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2020 (5) TMI 628

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..... ssessee during the course of assessment proceedings before the assessing officer it is apparent that all and every aspect of the assessment of the income of the assessee have been examined by him. AO has in detailed look into the activities, object, the functions, nature of receipts, nature of expenditure, applicability of service tax, applicability of tax deduction at source credit and above all the applicability of the provisions of section 2 (15) of the act. Thereafter, AO has granted assessee the benefit of being an educational Institute. It is not required for the assessing officer to examine how the payer of an income has dealt with receipt of an income in the hands of the assessee. This cannot be a general law but in the specific facts of the case where the payment made by the parties are subjected to tax deduction at source under section 194J of the income tax act cannot go against the assessee. The learned CIT exemption has not in substance held that any due enquiry which should have been made by the assessing officer has not been made by him. Perhaps at the level of enquiry and the manner of enquiry may be different because of change in perception. However, that d .....

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..... D I: WANT OF NATURAL JUSTICE 1.1 On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the Learned Commissioner Income tax (Exemptions), New Delhi [ the CIT ] erred in passing the order u/s. 263 of Income Tax Act, 1961 ( the Act ) without giving a fair and reasonable opportunity hearing to the Appellant and thereby violating the principles of natural justice. 1.2 The Appellant prays that the order of the CIT be struck down as bad in law. WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO GROUND NO. I GROUND II: CIT TRAVELLED BEYOND THE SHOW CAUSE NOTICE ISSUED 2.1 On the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law, the CIT erred in exercising jurisdiction under section 263 on the basis of issues/reasons which were not referred in the show cause notice issued by the CIT to the Appellant and without giving the Appellant the opportunity to controvert the same. 2.2 The Appellant prays the order passed by the CIT u/s. 263 be held as bad in law. WITHOUT PREJUDICE TO GROUND NO. I II GROUND III: CIT INVOKED PROVISIONS OF SECTION 263 BASED ON ALLEGED FACTS/ALLEGATONS WITHOUT ANY OPPORTUNITY OF REBUTTAL: 3.1 On the facts and circumstances of the case and in .....

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..... n the case of the Appellant. 3. Brief facts of the case shows that the assessee is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 as per certificate dated 01.12.2004. It is also registered u/s 12A and recognized u/s 80G (5) (vi) of the Act as per order dated 07.03.2008. It filed its return of income on 23.09.2014 declaring Nil income. 4. The assessee was formed with the following objects:- 1. To promote, support and strengthen education, research and training of Information Technology and its application in all fields of activities and to collaborate, co-operate and enter into partnerships with Universities, Colleges and Schools for expanding IT Education and training to play an active role in the human development initiatives of the country by supporting and sponsoring, wherever feasible, the establishment of new Universities, Colleges and Schools for organizing innovative IT Education and training program. 2. To support, sponsor and collaborate with teachers and researchers in Universities and research institutions to develop IT enabled teaching and learning paradigm and new education technologies and to sponsor and support conferences, seminars .....

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..... d below for reference:- Show Cause Notice:- It is noted that the Assessment in this case was completed u/s 143(3) on 30.11.2016 at NIL Income. While reviewing the assessment the following observations are made with regard to the quality of assessment framed:- 2. As per the income and expenditure account, the assessee has received an amount of ₹ 1,06,66,236/- as tuition fees. The assessee has itself stating that it is providing training to youth across India. The A.O. has failed to examine whether the activities carried out by the assessee in the absence of affiliation with any regulatory body and adherence to the criteria for formal education laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Lok Shikshan Sansthan case, by Hon'ble Delhi High Court in Delhi Music Society case etc., still qualify as education. In case if the activities of the assessee do not qualify as education, these will qualify as General Public Utility and the proviso to section 2(15) will be applicable in such case. The assesse has received fees for training student which is in the nature of trade, commerce or business and accordingly the surplus from these activities should be brought to ta .....

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..... .03.2008. As per the assessee, it is a society registered on 01st December 2004 under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 with the main object promote, support and strengthen education, research, and training of Information Technology and its application in all fields of activity and to collaborate, cooperate and enter into partnerships with Universities, Colleges and Schools for expanding IT education and training and to play and active role in the human development initiatives of the country by supporting and sponsoring, wherever feasible, the establishment of new Universities, Colleges and Schools for organizing innovative IT education and training progammes. It is seen from the records that the assessee has receipt various payments from many corporate entities. On these payments TDS has been deducted at source u/sl94C/194J characterizing the payment as in the nature of contractual/professional services rendered by the assessee. 4.1 The details of payments received from various corporate as per TDS statement during the year are under:- S.No. Name Receipts TDS deducted u/s 194C/J .....

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..... 263260 5266 21. THE TATA POWER COMPANY LIMITED 4248962.26 388941 22. TATA COSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED 719202 31000 5. A perusal of the records of the case it is seen that the exact nature of these payments vis a vis services rendered by the assessee has not been examined in the assessment proceedings for A.Y.2014-15. Why commercial establishments are making such payments and deducting TDS on such payment, impliedly claiming the expenditure in computation of their taxable income have not been examined in the course of the proceedings. It cannot be disputed that the AO in the course of the assessment proceedings is supposed to examine the nature and genuineness of activities undertaken by the assessee so as to ascertain whether such activities fall within the scope of charitable activities or whether they are hit by proviso to section 2(15) of the Act. From the records, it is clear that no such exercise has been undertaken by the assessing officer and the submissions of the asse .....

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..... Thus in the eyes of the general public the activities of the assessee result in enhancement of brand NIIT, which is a benefit being accrued to a related party, no permissible under section 13(1)(c) of the Act. This aspect of the matter has no been examined at all. d. It has also come to notice that there is hardly any difference between the training centers run by NIIT Limited and the CDC run at the premises of NIIT by the assessee. Both of them work as a training entity on commercial lines for skill development for raising the employability of personnel being trained in IT, ITes, retail sector. However, the only difference is that in the case of the assessee, the training is sponsored by some corporate, trusts where the assessee acts as a consultant to provide training on their behalf. As the agreements mentioned above state that the role of the assessee is limited to rendering of services to its clients. It is like any other contractor/consultant. The assessee is actually undertaking commercial contracts of providing consultancy on the projects of its clients. The client of the assessee debits amount paid to the assessee as business expenses and claims 100% deduction. .....

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..... jat State Cooperative Union Vs Commissioner of Income Tax(195ITR279), Hon'ble Bombay High Court in DIT(E) vsSamudra Institute of Maritime Studies Trust etc. c. Without prejudice even if the activity is not regarded as education, the same is clearly for the purpose of advancement of general public utility and since it is not engaged in any trade, business or manufacture, it is still eligible for exemption u/s 11 of the Act. d. Without prejudice to the above, if it is held that the activity of the assessee is business activity and therefore taxable, then the losses incurred by the assessee from said activity in earlier years ought to be allowed to be carried forward and set off against the activity of the captioned year. e. In addition to the above, it has also made a detailed submission on invoking of section 263 of the Income Tax Act, by claiming that the order is neither erroneous nor prejudicial to the interest of revenue. 7. The assessee has made elaborate submissions in respect of each of the points highlighted above and also filed supporting documents. The reply of the assessee on the above has been carefully considered with reference to the records of .....

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..... ities on its own. It is only employed by its clients to run various centers and provide equipment etc at per their requirements. Further the contents of various courses run through it do not inspire a confidence that it can be called education in the nature envisaged by the law for the limited purpose of section 2(15) of the Act, for which exemption from payment of tax could be granted by the government. The details of courses in which the assessee participates on behalf of its clients are from in the nature of digital literacy, certificate course in basic IT, English Foundation, Social Media, Personality development etc for a person qualified 8th class and without any age limit. The duration of the courses runs from 20 hours to maximum 200 Hours. One of the example of courses brought to my notice is 7.2.1 After considering the provisions of sections 2(15) of the Act, the Apex Court in the case of Sole Trustee, LokaSikshana Trust found that all kinds of acquiring knowledge will not come within the meaning of education . What education , connotes in section 2(15) is the processing of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind and character of students by norm .....

