Case Law Details
Doctor Madan Lal Atri Charitable Trust Vs CIT Exmp. (ITAT Agra)
The purpose of grant of registration is to ensure that the assessee is primarily into charitable activities as defined undersection 2(15) of the Act and for those purposes, Commissioner exemption should make enquiries only. The Commissioner exemption should not use this opportunity to extend its authority beyond Income Tax Act i.e in the sphere of the other authorities under different laws or sitting in judgment against permission/ approval given under different laws, as a super Cop . As in our opinion it is for the other authorities to examine whether the assessee is subjected to provision of law and is required to comply the relevant provision of law. The Authorities created under various ACTS should function within their respective domain and should not encroach or interfere in other areas, this is necessary for smooth functioning of various organs of state. Though Section 12AA of Act has been widely worded “any other law” however the same has been given restricted or narrowed by the other words used in the section namely “ as are material for the purpose of achieving its objects ”. Therefore before embarking upon any enquiry by the Commissioner exemption, it is sine qua non(essential) to inform the assessee as to which are the various laws under which the assessee should have the approval/permission before seeking the registration.
The Commissioner Exemption should keep in mind that various approvals/permission cannot be sought from the assessee or in other words it is not possible for the assessee to even apply and seek approval/permission at the stage of registration of the trust under section 12AA, as those approvals/permission can only be granted after the setting up or commencement of the charitable activities.
During the course of hearing, we enquired from the assessee whether the assessee is permission/ approval under National Building Code 2005, Fire and Life Safety Certificate, Save Drinking Water and Sanitary Conditions Certificate etc. to this the Ld. AR had submitted that all these have been taken care of by the Central Board Of Secondary Education while granting the provisional affliction and thereafter at the time of renewal. This submission of the assessee, on verification from the condition mentioned in the provisional/renewal of affiliation with central board of secondary education were found to be correct.
We find that the assessee was having necessary approval/affiliation from the respective authorities as required by the Commissioner exemption. These permission/ approval now produced by the necessary may not be necessary for the purposes of considering registration, as the same had already been filled with Board at the time of affilliation. Nonetheless now these permission / approval are available, there is no point of denying the registration on the pretext of alleged deficiency.
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
