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TMI Blog2021 (10) TMI 607X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5,45,39,440/- as application of income not appreciating that activities are not in nature of charity as it is hit by the proviso to section 2(15) of the Act. 4. Erred in allowing corpus donation of Rs. 16,46,21,564/- without appreciating that activities are not in nature of charity as it is hit by the proviso to section 2(15) of the Act. 5. Erred in allowing claim of accumulation u/s. 11(2) of the Act not appreciating that assessee's activities are not in the nature of charity as it is hit by proviso to section 2(15) of the Act. 6. Erred in allowing claim of accumulation u/s. 11(1)(a) of the Act not appreciating that assessee's activities are not in the nature of charity as it is hit by proviso to section 2(15) of the Act." 2. At the time of hearing of the instant appeal the Ld. Senior Counsel appearing for the assessee submitted before us that the issue in respect of Ground Nos. 1, 2, 5 & 6 are covered in assessee's own case in favour of the assessee by the order passed by the Ld. CIT(A) for A.Ys. 2011-12 to 2014-15 which has been upheld by the Hon'ble Tribunal in Revenue's appeal being ITA Nos. 265, 805, 806 & 2344/Ahd/2018 for. A.Y. 2011-12 to 2014-15, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion 2(15) i.e. any other objects of general public utility. Further that the assessee is entitled to exemption under Section 11 and 12 of the Act. However, such contention of the assessee has not been accepted by the Learned Assessing Officer and relying upon the Circular No. 11 dated 19.12.2008 such claim has been denied to the assessee which has, in turn, been reversed by the First Appellate Authority. Hence the instant appeal before us. 6. The crux of the submission made by the Departmental Representative before us is this that providing training of Sudarshan Kriya as per the syllabus of Shri Pandit Ravi Shanker, a famous meditation Guru through his sponsored charitable trusts cannot be termed at per with "Relief to the Poor", "Education" and "Medical Relied", rather the same would fall under the last limb of the proviso of Section 2(15) of the Act i.e. "the advancement of any other object of general utility". According to him streamlining the definition of "charitable purpose" and to limiting the scope of the phrase "advancement of any other object of general public utility" sub-section (15) of section 2 has been amended to provide that the advancement of any other object of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and mental states of people as formulated by Yoga Shiromani Sri Sri Pandit Ravishankar in the realm of Yoga and Meditation. b) To promote a scientific study and research of ancient literature and Yoga. c) To afford adequate training facilities to scholars to develop scientific analysis of the scriptures of yoga and the interpretation of ancient practice. d) To organise and co-ordinate programme and activities which promote evolution of Ideal Men and Women and create on Ideal Society in line with Natural Law. e) To organise, establish and or maintain suitable research laboratories and or health centers or Yogic therapy, Naturopathy and/or Ayurvedic and Siddha Systems of Medicine health products, asanas, exercise and/or health resorts, and provide benefits thereof to all sections of people, and also promote other systems of Indian Medicine. f) To establish, Journals, periodicals and leaflets which may be necessary for the promotion of its objectives. g) To establish adult education centers for removal of illiteracy amongst the local public. h) To establish libraries and free reading rooms, gymnasiums, sports complex and swimming pools etc. i) To promote cultural, spi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... who have participated have contributed to this organization; there have been corporate who have also been benefited out of these programmes for their own staff, such programs are conducted at their request wherein, the appellant Trust introduced itself as an organization, which is voluntary in nature; some contributor may have treated the same as course fees and have also deducted Taxes at source on these transactions. He vehemently argued that since some of these corporates though have treated them as course fee, the same does not change the status of the Trust being charitable in nature. Such contributions have been treated in the books of accounts as voluntary contributions only. 7.2. If the predominant object is to carry out as charitable purpose and not to earn profit, the organization would not lose its charitable character merely because some profits arise from the activity as argued by the Ld. AR and on this aspect he relied upon the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of ACIT vs. Surat Art Silk Cloth Manufactures 121 ITR 124 (SC) where the Apex Court was pleased to observe that expression 'for the purpose of profit' implies that the predo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Registration Certificate under section 12A is continued and was affective for the year under appeal. 