The Assessee is a charitable and religious trust created for the welfare of general public regardless of caste, creed and religious status. The Assessee filed an application before CIT(E) seeking registration u/s 12A of the Act. The CIT(E) rejected the application of the Assessee citing a violation of section 13(1)(b) of the Act due to operation only for the Christian community. The Hon’ble Tribunal perused the object clause of the Assessee trust and noted that it specifically mentioned that the trust is charitable in nature and the charity would be done without prejudice to any caste and creed. Therefore, primarily the object is not barred by section 13(1)(b) of the Act. Further, it was also noted that the revenue had not made any adverse comment on the activity of the Assessee trust. On the said grounds, the Tribunal allowed the appeal in favour of the Assessee trust and thereby directed revenue to issue registration to Assessee. (AY .2019-20)
Amritsar Diocese of Believers Eastern Church v. CIT (E) (2023) 200 ITD 111 (Amritsar)(Trib.)
S. 12AA : Procedure for registration –Trust or institution-Christian community-object of the trust mentioned that charity would be done without prejudice to any caste and creed-Rejection of application for registration on the ground that it operated only for Christian community is held to be not valid. [S. 2(15), 12A,13(1)(b)]