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2021 (11) TMI 576 - HC - Income TaxExemption u/s 10(26B) - claim for exemption was rejected by firstly by noting that the assessee is not a Corporation constituted/established under an Act of the Centre, State or Provincial Act, but a Company formed under the Companies Act AND assessee never claimed the status under Section 10(26B) of the Act in any of the previous assessment years - Whether the Tribunal is right in granting exemption to the assessee under Section 10(26B)? - HELD THAT:- The incorporation of assessee under the Companies Act gives the assessee the status of a body corporate and the objects, indisputably, of the assessee are promoting the interests of the members of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or backward classes or of any two or all of them of Lakshadweep Union Territory. The argument of learned Senior Counsel that Corporation established by Provincial Act does not fit into the literal or plain reading of Section 10(26B). The argument that the Corporation is established by the Centre/State by an enactment is unavailable from the expression used in Section 10(26B) of the Act. This Court is construing Section 10(26B), both by keeping in mind the golden rule of construction and also Noscitur a Sociis, and the inescapable conclusion is that the assessee though incorporated under the Companies Act falls within the ambit of exemption envisaged by Section 10(26B) and is entitled to benefit of exemption. Centre/State Governments, as the case may be, bring into existence what is known as Government Companies. All these companies are not immediately entitled to be bracketed within the ambit of Section 10(26B) because the existence of that Company is relatable to the primary aim of promoting the interests of the members of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or backward classes or of any two or all of them. The assessee is a body viz., incorporated under the Companies Act and formed to achieve or promote the interests of the members of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or backward classes or of any two or all of them, receives full financial assistance from the Government, hence is entitled to exemption. We are in agreement with the reasoning and the conclusion recorded by the Tribunal and for the above reasons as well, substantial question no.1 is answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue/
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