Commissioner of Income Tax v. Tapagachha Sangh Mota
2015-03-25
M.R.SHAH, S.H.VORA
body2015
DigiLaw.ai
JUDGMENT M.R. Shah, J. 1. As common question of law and facts arise in this group of appeals, all these appeals are decided and disposed of by this common judgment and order. At the outset, it is required to be noted that in this group of appeals, following common substantial question of law arise:-- "Whether the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has substantially erred in setting aside the order of the Commissioner of Income-tax holding that dissolution clause is not necessary in the deed of the charitable trust?" TAX APPEAL NO. 915 OF 2014 2. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Tribunal Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, "SMC" Bench, Rajkot dated 29.5.2014 passed in ITA No. 440/RJT/2013 for registration under Section12AA of the Income Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Act"), by which, the learned Tribunal has allowed the said appeal preferred by the respondent - assessee trust and has directed the Commissioner of Income-tax, Jamnagar to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the assessee trust, the Revenue has preferred present Tax Appeal raising the aforesaid substantial question of law. TAX APPEAL NO. 916 OF 2014 2.1 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Tribunal Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, "SMC" Bench, Rajkot dated 30.5.2014 passed in ITA No. 441/RJT/2013 for registration under Section12AA of the Income-tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Act"), by which, the learned Tribunal has allowed the said appeal preferred by the respondent-assessee trust and has directed the Commissioner of Income-tax, Jamnagar to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the assessee trust, the Revenue has preferred present Tax Appeal raising the aforesaid substantial question of law. TAX APPEAL NO. 917 OF 2014 2.2 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Tribunal Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, "SMC" Bench, Rajkot dated 30.5.2014 passed in ITA No. 442/RJT/2013 for registration under Section12AA of the Income-tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Act"), by which, the learned Tribunal has allowed the said appeal preferred by the respondent - assessee trust and has directed the Commissioner of Income-tax, Jamnagar to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the assessee trust, the Revenue has preferred present Tax Appeal raising the aforesaid substantial question of law. 3.
3. That the respective assessee trust registered under the Bombay Public Trust Act submitted the application for registration under Section 12AA of the Act on 25.3.2013. 3.1 That on verification of the respective trust deed, it was observed by the Commissioner of Income-tax, Jamnagar that in the trust deed there is no "dissolution clause" and the respective trust did not explained anything related to provision in the events of its dissolution which should have reflected in trust deed, the Commissioner of Income-tax, Jamnagar doubted the genuineness of the trust and rejected the registration sought by the respective trust under Section 12AA of the Act. 3.2 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the respective orders passed by the CIT(A), Jamnagar refusing to grant registration under section 12AA of the Act to the respective trust, the respective trust - assessee trust preferred appeals before the learned Tribunal being ITA No. 440/RJT/2013 to ITA No. 442/RJT/2013 and by impugned judgment and orders, the learned Tribunal, relying upon the decision of the Coordinate Bench in the case of Chargam Dosha Porwad Mahamandal v. DIT (Exemption) in ITA Nos. 337 & 338/AHD/2013, dated 08-05-2013 has allowed the aforesaid respective appeals and has directed the CIT, Jamanagar to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the respective assessee. 3.3 Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order passed by the learned Tribunal directing the CIT(A) to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the respective assessee trust, the revenue has preferred present Tax Appeals to consider the aforesaid substantial question of law. 4. Shri Pranav Desai, learned advocate for the Revenue has vehemently submitted that in absence of any "dissolution clause" in the trust deed and and in absence of any provision in the trust deed with respect to property of the trust in the event of its "dissolution", when Commission of Income-tax, Jamnagar doubted the genuineness of the trust and/or its bona fide and consequently when the Commissioner, Jamnagar refused to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the respective assessee trust, the learned Tribunal has materially erred in interfering with the order passed by the Commissioner, Jamnagar and has materially erred in allowing the respective appeals and directing the Commissioner, Jamnagar to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the respective assessee trust.