7.6. In the absence of any material changed, the revenue is not justified to take a different view of the matter as also submitted by the Learned AR. In this aspect he has relied upon a judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the matter of Radhasoami Satsang-vs-CIT, reported in 193 ITR 321 (SC) as well as the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the matter of Parashuram Pottery Works Ltd-vs-ITO, reported in (1977) 106 ITR 1(SC). 7.7 As we find that according to the Learned AO as per the amended provision not only direct activities in the nature of trade commerce or business would make the assessee's activities outside the purview of charitable purpose, but also the activity of rendering any services in relation to any trade, commerce or business would make the activities of the assessee non charitable. He has come to a finding that the objects and activities of the assessee do not fall under the first five limbs of the definition of charitable purposes as envisaged u/s. 2(15) such as (i) relief to the poor, (ii) education, (iii) Medical relief (iv) p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of interest on Income Tax refund, the rejection of depreciation to the extent of Rs. 89,26,569/- and the interest levied of Rs. 5,63,40,61,719/- u/s. 234B of the Act though was allowed finally, all for statistical purposes, has not been challenged before us by the Revenue. 7.9. In appeal, the Yoga or Sudarshan Kriya has been held to be covered under the clause "donation" and "medical relief" and not coming under the purview of the last limb of the 2(15) of the Act i.e. advancement of general public utility by the Learned CIT(A). It was further observed that the activities of the appellant are as per the objects of the appellant and the appellant trust has trained more number of persons than the doners in Sudharsan kriya/yoga without charging any fees. 8. We have heard the respective parties and perused the relevant materials available on record. The assessee has filed the entire set of documents which were placed before the authorities below. The Learned DR filed a note on behalf of the revenue in support of the grounds agitated in the appeal before us. 8.1. As we find from the records that all the issues agitated before us in the appeal filed by the revenue are interlinked a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a popularly known as the Ashtanga Yoga and they are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahi Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. These components advocate certain restraints and observance physical discipline, breath regulations, restraining the sense organs, contemplation, meditation and Samadhi. These steps are believed to have a potential for improvement of physical health by enhancing circulation of oxygenated blood in the body, retraining the sense organs thereby inducing tranquility and serenity of mind. What is Sudarshan Kriya : The Sudarshan Kriya incorporates specific natural rhythms of breath which harmonize the rhythms of the body and emotions and bring them in tune with the rhythm nature. The breath connects the body and mind. Just as emotions affect our patterns of breath we can bring about changes in our mental and behavioral patterns by altering the rhythms of breath. It flushes out anger, anxiety and worry; leaving the mind completely relaxed energized. Sudarshan Kriya is a technique of yoga mentioned above, predominantly concentrating on the breath regulations of an individual, which helps a person from having a stress management if practiced on a regular basis. The b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tted fact that the assessee trust has created a very large number of general public population of this country without making discrimination on caste or creed of the participants in those programs. Propagation of yoga as predominant objective in the case of the appellant trust very much falls within the definition of "charitable purpose" provided under section 2(15) of the Act as it is also "imparting of education". There is no dispute that the assessee has been continuously undertaking the following activities: (a) Providing medical relief to various sections of the society, including but not limited to providing free medicines and treatment by organizing various shivirs/camps on a regular basis under the leadership of yoga guru, other trained teachers and teams of doctors. (b) Conducting programmes and shivirs on a regular basis for propagating yoga and also to promote good health; (c) Conducting yoga classes on a regular basis and in systemized manner so as to provide medical relief and also to impart education in yoga through systematic instructions and training programmes. 