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2016 (4) TMI 1307 - AT - Income TaxBenefit of exemption u/s.11 denied - assessee is not engaged in charitable activity and has not provided services to the underprivileged section of the society - running of the canteen - Held that:- Denial of exemption u/s.11 by the AO on account of running of the canteen is not correct, we find no infirmity in his order holding that the assessee cannot be denied exemption u/s.11 of the Act for running a canteen and making profit out of it. So long as the surplus generated from the canteen is utilized for making relief, the exemption u/s.11 in our opinion cannot be denied unless it is brought on record that such surplus generated has not been utilized for charitable purposes or has been utilized for non charitable purposes. Since there is no such finding given by the AO, therefore, denial of exemption u/s.11 on account of running of the canteen is not justified. As regards the objection of the AO that assessee trust has organized musical nights and such programmes are not warranted in case of a charitable trust, we find this objection of the AO is also not at all justified. When the assessee has clarified that the musical nights were performed by renowned artists who did not take any remuneration from the trust and the main intension of organizing such programmes was to reduce the stress level of the patients and their relatives, therefore, under these circumstances denial of exemption u/s.11 in our opinion is not warranted. The Ld.CIT(A) has properly appreciated the facts and rejected the objection of the AO on this issue by giving valid reasons which in our opinion is proper and justified. Next objection of the AO that the assessee had received donations from the patients in lieu of medical services rendered for which he has given examples such as Mr. Dilip Nayakude, Mrs. Kavita Waghle and Mr. Rajesh Deepak etc. We find the assessee has conclusively proved before us that the donation given by the above persons are much less than the concession given to them. Since the CIT(A) has rejected the objection of the AO after considering the various evidences furnished by the assessee before him wherein the above persons had clarified that they had given donations to the assessee trust on their own will and since the AO in the remand proceedings also could not controvert the various submissions given by the assessee, therefore, the order of the CIT(A) holding that there is no merit in the allegation of the AO that the assessee trust has issued donation receipts and has evaded tax is correct. As regards the objection of the AO that the assessee has violated the provisions of section 13(1)(c) of the Act by paying remuneration of ₹ 90,000/- to Mrs. Meena Kelkar and ₹ 6 lakhs to Mrs. Bharti Mangeshkar is concerened, we find such objection of the AO is also not correct as from the various details furnished by the assessee we find Mr. Meena Kelkar was earlier looking after house keeping department of Sanjeevan Hospital and thus was having enough experience. Further, she was appointed in place of Smt. Sarita Shelke who was looking after the house keeping activity and she was paid remuneration of ₹ 16,000/- per month. The various evidences furnished by the assessee in the paper book show that Mr. Meena Kelkar was actually looking after the house keeping activity of the assessee trust. The trustee Dr. Dhananjay Kelkar had also filed an affidavit before the CIT(A) that the remark made by the AO was incorrect and he had not made any statement in the assessment proceedings as alleged by the AO. The next objection of the AO that assessee has received rent of ₹ 2,88,100/- from various parties which includes ₹ 1,88,000/- from Bharti Airtel for allowing them to erect their tower in the premises of the trust which is commercial exploitation of the property, CIT(A) has already held that the same is for supplementing the main object of the assessee trust. We agree with the argument of the assessee that erection of such tower in the premises of the hospital enhances the signal for telecommunication. Further, as the rent has been shown in the books of account and has been utilized for the objects of the trust, therefore, we uphold the order of the CIT(A) on this issue and hold that exemption cannot be denied for receiving rent from Bharti Airtel for erecting tower in the hospital premises. Thus we find no infirmity in his order allowing the benefit of exemption u/s.11 . - Decided in favour of assessee
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