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..... e has relied upon the decision of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case Delhi Music Society v. DGIT [2012] 17 taxmann.com 49/204 Taxman 231/(2013] 357 ITR 265/(2012] 246 CTR 327 stating that the court took a very broad view of 'education' for the purposes of section 2(15) and gave a new perspective to the Supreme Court decision in the case of Sole Trustee, LokoSikshana Trust v. CIT [1975] 101 ITR 2.34. It held that teaching music should also be treated as education even if the society was not affiliated to boards and universities providing schooling which resulted in a degree or diploma, because even without any such affiliation the society was creating musicians which were acclaimed worldwide. It may be noted that even in this case the court recognized the world acclaimed educational activities which are not covered by traditional Universities. This ruling has in no way suggested that any kind of educational activity whether it results in a recognized degree or not can be treated as education. The Hon ble Court had gone into the facts of the case and analysed it before holding Delhi Music Society to be an educational institution. The relevant extracts from the case .....

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..... he students are found lacking in application or discipline, they are liable to be terminated by the Principal. 12. It is seen from the above that the petitioner is being run like any school or educational institution in a systemic manner with regular classes, vacations, attendance requirements, enforcement of discipline and so on. Those provisions in the rules and regulations satisfy the condition laid down in the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, Sole Trustee, LokaSikshana Trust, cited (supra) that there should be a process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind and character of the students by normal schooling . It cannot be doubted that, having regard to the manner in which the petitioner runs the music school, that there is imparting of systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the students so that they attain proficiency in the field of their choice - vocal or instrumental in western classical music. Thus Hon ble Delhi High Court in the case of Delhi Music Society has followed the conditions laid down in the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, Sole Trustee, LokaSikshana Trust, cited (supra) that there should be a process o .....

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..... From the aforesaid observation, it becomes clear that, in order to earn total exemption under section 10(22) of the Act, an assessee should be an educational institution or an establishment which primarily engages itself in educational activities. However, such incidental activities alone, in the absence of actual activity of imparting educational by normal schooling or normal conducting of classes, would not be sufficient for the purpose of qualifying the institution to earn the benefit of section 10(22) of the said Act. In this case, the school in question does not appear to be recognised by any authority. An indicated hereinbefore, the institution is being run for a specific purpose, namely, to prepare the students for appearing in various examinations, but it itself appears to be not authorised, therefore, nor can it be said to have any element of normal schooling. 7.2.7 In the case New Elim Charitable Educational Trust vs. Commissioner of lncome-tax-1, Cochin-1 [2014] 62 SOT 126 (Cochin - Trib.)(URO) Where assessee-trust was conducting a study centre for Karnataka Open University, it could not be considered to be an educational institution w .....

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..... ation and quality of courses run by the assessees in referred 9. Third ground of the assessee is that even if it is not considered a charitable organization imparting education, then also must be considered providing general public utility services. As is not involved in any business, it would not hit by provision to section 2(15). The facts of the case however clearly contradict the argument of the assessee. It has been elaborated in details above that the assessee is merely acting as a professional/consultant appointed by its client for rendering certain services in the field of training. The payment received by it is not in the nature of grant or donation, but it raises invoice upon its clients and earn profit from the services rendered by it. Hence, even if it is considered charitable in nature under the category of GPU, it is clearly hit by proviso to section 2(15) of the Act as all the conditions required therein are clearly satisfied. 10. The, next ground of the assessee is that even if it is found to be not eligible for exemption u/s 11 and 12 of the Act, it is entitled to carry forward and set off of loss of earlier years. There is not denying the fact that the a .....

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..... support his order. Consequently he cancelled the assessment order passed under section 143 (3) of the act dated 28/12/2016 for assessment year 2014 15 and directed the learned assessing officer to pass fresh assessment order. 9. Thus, the assessee aggrieved has preferred this appeal. 10. Shri CA Yogesh Thar, authorized representative submitted a detailed paper book in two volumes containing 698 pages comprising of the submissions made before the assessing officer on 24 November 2016, 7 November 2016 and 3 September 2016 ( two submissions of the even date) and of 16 June 2016. Volume 2 of the paper book is comprising of ground -wise documents relied upon along with the audited financial statements, computation etc. It also contains the assessment order passed under section 143 (3) of the act for past year. 11. The learned authorized representative first took us to the show cause notice issued under section 263 of The Income Tax Act by the learned Commissioner of Income Tax Exemption and also referred to various reasons why the learned CIT exemption has held that assessee is not carrying on the educational activities. Thereafter, he referred to the written submission made .....

