The Commisioner Of Income Tax (Exemption), Kolkata v. Gaat Foundation

ORDER SHEET IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTASPECIAL JURISDICTION (INCOME TAX)ORIGINAL SIDE IA NO: GA/2/2018(Old No. GA/451/2018)INITAT/30/2018 THE COMMISIONER OF INCOME TAX (EXEMPTION), KOLKATAVS.GAAT FOUNDATION BEFORE:The Hon'ble JUSTICE T. S. SIVAGNANAM ANDThe Hon’ble JUSTICE HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYADate : December 17, 2021. [Via Video Conference] Appearance:Mr. Soumen Bhattacharjee, Advocate… for the appellantMr. Pranit Bag, Advocate… for the respondent The Court : This appeal by the revenue has been filed under Section260A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the ‘Act’ in brevity) challenging the orderdated 16[th] August, 2017 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal “A”Bench, Kolkata (Tribunal) in ITA 2194 and 2215/Kol/2016 for theassessment year 2015-16. We have heard Mr. Soumen Bhattacharjee, learned standing counselfor the appellant and Mr. Pranit Bag, learned counsel appearing for therespondent/assessee. The assessee applied for registration under Section 12AA of the Actbefore the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption) (CIT). The saidapplication was rejected vide order dated 29[th] June, 2016. Challenging thesame, the assessee preferred an appeal before the Tribunal. The Tribunalnoted that the registration was denied solely on the ground that the assesseehas received corpus donations as revenue donations for the earlier years andthis cannot be a ground to reject the registration as it is a matter that couldbe examined by the assessing officer during the course of assessment.Furthermore, the Tribunal on facts held that the genuineness of the activitiesof the Trust were not doubted by the CIT. The settled legal principle withregard to the aspect to be examined by the CIT while considering anapplication for grant of registration under Section 12AA of the Act is toconsider whether the objects of the Trust are charitable in nature and nextlyas to whether the activities are genuine. If these two questions are answeredin affirmative, the above registration cannot be denied. This aspect has beenrightly examined by the Tribunal and relief has been granted. We find there isno question of law arising for consideration in this matter. Hence, the appeal filed by the revenue is dismissed. Consequently, connected application stands dismissed. (T. S. SIVAGNANAM, J.) (HIRANMAY BHATTACHARYYA, J.)