TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2008 (11) TMI 51
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....e Income Tax Appellate Tribunal whereby the Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) was directed to accord registration to the assessee society under Section 12A of the said Act. 2. The appeal before the Tribunal was preferred by the assessee, being aggrieved by the order passed by the Director of Income Tax (Exemptions), refusing to grant registration to the assessee under Section 12A of the said Act. 3. The assessee is the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in India and has its office at No.7, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi. It is also registered with the Registrar of Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. The aims and objects of the society, as indicated in the Memorandum of Association of the soc....
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....iety shall have any personal claim on any movable or immovable property or profit or accumulation of the society by virtue of the membership. 4. As per clause 3.1 of the rules and regulations, the membership of the society is open to Japanese companies and Japanese government institutions in India which have a direct or indirect interest in the aims and objects of the society and desire to become a member of the society subject to the approval of the governing body. Clause 7 of the rules and regulations empowered the society to alter, extend or abridge the purpose, aims and objects of the society in the manner provided by section 12 of the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Clause 8 provided that all the assets and funds are t....
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....peal before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which considered all the aims and objects in detail. The finding returned by the Tribunal is that the object Nos. 1 and 2 were the main objects of the assessee society and the other objects were ancillary and incidental in nature. With regard to object No. 4, the Tribunal noted that it was for the purposes of promoting education of young Japanese and education, per se, is a charitable purpose as indicated in Section 2 (15) of the said Act. The Tribunal was also of the view that object Nos. 3 and 5 were clearly linked with object Nos. 1 and 2 and did not exist in isolation. The object No. 6, which relates to inviting intellectuals, industrialists, scholars, artist etc. to address seminars and co....
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....e and industry between India and Japan would undoubtedly also benefit the Indian public at large. Consequently, the Tribunal held that the Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) was not justified in saying that the Indian public or any segment thereof would not be benefited by the activities of the society. 8. The Tribunal also took note of the fact that in the event of dissolution of the society, the members are not to receive any of the proceeds thereof. In fact, the proceeds after clearing all the debts, are to be distributed in the manner provided in Sections 13 and 14 of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, which has been specifically incorporated in terms of Clause 12 of the rules and regulations, as indicated above. The ....
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....ry stipulation to this effect, the factual position is that the benefit would be derived by the public in India. It is also required to be noted that the question which arises in the present appeal relates only to the registration of the assessee as a society under Section 12A/ 12AA of the said Act. The question of exemption under Section 11 and 12 is to be dealt with separately by the Assessing Officer at the time of assessment for each year. In case any income of the assessee is applied outside India, it goes without saying that the provisions of Section 11 would apply and the Assessing Officer would deal with the situation accordingly. We are informed by the learned counsel for the respondent that pursuant to the order passed by th....