Case Law Details
Rastriya Saksharta Mission Innovative Technologies Education, Khesra Vs. CIT (ITAT Delhi)
Section 12AA of the I.T. Act provides that ‘Pr.CIT or CIT on receipt of an application for registration of a trust or institution under section 12A, shall after satisfying himself about the objects of the trust or institution and the genuineness of its activities, shall pass an order in writing registering the trust or institution, shall, if not so satisfied, pass the order in writing refusing to register the trust or institution.’ Therefore, according to the above provisions, at the time of grant of registration or refusing to grant registration to a trust or institution, the Ld. CIT(E) shall satisfy himself about the objects of the trust and genuineness of its activities.
In the present case, the Ld. CIT(E) noted that assessee produced the Trust Deed and the documents, which have been examined by him and on perusal of the activities of the Assessee-Trust, it reveals that it is running large number of I.T. Education Courses all over India under the name and style of “Rastriya Saksharta Mission I.T. Education”. The Assessee-Trust is running large number of courses i.e., diploma in computer education; diploma in web and designing applications; diploma in hardware and networking, etc. It is, therefore, clear that Ld. CIT(E) was satisfied that Assessee-Trust has been running several educational programmes at different places. Therefore, there is no question of refusing to grant registration to assessee on the basis of report of Inspector who visited Lajpatnagar property. Though the website of the Trust was referred to in the Order, but, no material has been produced on record as to how much heavy fees have been charged by the Assessee-Trust. The Trust Deed shows that Assessee-Trust has primarily exists for Educational and Vocational programmes. The assessee also produced several material on record to show that assessee engaged by Ministry of Rural Development for Placement Linked Skill Development of Rural BPL youth in three States. Thus, the Assessee-Trust has been providing I.T. Education through different courses which is also admitted in the impugned order. Thus, the objects of the Assessee-Trust are ‘Education’ in nature and Assessee-Trust carrying on genuine activities of providing education. Other points raised by the Ld. CIT(E) in the impugned order are not relevant to the enquiry conducted at the stage of grant of registration under section 12AA of the I.T. Act. No evidence or material has been brought on record as to how Assessee-Trust has been doing business activities. The findings of the Ld. CIT(E) are vague and are not substantiated through any evidence or material on record. The removal of the Trustee or directions given by the donor etc., are not relevant at this stage and could be considered by the A.O. at the time of considering the applicability of Section 11 of the I.T. Act. In view of the above facts, the decisions relied upon by the Ld. D.R. would not support the case of the Revenue. In the case of A.R. Trust (supra), the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court referred the matter to the Ld. CIT(E) for recording the satisfaction in the light of decision of the Tribunal and to pass appropriate order. In view of the above discussion, we do not find any justification for Ld. CIT(E) to reject application for registration under section 12AA of the I.T. Act.
FULL TEXT OF THE ITAT JUDGMENT
This appeal by assessee has been directed against the Order of the Ld. CIT(Exemption), New Delhi, Dated 25.02.2015 under section 12AA of the I.T. Act, 1961.
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