TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (4) TMI 135
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....n) has held as under : "5. Even otherwise, it is seen that the applicant has incurred expenditure on religious activities in excess of 5% of its total income in the preceding financial years viz. F.Y. 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18. The applicant has not shown any expenditure under the head religious expenses separately in the financial statements but it is seen that the expenditure on account of Pooja Expenses, Utsav Expenses, Prasad Expenses etc. are purely in the nature of religious" expenditure. The details of total expenditure On religious activities shown by the applicant are as under : F.Y 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Utsav Exp. 2,30,083/- 1,21,483/- 1,55,909/- Prasad Exp. 1,60,788/- 1,19,580/- 1,72,284/- Pooja Exp. 1,75,174/- 1,52,267/- 1,33,147/- Mandir Jirnodhar 0 0 2,88,065/- Total... 5,66,045/- 3,93,330/- 7,49,405/- In view of the above,_ the details of expenditure on religious activities and income of the applicant are as under: F.Y. Total income of the- trust Expenditure on religious activities % of expenses on religious objects other than establishment expenses 2015-16 ....
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....nder Bombay Public Trust Act. The assessee is also registered u/s.12A(a) of the Income Tax Act. The Ld.AR relied on the order of ITAT Pune in the case of Aranyashwar Devalaya Trust ITA No.1489/Pune/2013. The ld.Departmental Representative(ld.DR) : 4. Ld.DR has filed written submission, relevant part is reproduced here as under : From the accounts of the appellant assessee it is seen that following are the expenditure for religious purposes : FY Total Income %Religious expenditure 2015-16 15,65,678 11.18% 2016-17 12,58,635 12.09 % 2017-18 13,64,724 9.75 % Thus, the expenditure for Religious activities are more than 5%. Therefore, the appellant has not satisfied conditions laid down in Section 80G(5) of the Act. The Revenue relies on following case laws: "4.1 Kirti Chand Tarawati Ch. Trust Vs DIT [(1998) 232 ITR 11 (Delhi)] (enclosed as Annexure-5): In this case the Hon'ble High Court has quoted the relevant provisions of section 80G in para 7 and emphasis is given for the provisions of Explanation 3 which are reproduced as under: "Explanation 3 - In this section, 'charitable purpose' does not include an....
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....ub-section 5 of section 80G which inter alia vide clause (iv) mandates for the maintenance of the regular accounts of the receipts and expenditure by such institution for the funds. 4.3 In the instant case the appellant does not satisfy not only the conditions prescribed in clause (iv) in view of the fact that it failed to furnish the necessary information required by the CIT(Exemptions) as discussed in para 2 of the order dated 17/10/2019, but it had also failed to satisfy the conditions prescribed in clause (ii) of section 80G(5), section 80G(5B) and Explanation 3 of the section 80G as discussed in the order dated 17/10/2019. Thus, the ratio of the decision is squarely applicable in the instant case. Distinguishing Case law relied by Assessee: 5. The Ld. AR of the appellant has relied on the decision of the Hon'ble 'B' Bench Pune dated 17/08/2015 in the case of Aranyashwar Devalaya Trust in ITA No.1489/PN/2013. The Hon'ble ITAT has held in the above said case that the expenses incurred on religious activities / pooja etc. were below 5% as has been worked out in the table given at the end of the para 8 of the order dated 17/08/2015 and accordingly it was h....
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....nditure on "Religious Activities" is 12% in F.Y.2015-16, 6.67% in F.Y. 2016-17 and 16.7% in 2017-18. What is Religious: We need to first answer what is "Religious activity". The dictionary meaning is that Religious means relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity. Rituals and observances, ceremonies and modes of worship are regarded as integral parts of religion. Performing Rituals, Ceremonies, worships, Poojas are nothing but religious activities. 6.4 The main Shri Sai baba temple is in Shirdi, where Shri Saibaba had lived his life. The Official website of Shri Sai Sansthan Shirdi has mentioned as under : "Shri Saibaba is worshipped as a God incarnate. (SAI meaning Sakshaat Ishwar) - GOD THE ABSOLUTE - To his devotees, Baba is nothing less than a GOD. This has been a matter of experience and not imaginary." 6.5 Thus, for the Shri Saibaba Followers Shri Saibaba is a God Incarnate. In the case before us, the assessee have a Shri Saibaba Temple, the assessee has spend more than 5% of its income on the activities like Pooja, Prasad, Mandir Jirnodhar etc. In the light of the dictionary meaning of the word religio....