Interest-free housing assistance can qualify as charitable relief when beneficiaries are genuinely needy and no commercial benefit arises.

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Full Text of the Document

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....Interest-free, repayable housing assistance to financially needy persons may constitute relief of the poor where beneficiaries are selected on genuine financial need, assistance is for reasonable housing, and the trust receives no interest, fee, commission, mark-up or other commercial benefit. Systematic disbursement, repayment security and recycling through a revolving fund do not by themselves make the activity money-lending or commercial. Loans advanced towards charitable objects cannot be treated as impermissible investments without identifying a specific offending investment or deposit. Registration was remanded for limited verification of beneficiary need, loan terms, recoveries, absence of commercial return and redeployment; related donor-tax approval requires consequential fresh consideration.....