Trust Eligible for Relief u/s in respect of income from pharmacy run by it with in its hospital premises

The first item so considered by the assessing authority is the receipts from pharmacy section. It is to be seen that assessee is running a full-fledged general hospital at St. Thomas Mount. The assessing authority has, no doubt, accepted the charitable nature of activities carried on by the assessee-society in respect of that hospital. The assessee is also running a dispensary. Number of patients are visiting the hospital and dispensary on a daily basis. Patients are admitted as in-patients and they are also treated as out-patients. For all the in-patients undergoing treatment in the hospital, medicines are delivered from the pharmacy run by the assessee-society.

In respect of out-patients also, most of the patients purchase medicine from the pharmacy run by the assessee. A few of the out-patients might purchase medicines from outside. Likewise, few from the public living nearby to the hospital may purchase medicines from the pharmacy run by the assessee-society. The purchase of medicines by the public is absolutely negligible. That negligible amount of sales, if any, cannot decide the nature of activities carried on by the assessee in running the pharmacy in its hospital premises. The pharmacy is not situated in any commercial area or outside the hospital compound with the intention to invite the public at large to purchase medicines from the pharmacy run by the assessee-society. The assessee-society is running the pharmacy within the premises of the hospital and as part of the hospital itself. It is clear that the pharmacy is run by the assessee-society only for the purpose of running the hospital. The hospital cannot be run without a pharmacy attached to it. If an assessee wants to run a hospital, running of the pharmacy is also a must. Therefore, running of the pharmacy by the assessee-society is not an activity carried on by the assessee incidental to the running of the hospital; but, on the other hand, it is an integral part of the hospital run by the assessee.