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..... t of India. Thereafter he submitted that those classes of those programs are conducted as per fixed curriculum, conducted and completed within a fixed duration, the students had to compulsorily attend classes and the students who do not have proper attendance are not allowed to take examination. Thereafter the examinations are conducted and necessary certificates are issued. He further stated that these educational courses are offered free either of cost or at heavily subsidized rate at the aforesaid centers. He also submitted a comparative chart to show that the courses conducted by the assessee are at heavily subsidized rate at its centre from the comparison of fees charged from the students by assessee and market rate of such courses. He further stated that assessee is also conducting various approved educational/vocational courses in government schools, community schools and schools or centers operated by various other NGOs. He further referred that the assessee has been given various recognition and awards by several institutes or organization, which are listed in para number 1.25 of his submission. He further referred to the some of the articles published in newspapers and el .....

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..... ct, he made detailed submission that in the present case, the learned assessing officer has made detailed enquiries about the activities performed by the assessee and has reviewed the details in respect of the receipt on which service tax was charged by the assessee and tax deducted at source by the payers. He further referred that relevant details were submitted before the learned assessing officer during the assessment proceedings he referred to various submissions made before the assessing officer on 24 November 2006, 7 November 2006 and 3 September 2006. He specifically referred to submission dated 7 November 2016 before the assessing officer where the note on tuition fees charged from the students belonging to economical weaker section of students and other physically and mentally challenged students was submitted. He submitted that these fees are highly subsidized, discounted or free of cost. He also referred to the revenue received from various sponsors including NGOs, corporate and other institutions for rendering education to poor on which service tax has been charged. He further referred to the submission dated 3 September 2016, which comprise of the consolation of servic .....

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..... of revenue. Therefore, according to him the order passed by the learned CIT E is not at all sustainable in the law. 13. His further grievance was that that certain issues decided by CIT E were not at all part of the proceedings before the learned CIT E. They were used without confronting the assessee on those issues. He referred to show cause notice and proceedings to show that. He further stated that agreements, which have been referred by the learned CIT exemptions under the order passed under section 263 of the income tax act, were not at all confronted to the assessee. He further submitted that even otherwise the learned CIT exemption did not confront the assessee about his view on the contracts. He further stated that in Para number 5 (b) the learned CIT exemptions have dealt with this issue without confronting the assessee. He further stated that in para number five (e) the learned CIT E has held that the activities of the assessee has resulted in enhancement of brand in NIIT which is a benefit being accrue to a related party not permissible under section 13 (1) (C) of the act. The CIT has held that this aspect of the matter has not been examined at all. The learned .....

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..... hool under urban renewal program. He further referred to page number 695 of that agreement which is in annexure A stating that these are the courses, which are being conducted by the assessee in the nature of courses in data entry, certificate course in customer service associate training. He also referred to the fees charged by the assessee is only ₹ 987 per student. He submitted that above fees charged is at concessional rate and the teaching is in the classroom manner. He also referred to page number 119 of the paper book, which is structure of student fees charged by the assessee and its compass comparison with the market price of such courses. He submitted that there is a vast difference between what is charged in the market about such courses and what the assessee has charged from the students who are needy and economically backward. In view of this, he submitted that the learned assessing officer has granted the exemption to the assessee holding it to be an educational Institute carrying on the charitable activities and is entitled to the exemption under section 11, 12 and 13 of The Income Tax Act after due verification. Even otherwise, he stated that the order passed .....

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..... could not pass an order under section 263 based on the issue/reasons which were not referred to in the show cause notice issued by the CIT to the appellant and without giving an appellant fair and reasonable opportunity of being heard. He submitted that no doubt those issues were not in the show cause notice, however even otherwise before the conclusion of the proceedings under section 263 of the income tax act the learned CIT exemption should have given the assessee to confront various observation and findings reached by him. The assessee should get a reasonable opportunity of hearing and to explain those issues. He even otherwise submitted that the for the purpose of the invocation of jurisdiction under section 263 of the income tax , both the conditions of section 263 need to be satisfied i.e. that as the order must be erroneous and it should also be prejudicial to the interest of revenue. He submitted that even one of the conditions fails, and then the order under section 263 cannot be sustained. He submitted that the learned assessing officer has though made detailed enquiry on the issue of applicability of provisions of section 2 (15) of the income tax act as well as appl .....

