i.e. the Hon'ble Accountant Member is authored) held as under :- "6. We heard the ld. CIT-DR and perused the material on record. The only issue involved in the present appeal relates to the grant of registration u/s 12AA of the Act. The ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) had denied the registration primarily on the ground that the object of th....
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.... whether such religious-charitable activity carried on by the trust only benefits a certain particular religious community or class or serves across the communities and for society at large. In the present case, ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) had obviously not embarked upon enquiry into this aspect. Therefore, in our considered opinion, in the interests of justice, the matter requires remission to the file of the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) for fresh adjudication keeping in view the legal position discussed above after affording reasonable opportunity of being heard to the appellant society. Accordingly, the matter is set aside to the file of the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions) for fresh adjudication." 8. Thus, in the light of the legal position discussed above, it cannot be said that merely because some of the objects of the appellant society are religious in nature it cannot be said that the objects are not charitable in nature. Thus, the order of the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) on this score cannot be upheld. 9. Secondly, merely because the appellant society is in receipt of income from letting out Event Hall and Bhak....
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....ssions and perused the material on record. The only issue in the present appeal relates to the grant of registration u/s 12AA of the Act. From the perusal of the impugned order, it is clear that the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax, Exemption, Pune denied the grant of registration u/s 12AA of the Act solely on the ground that the appellant trust had failed to furnish the evidence of expenditure of Rs. 6.57 lakhs incurred during the financial year 2018-19. There is no allegation by the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax, Exemption, Pune that the expenditure has been incurred by the appellant trust for objects other than the charitable objects. Nor was it the case of the ld. Commissioner of Income Tax the objects of the trust are not charitable in nature. It is trite law that at the time of grant of registration, the Commissioner of Income Tax is only expected to examine and satisfy himself that the objects of the trust are charitable and its activities are in furtherance of the charitable in nature i.e. satisfy himself about the genuineness of the activities carried on by the assessee as held by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Ananda Social and Educational Trust (supra). 10....