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2018 (3) TMI 1903 - AT - Income TaxEligibility of exemption u/s 11 - assessee society/ trust based its activities on the basis of a religious calling - Whether merely because the society or trust draws its inspiration for certain charitable activities from religious tenets as long as charitable activities of the society are not confined to the benefits of any particular community, it is entitled for exemption u/s 11 ? - HELD THAT:- Undisputedly, the assessee society is a charitable society registered u/s 12AA of the Act w.e.f 01.10.1987. It is also not in dispute that in the earlier years, the assessee society has been continuously getting exemption u/s 11 of the Act and since then it has not amended its aims and object. It is also not in dispute that the main source of income of the society is foreign donation. Application of income of the assessee trust tabulated shows that the primary object of the assessee society is to run the school, college and orphanage and has applied major portion of its income on the same. There is no material or data on record to prove if the assessee society under the garb of running school and colleges applied for affiliation with ICSE and UGC has converted Indians into Christianity, particularly, when from the aims and objects of the assessee society it is apparently clear that it is imparting education and providing help to the orphans without any discrimination on the basis of religion, caste and creed. So far as question of having “Theology” as a subject in the school and college curriculum is concerned, we are constrained to hold that imparting religious education along with our recognized education is part of the Indian heritage and any society/trust cannot be barred from claiming exemption u/s 11 of the Act merely because of the fact that it is imparting Theological courses to its students. Many institutions being run by different minorities and religious trust in India are invariably imparting religious education along with recognized curriculum to make the students better Indian. AO has categorically held that, “It is not denied that the society is trying to help the poorest sections of society; but it is taking advantage of their poverty; assessee society is reaching them with the motive to bring them in the vineyard of Lord. The motive is not amelioration of poorest section of Indian community but to attain personal goals of serving Lord which in present context means conversion of unreached people.” This goes to prove that when education is being imparted to the lowest strata of the society at school or college level without having any single instance of forced conversion pointed out by the AO, the entire findings of the AO are based upon conjectures and surmises. When the assessee society is expanding its horizon to impart the school and college education to the needy students, it cannot be deprived from claiming exemption u/s 11. As donors might have donated money to the assessee society in the belief that they were propagating and promoting Christianity but the assessee society has confined its activities to the aims and objects laid down in the Memorandum of Association and the assessee society is imparting secular education and as such, provisions contained u/.s 13(1)(b) are not attracted and found the assessee society eligible for exemption u/s 11 of the Act. So, we find no illegality or perversity in the findings returned by the ld. CIT (A), hence both the appeals filed by the Revenue is hereby dismissed.
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