8.3 In a similar situation while deciding the issue as to whether the trust fall within the purvi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... xman 396 (Bom.) were relied upon. It was held that yoga was one of the six systems of Vedic philosophy developed by Maharishi Patanjali, who was characterized as "The Father of Yoga" and who had compiled and refined various aspects of the science/practice systematically in "Yoga Sutras". The Tribunal concluded upon analysis of the practice of yoga that it confers positive relief to certain ailments such as asthma, migraine, hypertension, stress, etc. and promotes wellness and well being generally. Having regard to the observations, the Court is of the opinion that the mere inclusion of yoga specifically w.e.f. 01.04.2016 did not per se imply that it came to be included as a specific charitable category on the same lines as education, medical relief, relief to the poor, etc but that dissemination of yoga or vedic philosophy or the practice of yoga or education with respect to yoga was well within the larger term "medical relief". This Court is of the opinion that no substantial question of law arises on this aspect." 8.5. It is relevant to mention that the provision to section 2(15) applies only to trust/institutes falling in the last limb of the definition of charitable purposes, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ining programme of Sudarshan Kriya as the fact reveals from the records before us. During the appellate proceeding, the assessee trust submitted a further tabular sheet correlating the activities of the trust to the receipts thereof for the year ended 31.03.2011 which as follows: Sl. No. Range Total Donations No. of Donors % of Donors % Cumulative 1 1-200 42,08,273 26,552 7.43% 7.43% 2 201-500 2,08,71,143 56,127 15.71% 23.14% 3 501-1000 10,87,10,735 1,21,084 33.88% 57.02% 4 1001-1500 4,18,12,615 33,179 9.28% 66.30% 5 1501-2000 2,46,17,851 13,148 3.68% 69.98% 6 2001-3000 10,76,50,664 41,986 11.75% 8173% 7 3001-4000 15,96,18,534 45,288 12.67% 94.40% 8 4001-5000 2,15,47,954 4,563 1.28% 95.68% 9 5001-7000 6,07,52,130 10,521 2.94% 98.62% 10 7001-10000 2,84,72,399 3,261 0.91% 99.53% 11 10001-25000 1,64,93,278 1,079 0.30% 99.84% 12 25001 and above 8,88,07,958 588 0.16% 100.00% Grand Total 68,35,63,534 3,57,376 100.00% 8.8 It further appears that various courses conducted by the appellant trust specially part-1 and part-2 and the Apex course have a direct nexus and/or co-relation with the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... edominant object, it is required to examine the object of the society and not quantum of surplus though such quantum may become relevant in certain circumstance. With the essence of inspiration from the ratio laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the aforesaid judgment conclusion can be drawn that the contribution on which TDS have been deducted amounting to Rs. 4.5 crores being 6.6% of the total contribution Rs. 68 crores, the appellant cannot be said to be a profit making organization when the pre-activity is entirely charitable in nature which has been rightly taken care of by the Learned CIT A and hence we confirm the same. In the result revenue's appeal is dismissed." We do not find any reason to deviate from the stand as above taken by the Coordinate Bench. Respectfully relying upon the same we affirm the order passed by the Ld. CIT(A). This ground of appeals preferred by the Revenue is, thus, dismissed. 5. Ground No. 3:- This ground is squarely covered in assessee's own case which has been upheld by the Hon'ble Tribunal in Revenue's appeal in ITA Nos. 265, 805, 806 & 2344/Ahd/2018 for A.Y. 2011 to 2014-15 as submitted by the Ld. Sr. Counsel appearing f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed to another trust..." 10.1. The assessee further relied upon the judgement passed in the matter of Gagan Education Society-vs-ACIT, reported in (2011) 131 ITD 442 wherein the assessee society donated certain sum to another charitable society out of current year's income and claimed deduction. The Hon'ble ITAT observed that the restriction imposed by section 11(3)(d) applies to income under section 11(2) and not to current year's income or to accumulation under section 11(1) and thus assessee's claim was allowed. 10.2. Therefore, if the donations have been made from the income of the previous year and not out of the accumulation under section 11(2) then the same be eligible to be considered as application of income as long as the recipients are charitable organizations. Having regard this particular aspect of the matter the AO has been further directed by the Learned CITA to verify as to whether these trust have the status of exemption under the Income Tax Act and also whether they are charitable organisation. Subject to such verification of the objects of the recipients the Ld. AO was directed to treat the application of income of the assessee, which in our co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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