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..... the losses from past year would be eligible to be set off against the same. He stated that the learned CIT exemption has principally accepted in his revisionary order. Therefore, there would not be any loss of revenue in this year, therefore the order of the learned assessing officer cannot be considered as prejudicial to the interest of the revenue, and accordingly section 263 of the income tax act cannot be invoked as one of the limb/conditions prescribed under section 263 fails. 17. Thus, he concluded his argument by saying that the order passed by the learned assessing officer is neither erroneous nor prejudicial to the interest of revenue and therefore the order passed by the learned Commissioner of income tax exemption deserves to be set-aside. 18. The learned Commissioner of Income Tax, Department representative vehemently supported the order passed by the learned CIT Exemption. He submitted that the lack of natural justice cannot be claimed by the assessee now as the assessment order has been passed under section 143 (3) of the income tax act and in that process the assessing officer has granted enough opportunities to the assessee to substantiate the claim made by t .....

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..... accepted the return of the assessee without making the necessary enquiries. He therefore submitted that explanation 2 of section 263 of the act clearly applies to the facts of the case and therefore the order is erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of revenue as learned assessing officer has failed to make adequate enquiry in this regard. He therefore submitted that there is no infirmity in the order passed by the learned CIT Exemption setting aside the order passed by the learned assessing officer holding that it is erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of revenue. 19. In rejoinder, the learned authorized representative referred to his written submission placed at page number 627 665 of the paper book, which was placed before the learned CIT Exemption. He submitted that these issues are replied there and nothing more is required to be said. 20. We have carefully considered the rival contention and perused the orders of the lower authorities. In the case of the assessee, assessment under section 143 (3) of The Income Tax Act, 1961 was passed by the learned assessing officer on 30/11/2016 where the learned assessing officer has recorded the fact that assessee is .....

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..... , for students wherein the educational services are rendered either free or heavily subsidized, discounted. Assessee offers highly subsidized training to underprivileged youth. A very small part of the training courses charges fees to the students. This builds commitment to the students to complete the training course and they do not dropout. Anything free is not valued so students are encouraged to pay small fees. For those students who cannot afford even that small fee, additional discounts are provided. To demonstrate this fact the assessee disclosed a fee structure during the year reflecting number of students and the fees charged compared it with the market rate and number of students and type of course undertaken. Thus, assessee demonstrated before the assessing officer that educational services rendered are heavily subsidized to cater to the needs of poor sections of the society. Assessee also explained that it receives as participation by the NGOs, Corporation, and other institutions, which sponsor educational services of the assessee or vocational training etc for the poorer section of the society. It was also demonstrated that the amount received is spent by the assessee .....

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..... ucational institute u/s 11, 12 of The Income Tax Act, 1961 holding that assessee is carrying on charitable activities within the meaning of section 2 (15) of The Income Tax Act, 1961. It is also important to note that for assessment year 2008 09, where the assessee was last assessed, on similar lines , where the assessee was held to be carrying on the activities of charitable nature within the meaning of section 2 (15) of The Income Tax Act, 1961. Then learned assessing officer specifically mentioned that the provisions of section 13 of The Income Tax Act, 1961 are not violated at all. Thus for the earlier years also on the similar set of activities the learned assessing officer in that year has taken a view that assessee is carrying on educational activities. Thus in past the activities of the assessee were accepted as educational. 21. Despite this examination carried out by the learned assessing officer during the course of assessment proceedings, the learned CIT exemption issued a notice for setting aside the assessment under section 263 of The Income Tax Act, 1961 on 1611 2018. The main reason for stating so, is that the income and expenditure account of the assessee has s .....

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..... ackward pockets of semi urban areas across India so as to impart education to the students belonging to the under privileged or economically backward strata of the society with an objective to develop their skill so that their employability can increase. Assessee has also shown that it has charged fees from the students either at subsidized rate or at free of cost. The nature of the training that has been imparted at its various centers, generally, comprises of classrooms, computer labs and other infrastructure required conducting educational classes along with trained faculties to educate and train the students. The assessee is also getting those centers approved by NATIONAL SKILL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION to conduct various educational courses approved by them. Thus it is apparent that educational courses conducted by assessee are in the same manner as that of any course or classes conducted by other educational Institute in a schooling format. The assessee has also developed the fixed curriculum, which is duly recognized by these government authorities or may be recognized by other globally recognized institutions. The complete session plan for every course is covered. There .....

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..... education has not been used in that wide and extended sense according to which every acquisition of further knowledge constitutes education. According to this wide and extended sense, travelling is education, because as a result of travelling you acquire fresh knowledge. Likewise, if you read newspapers and magazines, see pictures, visit art galleries, museums and zoos, you thereby add to your knowledge. Again, when you grow up and have dealings with other people, some of whom are not straight, you learn by experience and thus add to your knowledge of the ways of the world. If you are not careful, your wallet is liable to be stolen or you are liable to be cheated by some unscrupulous person. The thief who removes your wallet and the swindler who cheats you teach you a lesson and in the process make you wiser though poorer. If you visit a night club, you get acquainted with and add to your knowledge about some of the not much revealed realties and mysteries of life. All this in a way is education in the great school of life. But that is not the sense in which the word education is used in Clause (15) of Section 2. What education connotes in that clause is the process of training .....

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..... 15) of the Act which defines charitable purposes is intended to mean. We are certain that these observations were not intended to keep out of the meaning of the word education , persons other than young . The expression schooling also means that schools, instructs or educates (The Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. IX, page 217). The Supreme Court has observed that the word education also connotes the whole course of scholastic instruction which a person has received. This clearly indicates that the observations of the Supreme Court were not intended to give a narrow or pedantic sense to the word education . By giving further illustrations of a traveller gaining knowledge, victims of swindlers and thieves becoming wiser, the visitors to night clubs adding to their knowledge the hidden mysteries of life, the Supreme Court has indicated that the word education is not used in a loose sense so as to include acquisition of even such knowledge. The observations of the Supreme Court only indicate the proper confines of the word education in the context of the provisions of section 2(15) of the Act. It will not be proper to construe these observations in a manner in which they .....

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..... erty held under trust wholly for charitable or religious purpose while section 10(22) covers any income of a university or other educational institution existing solely for educational purposes and not for purposes of profit. The exemption incorporated in section 11(a) is only in respect of the extent to which the income derived from the property is applied for charitable purpose which includes educational charity. If the income is only accumulated or set apart for such purpose, the exemption is limited to the extent of 25 per cent, of the income of the property held under such trust. The exemption under section 10(22), on the other hand, is without any such limitation. The language of section 10(22) emphasizes that the sole purpose of the existence of the institution should be educational. The very provision of exemption under section 10(22) indicates that the income of such institutions is contemplated. Therefore, mere existence of profit will not disqualify the institution if the sole purpose of its existence is not profit-making but is educational activity. Incidental activities connected with the educational purposes for which the institution exists which result in income w .....

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..... nst the assessee. The learned CIT exemption has not in substance held that any due enquiry which should have been made by the assessing officer has not been made by him. Perhaps at the level of enquiry and the manner of enquiry may be different because of change in perception. However, that does not make the order erroneous. 30. Before parting, we would like to put on record that, at the time of dictation, whole world is experiencing new normal in all spheres of activities. Education is no exception. Naturally, classrooms have no bricks and mortar, no benches and blackboards. Blackboard Collaborate and digital white boards have replaced blackboards. Teachers and students do not assemble at one place but they reach each other on cloud through Meets, Teams, WebEx and Zoom! Such cloud classes have wide representation of students across the globe blurring the geographies of traditional classrooms. Students love Polls, Live Q A sessions and prerecorded videos. Books and Notebooks have been replaced by smart phones, tabs etc. Most importantly, attendances are also virtual instead of physical. Chat boxes are medium of group discussion. Strikingly, Timings are 24*7. Still .....

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