CIT Vs Shree Sai Baba Sansthan Trust – Shirdi (Bombay High Court)
Bombay High Court in the case of Shree Sai Baba Sansthan Trust held that anonymous donation received by religious and charitable trust is entitled to benefit of an exemption from tax under section 115BBC(2b) of the Income Tax Act.
Facts- The present appeal is preferred by the Revenue under section 260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, whereby, the Tribunal has rejected the Revenue’s appeals against the order passed by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals).
The issue which falls for consideration in these appeals is whether the “anonymous donations” received in the “Hundi”, which are substantial amounts, are liable to be taxed under Section 115BBC(1) of the Act?
Conclusion- The very foundation of the operation and effect of Section 115BBC(2)(b) is a conclusive ascertainment, and a factual determination of a trust being religious and charitable as ascertained from the contents of the trust deed. Once such requirement is satisfied, any anonymous donation received by such trust would be eligible / entitled to the benefit of an exemption from tax, by the applicability of sub-section 2(b) of Section 115BBC.
Held that the assessee certainly is a religious and charitable trust, hence, the assessee rightly and legitimately claimed an entitlement under sub-section 2(b) of Section 115BBC of the Act. Such entitlement of the assessee is rightly recognized by the CIT (A) and the Tribunal.
