TMI Blog2017 (11) TMI 394X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... haritable trust, can be only brought within the fold of an organization covered by Section 2(15) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter referred to as the Act ), to the extent that its activities extend to providing services of general public utility. The assessee s contention that it provides medical aid because it teaches through various camps and other modes, the benefits of yoga and disseminates it, was rejected by the AO as well as the CIT. Both these authorities were of the opinion that yoga education, howsoever disseminated i.e. by camps, specific schools or courses, etc. would address only a section of the population, which may be of benefit for specific ailments. The Revenue had also relied upon subsequent amendment to Section 2(15) of the Act which came into effect from 01.04.2016 to the effect that charitable purpose includes relief of the poor, education, medical relief, preservation of environment (including watershed forests and wildlife and preservation of monuments or places or objects of artistic or historic interest and the advancement of any other object of general public utility). (emphasis supplied) 2. The ITAT s findings in this regard are contai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 6.5.1 are reproduced hereunder: 'Imparting Education' 6.5. The question now is as to whether the appellant trust falls within the purview of providing imparting education . The grievance of the appellant is that the authorities below have failed to appreciate that the propagation of yoga by way of conducting yoga classes on a regular basis and in a systemized manner also falls under the category of imparting of education as provided u/s 2(15) of the Act. Reliance has been placed on several decisions which we will discuss hereunder. The contention of the Ld. AR remained that the predominant object of the appellant trust are to provide practical and theoretical training in the field of yoga, which would ultimately provide medical relief to the society at large. It was submitted that in pursuance of the said objective the appellant trust has made intertrust donations to Patanjali Yog Peeth to support their endeavors of imparting yoga education by means of organizing yog shivirs/camps across the country on daily / weekly / monthly basis in a systemized/organized manner in order to provide medical relief to people who cannot afford modern medical method or have b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Hon ble Supreme Court in the case of Lok Shikshana Trust (supra), relied upon by the Ld. AR, has been pleased to explain the meaning of the word education in the context of section 2(15) of the Act. As per this decision the education is the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind and character of students by schooling by way of systematic instruction, schooling or training. The Hon ble Delhi High Court in the case of Delhi Music Society vs. DGIT (supra) has been pleased to hold that since the assessee society was teaching and promoting all forms of music and dance, western, Indian or any other and was run like any school or educational institution in a systematic manner with regular classes, the same therefore meet the requirement of an educational institution within the meaning of section 10(23C)(vi) of the Act. In the case of ITO vs. SRM Foundation of India (supra) the Delhi Bench of the Tribunal, where the assessee was engaged in spreading the system of transcendental meditation (TM) has held that irrespective of the fact that the assessee has its own prescribed syllabus, trained teachers, branches all over India to spread system of transcendental deep ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on coupons without appreciating that Yoga Shivir/camp is open to all and not merely restricted to persons who volunteer to donate to the charitable cause of the assessee. It may also be pointed out that the assessee has applied substantial amount in setting up of Patanjali University , a Deemed University set up under the University of Patanjali Act, inter-alia, for having courses in M.A. {Yoga Science), M.Sc. (Yoga Science), B.A. (Yoga Science) Post Graduate Diploma in Panchkarma, Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga Science and Post Graduate Diploma in Yoga Health and Cultural Tourism. It has also been informed that the university has become operational on September, 2009. The finding of the authorities below that propagation of Yoga by the assessee does not qualify as medical relief or imparting of education is thus held as not justified. 3. As is evident from the above extract, the Tribunal had relied upon its ruling in Divya Yog Mandir Trust v. Joint Commissioner of Income Tax; ITA No.387/Del./2013. In that decision, the judgments in Kasyap Ved Research Foundation v. CIT 131 ITD 370 and CIT v. Rajneesh Foundation 280 ITR 533 (Bom) were relied upon. It was held that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t it furnished an undertaking stating that use was for an indefinite period without any consideration. In these circumstances, the treatment of ₹ 38,35,00,000/- as revenue, cannot be sustained. The ITAT s findings are therefore justified and based upon the facts established from the record. 7. So far as the sum of ₹ 14,76,01,036/- is concerned, the Court notices that the disaster relief fund had been created and a sum of ₹ 8,00,00,000/- had been received. So far as this amount is concerned, the Court notices that the amount had been received towards disaster relief. The AO went by two factors i.e. that the donation reported in the magazine was less than the said sum and secondly, that the amounts spent did not square up to the amount received. On this aspect, it was held that the benefit of Sections 11 and 12 could not be enjoyed as the Trust had violated Section 13. The Tribunal s finding was that the amount was by way of a corpus donation under Section 2(24)(iia) and therefore excluded from total income. The finding here is factual; the Court is of the opinion that no question of law arises. 8. As far as the sum of ₹ 14,76,01,036/- received by the as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction 115BBC of the Act. The assessee had also furnished affidavits of organisors of ad-hoc committees through whom the assessee had organized Yoga camps made available at page Nos.503 to 569 of the paper book, but the Assessing Officer did not bother himself to verify the same even on test-check basis. In absence of such efforts by the Assessing Officer, we are of the view that the authorities below were not justified in making and sustaining the treatment of receipt of ₹ 13.68 crores as anonymous donation. Undisputedly, in almost all donations name and address of the donors have been maintained and thus bonafide of the assessee cannot be doubted where such detail has remained to be maintained in some cases. Such donations worth ₹ 1,07,73,438/- has also not been alleged to spent on other than the objects of the assessee trust. We, thus, while setting aside orders of the authorities below in this regard, direct the Assessing Officer to accept the claimed receipt as donation. The ground No.11 is thus allowed. 10. It is therefore apparent that the assessee had produced materials in the form of names of the donors, in the 22 camps which were held; furthermore, apparen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