4.1 Relying upon the provisions of Section 12AA of the Act, it is vehemently submitted by Shri Desai, learned counsel for the Revenue that grant of registration under Section 12AA of the Act is on the subjective satisfaction of the Commissioner with respect to (1) genuineness of the activities of such trust or institution and (2) the activities are being carried out in accordance with objects of the trust or institution. It is submitted that therefore, when on verification of the trust deed it was found that there is no "dissolution clause" and/or any provision, with respect to the properties of the trust, in the event of closure/dissolution of the trust and there is no provision where the properties of the trust on dissolution and/or on the closure of the trust will go and/or there is no provision where the properties of the trust will devolve on closure/dissolution of the trust and consequently when the Commissioner doubted the genuineness and bona fide of the trust, Commissioner rightly refused to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act to the respective assessee trust. It is further submitted by Shri Desai, learned counsel for the Revenue that the learned Tribunal has materially erred in simply relying upon the decision of the Coordinate Bench in the case of Chargam Dosha Porwad Mahamandal (supra). Number of submissions have been made by Shri Desai, learned counsel for the Revenue in support of the case on behalf of the Revenue that either in absence of any "dissolution clause" in the trust deed and/or in absence of any provision in the trust deed in the event of closure and/or dissolution of trust, the authority is justified in refusing to grant registration under Section 12AA of the Act. However, for the reasons stated herein below, this Court proposes to remand the matter to the First Authority to consider the applications afresh, this Court is not further considering the larger issue in detail. 5. Shri B.S. Soparkar, learned Advocate for the respective assessee trust has vehemently submitted that in the facts and circumstances of the case the Commissioner was not justified in doubting the genuineness/bona fide of the Trust.
5. Shri B.S. Soparkar, learned Advocate for the respective assessee trust has vehemently submitted that in the facts and circumstances of the case the Commissioner was not justified in doubting the genuineness/bona fide of the Trust. It is submitted that all these respective trusts are in existence since many years and in fact they were also filing the return of income since many years and were claiming exemption under Section 12AA of the Act and the same came to be considered by the concerned AO and the concerned AO did not at any point of time doubted the genuineness of the trust. It is submitted that as such the earlier, respective trusts applied for registration under Section 12AA of the Act, however in view of the death of their Chartered Accountant could not trace out the registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act, if any, and therefore, they applied for duplicate registration certificate/new/fresh registration certificate. It is submitted that therefore, without admitting that in absence of any "dissolution clause" and/or any provision in the event of dissolution/closure of the trust whether the registration under Section 12AA of the Act can be refused or not, it is vehemently submitted that in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case when since many years the trust is in existence; they are carrying on their activities since long and they are registered with the office of the Charity Commissioner since many years (approximately more than 25 to 30 years) and that they are filing return of income every year and they are claiming exemption since many years and same have been granted and/or accepted by the concerned AO there was no reason for the Charity Commissioner to doubt the genuineness and/or bona fide of the trust and therefore, the Commissioner, Jamnagar was not justified in refusing the registration under Section 12AA of the Act solely on the ground that in the trust deed there is no "dissolution clause" and/or provision in the event of dissolution and/or closure of trust. 6.
6. To the aforesaid, Shri Desai, learned advocate for the Revenue has submitted that even the aforesaid case on behalf of the trust that they are filing the return of income even year and are claiming the exemption and that same have been accepted by the concerned AO and concerned AO have never doubted the genuineness of the assessee trust are all factual aspect, which are required to be considered by the Commissioner on producing the relevant material to the aforesaid extent, before it. Therefore, it is requested to remand the matter to the first authority to consider the application of the respective assessee trusts afresh and in accordance with law and on merits and to consider the genuineness and/or credibility of the trust claiming registration under Section 12AA of the Act. 7. To the aforesaid, Shri Soparkar, learned counsel for the assessee trust has stated that he will not have any objection if the matters are remanded to the first authority/Commissioner to consider the applications afresh and to consider the genuineness and/or credibility of the trust considering the fact that the respective assessee trust are carrying on their activity since many years; they are filing their return of income every year and claiming the exemption and that same have been considered by the concerned AO and that the concerned AO have never doubted the genuineness and/or credibility of the assessee trust. It is submitted that a liberty may also be reserved in favour of respective assessee trust to produce the additional evidence/material to prove the genuineness/credibility of the trust such as return of income claiming the exemption and concerned AO having accepted the same without doubting the genuineness of the assessee trust. 8. Heard the learned advocates for the respective parties at length. At the outset, it is required to be noted that the First Authority-Commissioner refused the registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act solely on the ground that in the trust deed there is no "dissolution clause" and/or any provision in the event of dissolution and/or closure of the Trust. Meaning thereby, the First Authority-Commissioner doubted the genuineness and/or bona fide of the trust and therefore, denied the registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act.
