{"id":124158,"date":"2003-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-11-30T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/sri-aurobindo-ashram-harpegon-vs-the-assistant-commissioner-on-1-december-2003"},"modified":"2019-03-02T15:45:27","modified_gmt":"2019-03-02T10:15:27","slug":"sri-aurobindo-ashram-harpegon-vs-the-assistant-commissioner-on-1-december-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/sri-aurobindo-ashram-harpegon-vs-the-assistant-commissioner-on-1-december-2003","title":{"rendered":"Sri Aurobindo Ashram Harpegon vs The Assistant Commissioner on 1 December, 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"docsource_main\">Madras High Court<\/div>\n<div class=\"doc_title\">Sri Aurobindo Ashram Harpegon vs The Assistant Commissioner on 1 December, 2003<\/div>\n<pre>       \n\n  \n\n  \n\n \n \n In the High Court of Judicature at Madras\n\nDated: 01\/12\/2003\n\nCoram\n\nThe Hon'ble Mr. Justice R. Jayasimha Babu\nand\nThe Hon'ble Mr. Justice S.R. Singharavelu\n\nTax Case No. 28 of 2000 and Tax Case No. 266 of 2000\nand Tax Case No. 270 of 2000\n\n\nSri Aurobindo Ashram Harpegon\n  Workshop Trust,\n3 &amp; 5, Rue Dupuy,\nPondicherry - 605 001.          ...  Appellant in\n                                all the T.Cs.\n\n-Vs-\n\nThe Assistant Commissioner\n  of Wealth-tax,\nCircle I (1),\nPondicherry.                    ...  Respondent in\n                                all the T.Cs.\n\n\n        Tax Case appeal under Section 27A of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957  against\nthe  order  of  the  Incometax  Appellate  Tribunal, Madras \"D\" Bench, made in\nW.T.A.  Nos:  1188, 1189 and 1190\/Mds\/92 dated 14.10.1999 for  the  assessment\nyears 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86.\n\n\n!For appellant :  Mr.P.P.S.  Janardhanaraja for\n                M\/s.  Subbaraya Aiyar\n\n^For respondent :  Mr.  T.  Ravi Kumar,\n                Junior Standing counsel for\n                Incometax Department.\n\n\n:O R D E R\n<\/pre>\n<p>(Order of the Court was<br \/>\ndelivered by R.  Jayasimha Babu, J.)<\/p>\n<p>        The  question raised in these appeals by the assessee is as to whether<br \/>\nthe Tribunal is right  in  holding  that  the  assessee  is  not  entitled  to<br \/>\nexemption under Section 5 (1) (i) of the Wealth Tax Act.\n<\/p>\n<p>        2.   The assessee is a trust whose objects are set out in clause 4A of<br \/>\nthe Trust Deed dated 18th December 1967, which reads thus :<br \/>\n&#8221; 4A.  The objects of the Trust shall be :\n<\/p>\n<p>        i.  To aid and assist in  the  development,  and  maintenance  of  Sri<br \/>\nAurobindo  International  Centre  of Education and Sri Aurobindo Ashram or any<br \/>\nother public Trust for charitable purpose and to establish and\/ or  take  over<br \/>\nand\/or  purchase  and\/or  otherwise  acquire  and  run and manage services and<br \/>\nindustries required for the purpose of Sri Aurobindo International  Centre  of<br \/>\nEducation  and\/or  Sri Aurobindo Ashram and\/or departments connected therewith<br \/>\nor any other Public Trust for charitable purpose.\n<\/p>\n<p>        ii.  To organise, encourage, promote, spread and impart  all  kind  of<br \/>\neducations  and\/or  aid  and\/or  assist  in imparting and\/or contribute to Sri<br \/>\naurobindo Ashram and\/or Sri Aurobindo International Centre  of  Education  for<br \/>\ncommercial,  industrial  and  other  educations both theoretical and practical<br \/>\nbased on the ideals of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother;\n<\/p>\n<p>        iii.  To carry on practical research, experiments, works,  etc.    for<br \/>\nthe solution of labour problems and solve them and demonstrate the solution in<br \/>\nactual  practice  and  for this purpose and for promotion and demonstration of<br \/>\nharmonious, integrated and right relationship between labour,  management  and<br \/>\nconsumers to promote and\/or establish model industries and businesses;\n<\/p>\n<p>        iv.   To  impart  and\/or  aid  in  imparting integral education and to<br \/>\npromote and to help, the establishment and development of an intergral society<br \/>\nand life divine in all its aspects and departments on the lines  envisaged  by<br \/>\nSri Aurobindo and the Mother;\n<\/p>\n<p>        v.   To  promote, carry on, aid or assist various works and efforts in<br \/>\nconnection with labour welfare or for the benefit of labour and\/or for finding<br \/>\nwork for the unemployed;\n<\/p>\n<p>        vi.  To establish and organise, maintain,  grant  and  assist  without<br \/>\ndistinction  of  religion  or  community,  schools,  dispensaries,  recreation<br \/>\ncentres, libraries, Technical  and  Experts  aid  and  advice  bureau,  parks,<br \/>\nchildren&#8217;s centres, physical culture centres, etc.;&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>        2.   Clause 4B of the trust deed obligates the trustees to utilise the<br \/>\nentire income and corpus of the trust only for contributing to  Sri  Aurobindo<br \/>\nInternational  Centre  of  Education and\/or to Sri Aurobindo Ashram and\/or for<br \/>\nthe carrying on the objects of the Trust and\/or for  the  development  of  the<br \/>\nactivities and  properties  of the trust.  Clause 4C of the trust deed further<br \/>\nobligates the trustees to carry on only such Trade, Commerce and  Industry  as<br \/>\ncan be carried on either in the course of actually carrying out of any or part<br \/>\nof  any  of  the  purposes  of  Sri  Aurobindo  Ashram  and\/or  Sri  Aurobindo<br \/>\nInternational Centre of Education and\/or this Trust.\n<\/p>\n<p>        3.  Clause 6 of the deed in its sub-clauses (i) to (xiv) specifies the<br \/>\npowers of the trustees in addition to those conferred on the trustees  by  the<br \/>\ngeneral law  or  other  terms  of  the  document.  The trust deed is a lengthy<br \/>\ndocuments and contains 44 clauses.  The assessee trust has been treated  as  a<br \/>\npublic  charitable  trust  within  the meaning of Section 11 of the Income Tax<br \/>\nAct.\n<\/p>\n<p>        4.  Section 5 (1) (1) of the Wealth Tax Act provides that  wealth  tax<br \/>\nshall  not  be  payable by an assessee in respect of any &#8220;property held by him<br \/>\nunder trust or other legal obligation for any public purpose of  a  charitable<br \/>\nreligious nature in India&#8221;.  There is a proviso under that clause which is not<br \/>\nrelevant  for the present purpose as the revenue has not sought to rely on the<br \/>\nsame for denying the exemption to the assessee.\n<\/p>\n<p>        5.  The term &#8220;charitable&#8221; has not been defined in the Wealth Tax  Act.<br \/>\nHowever,  in the income tax Act in Section 2(15) &#8220;charitable purpose&#8221; has been<br \/>\ndefined in an inclusive way as  including  &#8220;relief  of  the  poor,  education,<br \/>\nmedical  relief  and  the  advancement  of  any other object of general public<br \/>\nutility.&#8221; The words &#8220;not involving in the carrying on any activity for profit&#8221;<br \/>\nwhich had followed &#8220;the object of general public utility&#8221;  were  omitted  from<br \/>\nthe definition by the Finance Act 1983 with effect from 1.4.1984.\n<\/p>\n<p>        6.  This Court in the case of <a href=\"\/doc\/201317\/\">Commissioner of Wealth Tax vs.  Gangabai<br \/>\nCharities<\/a> [(1999) 236 I.T.R.  735] has held that the interpretation of a trust<br \/>\ndeed  for  considering  the  liability  of  the  trust for being regarded as a<br \/>\ncharitable trust under the Income Tax Act  is  relevant  for  the  purpose  of<br \/>\nconsidering the claim of such a trust for exempting its properties from wealth<br \/>\ntax under the Wealth Tax Act.\n<\/p>\n<p>        7.   The  Supreme  Court in the case of <a href=\"\/doc\/885614\/\">Commissioner of Income Tax vs.<br \/>\nAndhra Chambers of Commerce<\/a>  [(1965)  55  I.T.R.    722]  has  held  that  the<br \/>\nincidental  benefit  received  by  a member of the chamber would not debar the<br \/>\nchamber of commerce from being treated as an institution which  is  charitable<br \/>\nas the benefit received by the executor is only incidental.\n<\/p>\n<p>        8.   A  Constitution  Bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  case of<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/doc\/1859206\/\">Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Gujarat, vs.    Surat  Art  Silk  Cloth<br \/>\nManufacturers Association<\/a>  reported  in 121 (1980) I.T.R.  1 has held that the<br \/>\nobject of the Surat Art Silk Cloth  Manufacturers  Association  which  was  to<br \/>\npromote commerce  and trade in art silk yarn, raw-silk, cotton yarn, etc.  was<br \/>\nan object of general public utility.  It was  also  held  in  that  case  that<br \/>\nthough  the  primary purpose of the trust is advancement of objects of general<br \/>\npublic utility,  the  institution  would  remain  charitable  even  if  a  non<br \/>\ncharitable  object  was mentioned in the deed, provided it was only incidental<br \/>\nfor achieving the primary purpose of the trust.\n<\/p>\n<p>        9.  More recently, a two Judge Bench of the Supreme Court in the  case<br \/>\nof <a href=\"\/doc\/1678095\/\">Director of  Income  Tax  vs.    Bharat Diamond Bourse<\/a> [(2003) 259 I.  T.R.<br \/>\n280] held that a diamond bourse whose principal object was to  facilitate  the<br \/>\ndiamond  trade  so  that  maximum  revenue  could  be earned by way of foreign<br \/>\nexchange and also make the diamond trade more competitive in the international<br \/>\nmarket, was an object of general public utility and, therefore, charitable.\n<\/p>\n<p>        10.  The objects of the trust in this case  are  clearly  such  as  to<br \/>\nentitle  the  trust  to  be  regarded  as  charitable trust as all the objects<br \/>\nqualify for being treated as objects either  for  promoting  education  or  as<br \/>\nobjects of  general  public utility.  This trust, as noticed earlier, has been<br \/>\ntreated as charitable trust under the Income Tax Act.  We see no  good  ground<br \/>\nto  treat  the  trust differently for the purpose of the Wealth Tax Act as the<br \/>\nproperties held by the trust are burdened with the obligation of being used or<br \/>\napplied only for the objects of the trust which are charitable in nature.\n<\/p>\n<p>        11.  Learned counsel for the revenue sought to contend that this Court<br \/>\nhas already rejected a similar claim by a trust similar to the one now  before<br \/>\nus in  the  case  of  <a href=\"\/doc\/828351\/\">Commissioner  of Income-tax, Tamil Nadu V, vs.  Workshop<br \/>\nTrust,<\/a> [(1983) 142 I.T.R.  26].  In that case, the Court  considered  a  trust<br \/>\ndeed  which  was  executed  by  a disciple of Shri Aurobindo, who after having<br \/>\nstarted a carpentary workshop, created a trust called a Workshop trust.    The<br \/>\nCourt  held that as the only purpose of the trust was to benefit the Aurobindo<br \/>\nAshram financially and the trust had no other purpose, it was not possible  to<br \/>\nregard the  trust  as  a  charitable  trust.   It was found that there were no<br \/>\neducational objects in the trust that was created, and the there was no  other<br \/>\nobject  of  general public utility and further that the trust that was created<br \/>\ndid not fall within any other accepted heads of charity.  The  facts  of  this<br \/>\ncase are entirely different.  The mere fact that the author of this trust like<br \/>\nthe  author  of  the other trust considered in that case, are disciples of Sri<br \/>\nAurobindo, does not on that score, render all trust created by such  disciples<br \/>\nnot charitable.\n<\/p>\n<p>        12.   The objects of this trust which have been extracted clearly show<br \/>\nthat the objects were not confined to pass on the income of the  business  run<br \/>\nby the  trust  to  Aurobindo  Ashram.   The objects are much wider and include<br \/>\nobjects of general public utility.\n<\/p>\n<p>        13.  The numerous powers conferred on the trustees in relation to  the<br \/>\nactual  running of the business does not in any way derogate from the objects,<br \/>\nas all powers are to be exercised only  for  the  purpose  of  fulfilling  the<br \/>\nobjects  of  the  trust,  and  the  trustees have no right to distribute among<br \/>\nthemselves any part of the income or the properties of the trust.\n<\/p>\n<p>        14.  Clause 4B of the Trust deed makes it amply clear that the  corpus<br \/>\nof  the  trust  was only to be utilised and\/or accumulated for contributing to<br \/>\nthe Aurobindo International Centre of Education and other  institutions  which<br \/>\nare charitable  institutions.    As  held  by the Supreme Court in the case of<br \/>\nSurat Art Silk Cloth Manufacturers Association cited supra, the carrying on of<br \/>\nan activity for profit in the course of  actually  carrying  out  the  primary<br \/>\npurpose  of  the trust would not disqualify the trust from being regarded as a<br \/>\ncharitable trust.  The fact that the trust here  carries  on  a  business  and<br \/>\nderives  an  income  therefrom and holds properties for the purpose of running<br \/>\nthe business does not, disable it from being regarded as  a  charitable  trust<br \/>\nand the  properties  held by it as being held for a charitable purpose.  It is<br \/>\nnot the case of either the revenue or the assessee that  the  properties  held<br \/>\nare for religious purposes.\n<\/p>\n<p>        15.   The  view taken by the Tribunal that the properties held by this<br \/>\nTrust are not held for charitable  purpose  is,  therefore,  erroneous.    The<br \/>\nappeal is  allowed.  The question set out earlier is answered in favour of the<br \/>\nassessee and against the revenue.\n<\/p>\n<p>Index :  Yes<\/p>\n<p>Website:  Yes<\/p>\n<p>gp<\/p>\n<p>To<\/p>\n<p>1.  The Assistant Registrar,<br \/>\nIncome Tax Appellate Tribunal,<br \/>\nRajaji Bhavan, III Floor,<br \/>\nBesant Nagar,<br \/>\nMadras  90.\n<\/p>\n<p>2.  The Secretary,<br \/>\nCentral Board of Revenue,<br \/>\nNew Delhi.\n<\/p>\n<p>3.  The Commissioner of Wealth Tax,<br \/>\nMadras<\/p>\n<p>4.  The Commissioner of<br \/>\nWealth Tax (Appeals),<br \/>\nMadras.\n<\/p>\n<p>5.  The Assistant Commissioner<br \/>\nof Wealth Tax,<br \/>\nCircle I (1),<br \/>\nPondicherry.\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madras High Court Sri Aurobindo Ashram Harpegon vs The Assistant Commissioner on 1 December, 2003 In the High Court of Judicature at Madras Dated: 01\/12\/2003 Coram The Hon&#8217;ble Mr. Justice R. Jayasimha Babu and The Hon&#8217;ble Mr. Justice S.R. Singharavelu Tax Case No. 28 of 2000 and Tax Case No. 266 of 2000 and Tax [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-court","category-madras-high-court"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sri Aurobindo Ashram Harpegon vs The Assistant Commissioner on 1 December, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/sri-aurobindo-ashram-harpegon-vs-the-assistant-commissioner-on-1-december-2003\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sri Aurobindo Ashram Harpegon vs The Assistant Commissioner on 1 December, 2003 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court &amp; 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