Iapl v. Saharnapur Development Authority

Court No. - 35 Case :- INCOME TAX APPEAL No. - 550 of 2008Appellant :- The Commissioner Income Tax, Muzaffarnagar & AnotherRespondent :- Saharnapur Development AuthorityCounsel for Appellant :- S.S.C. I.T.,Praveen KumarCounsel for Respondent :- Ashish Bansal Hon'ble Bharati Sapru,J.Hon'ble Piyush Agrawal,J. Heard Sri Praveen Kumar, learned Counsel for theappellant-department and Sri Ashish Bansal, learnedCounsel for the assessee. This is a department's appeal under Section 260-A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against an order passed bythe Tribunal dated 20.06.2008 by which the Tribunalhas granted registration to the respondent, which isSaharanpur development authority under Section 12-Aof the Income Tax Act. The questions of law sought tobe answered are hereunder:- (1) "Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, theTribunal is justified in law in directing the CIT to grant Registration tothe assessee Development Authority by completely overlooking thefact that the assessee Development Authori6y is a mere 'LocalAuthority' created by the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning &Development Act, 1973 and neither a Trust nor an Institution ascontemplated u/s 12-A of the Act?" (2) "Whether the aims and objects and the activities carried out by theassessee Development Authority can be termed as charitable withinthe meaning of the provisions of Section 12-A of the Act?" (3) "Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, theTribunal is justified in law in ignoring the facts that the assessee is a'Local Authority' and does not qualify for exemption u/s 11 of the Actwhich is also a condition for Registration u/s 12-A and does not evenfall with the meaning of Section 10(21), 10(22), 10(22-A), 10(23),10(23-A), 10(23-B), 10(23-BB) & 10 (23-C)?" The Tribunal has followed its earlier decisions withregard to two another development authoritieswhereby the registration was granted under Section12-AA of the Income Tax Act, 1916. The said decisions have also been upheld by this Court in itsdecision in Income Tax Appeal No.657 of 2007 dated29.08.2016 by coming to the conclusion that therespondent-authority had fulfilled the criteria for grantof registration under Section 12-A of the Act. The questions of law are, therefore, answered againstthe revenue and in favour of the assessee. This appeal is dismissed. No costs. Order Date :- 7.1.2019S.P.