Meaning thereby, the First Authority-Commissioner doubted the genuineness and/or bona fide of the trust and therefore, denied the registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act. That on an appeal, learned Tribunal has allowed the appeals preferred by the assessee and has directed the Commissioner to issue the registration certificate under Section12AA of the Act to the assessee trust solely relying upon the decision of the Coordinate Bench in the case of Chargam Dosha Porwad Mahamandal (supra). That the decision of the Tribunal in the case of Chargam Dosha Porwad Mahamandal (supra), however has been confirmed by the Division Bench of this Court. However, it is required to be noted that in the case of Chargam Dosha Porwad Mahamandal (supra) in fact there was a dissolution clause. Therefore, as such on facts, learned Tribunal has materially erred in relying upon the decision of the Coordinate Bench in the case of Chargam Dosha Porwad Mahamandal (supra). 9. It is true that while considering the issue of registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act, the Commissioner is required to be satisfied himself about the objects of the trust or institution and the genuineness of its activities and after satisfying himself about the objects of the trust or institution and the genuineness of its activities may pass an order in writing registering the trust or institution and grant the registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act. 10. As observed herein above, the Commissioner had refused the registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act to the assessee trust solely on the ground that trust deed do not provide any "dissolution clause" and/or any provision for distribution of the properties in the event of closure/dissolution of the trust and thereby doubting the bona fides and genuineness of the trust. However, it is the case on behalf of assessee trusts that the Trust are in existence/prior to 1965 and in fact was regularly filing his return of income since, many year even claiming exemption under Section 12AA of the Act and same has been considered by the AO and at no point of time they have doubted genuineness and/or bona fide of the assessee trust. Therefore, it is the case on behalf of the assessee trust that they are entitled to registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act. 11.
Therefore, it is the case on behalf of the assessee trust that they are entitled to registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act. 11. From the orders passed by the Commissioner refusing to grant registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act and even from the order passed by the learned Tribunal, it appears that none of the authorities below have considered the above material and relevant aspect with respect to the satisfaction of the Commissioner with respect to genuineness of the trust. In a given case even in absence of any provision in the trust with respect to "dissolution clause" if on facts the trust is found to be genuine and/or genuineness of the trust is established, the trust may be entitled to registration under Section 12AA of the Act, however subject to fulfillment of conditions under Section 12AA of the Act i.e. when the Commissioner is satisfied about the genuineness of the activities of the trust or the institution. As observed herein above, both the Commissioner as well as learned Tribunal have not addressed themselves on the aforesaid relevant aspect, we are of the opinion that matters are required to be remitted back to the file of the Commissioner and remanded to the learned Commissioner to consider the issue/grant of registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act afresh in accordance with law and on merits and to consider the genuineness of the trust/institution/genuineness of the activities of the trust after giving an opportunity to the trust to make submissions and/or produce on record any material in respect of their case that there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the activities of the trust. In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, all the appeals succeed in part.
In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, all the appeals succeed in part. The impugned judgment and orders passed in ITA No. 440/RJT/2013, ITA No. 441/RJT/2013 and ITA No. 442/RJT/2013, dated 29.5.2014 and 30.5.2014 respectively passed by the learned ITAT and the orders passed by Commissioner, Jamnagar rejecting the registration certificate under Section12AA of the Act to the respective assessee trusts are hereby quashed and set aside and matters are remitted to file of the Commissioner/appropriate authority to consider the applications of the respective assessee trust for issuance of registration certificate under Section 12AA of the Act afresh and in accordance with law and on merits and in light of the observations made herein above and after giving an opportunity to the respondent trusts to produce on record any material if they so chose, in support of the genuineness of the activities of the trust. The aforesaid exercise shall be completed within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the present order. It will be open for the trust to submit additional material, if any, in support of their claim that since many years trust is filing return of income and claiming exemption under Section 12AA of the Act meaning thereby to establish the genuineness of the Trust and/or its activities, to be produced within a period of one month from the date of receipt of the present order and the same be considered by the Appropriate authority/concern Commissioner in accordance with law and on its own merits. With this, all these appeals are allowed to the aforesaid extend. In the facts and circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs.