Sacred Heart College Golden Jubilee Trust, Ernakulam V. The iTO (exemption), Kochi

ITA 284/COCH/2020

AI Insights

The case involves Sacred Heart College Golden Jubilee Trust appealing against a revisional order by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Kochi, which challenged the acceptance of corpus donations by the Assessing Officer during the assessment year 2015-16. The primary contention was whether the corpus donations, amounting to Rs.126.50 Lacs, were voluntary contributions to a corpus fund or effectively admission fees, which would classify them as revenue receipts. The Tribunal examined the arguments and evidence presented, including receipts and the nature of the donations, and referenced a decision by the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala in CIT vs. Choice Foundation to support the assessee's position.

• Counselvise Citation: [2022] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 134591 (ITAT-COCHIN)
• Duration Of Justice: 2 year(s) 4 month(s) 27 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Income Tax Appeal
• Pronouncement Date: 29-11-2022
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: DB
• Next Hearing Date: 31-12-0000
• Assessment Year: misc
• Appeal Filed On: 02-07-2020
• Other Referred Cases: CIT vs. Choice Foundation (134 Taxmann.com 163)
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Assessee Lawyers: REMYA S. MENON C.A LD
• Keywords: Revision of order; Corroborative evidences
• Section: 263

Judgement Text

आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, कोचीन पीठ, कोचीन म । IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL COCHIN BENCH, COCHIN माननीय %ी सतबीर िसंह गोदारा, -ाियक सद. एवं माननीय %ी मनोज कु मार अ3वाल ,लेखा सद. के सम6। BEFORE HON’BLE SHRI SATBEER SINGH GODARA, J.M AND HON’BLE SHRI MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL, A.M आयकर अपील सं./ ITA No.284/Coch/2020 (िनधा@रण वष@ / Assessment Year: 2015-16) Sacred Heart College Golden Jubilee Trust Thevara, Ernakulam – 682 013. बनाम / V s. ITO (Exemptions) Kochi. थायी लेखा सं./जीआइ आर सं./P AN /GI R No . AAB TS -2 7 9 0 - Q (अपीलाथ /Appellant) : ( थ / Respondent) अपीलाथ की ओरसे/ Appellant by : Smt. Remya S. Menon (C.A) – Ld. A.R थ की ओरसे/Respondent by : Shri M. Rajasekhar (CIT) – Ld. DR सुनवाई की तारीख/Date of Hearing : 10-11-2022 घोषणा की तारीख /Date of Pronouncement : 30-11-2022 आदेश / O R D E R Manoj Kumar Aggarwal (Accountant Member) 1. Aforesaid appeal by assessee for Assessment Year (AY) 2015-16 arises out of revisional order passed by learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemption), Kochi (CIT) on 27-04-2020 u/s 263 in the matter of an assessment framed by Ld. Assessing Officer [AO] u/s.143(3) of the Act on 07-11-2017. 2. The Ld. AR advanced arguments supporting the assessment framed by Ld. AO. The ld. CIT-DR supported the impugned order and ITA No.284/Coch/2020 - 2 - justified the revisional proceedings. Having heard rival submissions, the appeal is disposed-off as under. 3. The Ld. AO accepted the returned income filed by the assessee. However, Ld. CIT sought revision of the order on the ground that corpus donations of Rs.126.50 Lacs were accepted by Ld. AO without enquiring about real nature of the receipt. The assessee assailed the same on the ground that requisite details were furnished and due enquiries were made by Ld. AO while accepting the claim. However, Ld. CIT held that corpus donation is taken only from those students who are seeking fresh admission. Therefore, the donations were not voluntary in nature and the same was nothing but admission fees to be paid at the time of admission. Therefore, it would be a revenue receipt and not a corpus fund. Accordingly, Ld. AO was directed to examine the nature and character of corpus donations. Aggrieved, the assessee is in further appeal before us. 4. The Ld. AR has submitted that all the donations are supported by receipts which clearly show that the money was received as corpus fund only on voluntary basis. The donations so received by the assessee have been utilized for building infrastructure for setting up of education facilities. All these aspects have been verified by Ld. AO during regular assessment proceedings. The decision of Hon’ble High Court of Kerala in CIT vs. Choice Foundation (134 Taxmann.com 163) has also been relied upon to support the merits of the case. 5. Upon perusal of assessee’s reply during regular assessment proceedings, we find that the assessee has furnished details of corpus donation as called for by Ld. AO. The Ld. AO, after going through the same, accepted the claim of the assessee and chose not to make any ITA No.284/Coch/2020 - 3 - addition on this account. The observations made by Ld. CIT are more in the nature of allegation without any supporting evidence on record. Once the claim has been accepted by Ld. AO, the same view could be disturbed only if the order is erroneous and prejudicial to the revenue which is not the case here. Simply because Ld. CIT viewed the donation as admission fees, without there being any concrete evidence on record, would not justify invocation of revisional jurisdiction u/s 263. Therefore, the impugned order could not be sustained in law. We order so. 6. The appeal stand allowed. Order pronounced on 30 th November, 2022. Sd/- (SATBEER SINGH GODARA) -ाियक सद. /JUDICIAL MEMBER Sd/- (MANOJ KUMAR AGGARWAL) लेखा सद. / ACCOUNTANT MEMBER िदनांक / Dated : 30-11-2022 EDN/- Copy to: 1. The Appellant 2. The Respondent 3. The CIT(A) -NFAC, Delhi 4. The CIT - 5. The DR, ITAT, Cochin 6. Guard File