Shirmoni Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Vs CIT (ITAT Amritsar)
Conclusion: Donations made to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, which controlled the functioning of most of the historical gurdwaras in Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, would be eligible for tax exemption as assessee’s total expenditure incurred on the religious activities was less than 5% during these years and it was not exclusively for the benefit of one particular religious community.
Held: Assessee had filed an application for registration under Section 80G to CIT but it was rejected in 2009 on the ground that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee was a religious body working for a particular religion only and assessee was managing the property belonging to religious communities as per the objects and reasons of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 and SGPC was created solely for the welfare and management of Sikh Shrine as Gurdwara. It was held that as the predominant purpose and object of the assessee were to manage the property, do charitable activities by way of imparting / running educational institutions, organizing lunger, medical camp, hospital etc.; therefore, the activities of assessee could not be termed as being done only for the benefit of particular community/ religion hence assessee was entitled to the benefit of 80G (5) and would not be religious activities as its total expenditure incurred on the religious activities was less than 5% during these years. It was not the percentage of expenditure on persons not belonging to the religious community that mattered. What was significant was that there were donations made by the Society for the general public utility. This showed that it was not exclusively for the benefit of one particular religious community.
