VERSOVA KOKNI SUNNI JAMAT TRUST,MUMBAI vs. ITO, (E) (2)(4), MUMBAI
| आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण ायपीठ, मुंबई |
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL
“F” BENCH, MUMBAI
BEFORE SHRI SAKTIJIT DEY, HON’BLE VICE PRESIDENT
&
SHRI NARENDRA KUMAR BILLAIYA, HON’BLE ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
I.T.A. No. 6872/Mum/2024
Assessment Year: 2014-15
Versova Kokni Sunni Jamat Trust
Shop No. 1, Ashiyana Manzil
Tere Galli No. 1
Versova, Andheri (W)
Mumbai - 400061
[PAN: AABTV7167L]
Vs
ITO(E)(2)(4), Mumbai
अपीलाथ/ (Appellant)
यथ/ (Respondent)
Assessee by:
Shri K. Shivram a/w Ms. Neelam Jhadav, A/Rs
Revenue by:
Ms. Kavitha Kaushik, Sr. D/R
सुनवाई की तारीख/Date of Hearing : 15/10/2025
घोषणा की तारीख /Date of Pronouncement : 24/10/2025
आदेश/O R D E R
PER NARENDRA KUMAR BILLAIYA, AM:
This appeal by the assessee is preferred against the order of the ld.
CIT(A)/Addl./JCIT(A)-4, Kolkata [hereinafter ‘the ld. CIT(A)’] dated
30/10/2024, pertaining to AY 2014-15. 2. The grievance of the assessee reads as under :-
“Corpus Donations
1. On facts and circumstances of the case and in law CIT(A) passed Order based on surmise, conjecture, suspicion and doubt. Any order passed only on basis of suspicion or doubt is bad in law and violates the principles of natural justice, hence the entire order needs to be set aside.
2. On facts and circumstances of the case and in law CIT(A) based on his suspicion and doubt concluded that there are alleged discrepancies in the documents submitted by the appellant trust and erroneously concluded that documents are fake which is based on presumption and guess work.
3. On facts and circumstances of the case and in law the ld. CIT(A) erred in disallowing Corpus Donation of Rs. 8,99,811/-terming the documents submitted as FAKE. Capital Receipts are not taxed irrespective of fact whether the trust is registered or not u/s 12A/12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The CIT(A) overlooked the fact and failed to appreciate that the appellant obtained subsequent confirmation to establish the genuineness & identity of donors. Aadhar and PAN were subsequently allotted & furnish, establishes intention of Appellant to comply with all conditions. However, identity has been established. Hence there was no ground of suspicion and conjecture.
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All donations are genuine and bonafide.
4. On facts and circumstances of the case and in law CIT(A) has disregarded the order in remand of the H'ble ITAT while examining the Corpus Letters submitted by the Trust.
The Appellant Trust had submitted all the 108 corpus letters for examination.
However, the CIT(A) had pointed out minor discrepancies/issues of PAN
Aadhar/signature in only 8 Corpus letters. On the basis of these 8 Corpus Letters, he termed the entire 108 Corpus Letters as FAKE and made addition of Rs. 8,99,811/-
.
5. The Appellant Trust has all the justifications and evidences with regards to observations made in the Order of the CIT(A) but was not given adequate opportunity.
II. RENTAL INCOME FROM HOUSE PROPERTY
6. On facts and circumstances of the case and in law the CIT(A) erred in disallowing
Income from House Property of Rs. 4,87,924/- due to non-submission of ownership details. Income derived from rental house property as per the judgement of Supreme
Court have to be classified only under the head Income from House Property. The Appellant is issuing rent receipts to tenants at the time of collection of rent.
7. On facts and circumstances of the case and in law the Appellant Trust is registered with the Waqf Board and has been filing their accounts regularly. The Income from which the Appellant Trust earns house property is registered with the Wagf board and is reflected in Schedule 1 maintained by the Waqf Board at their office clearly indicating that the Appellant is the owner of the properties from which it earns rental income.
These properties were of prior to 1955 of trust which got amalgamated with existing trust. These documents are available with the Waqf Board.
The Appellant Trust craves to add, amend or alter the aforesaid grounds.”
The assessee has raised the following additional grounds of appeal:- “Without prejudice to the earlier grounds. Appellant is assessed as an AOP and no exemption has been allowed u/s.11 hence the expenditure of the AOP may be allowed as a deduction. 8 On the facts and circumstances of the case, the appellant has been assessed as an Association of Persons (AOP), and no exemption under Section 11 of the Income- tax Act has been granted when the entire receipts are assessed as business income and consequently, the expenditure incurred during the year in connection with such receipts may be allowed as business expenditure which is part of the receipt and expenditure. Without prejudice to the grounds raised earlier Appellant is assessed as an AOP, and the donation received is not chargeable to tax. 9 On the facts and circumstances of the case, the appellant has been assessed as an Association of Persons (AOP), and hence the donation received by the AOP is not chargeable to tax. Without prejudice to the grounds raised earlier Appellant is assessed as an AOP. The donation received is treated as Business Income, then expenditure incurred during the year in connection with such receipts should be allowed as a deduction
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10 On the facts and circumstances of the case, the appellant has been assessed as an Association of Persons (AOP), and donation received treated as business income, then expenditure in the form of depreciation of Rs.9,00,164/- and other ancillary expenditure such as establishment expenses, audit fees, may be allowed as expenditure.”
Representatives were heard at length. Case records carefully perused. At the very outset, our attention was drawn to the order of the Co-ordinate Bench in AY 2015-16 in ITA No. 6490/Mum/2024 by which, the Co-ordinate Bench has restored the quarrel to the file of the ld. CIT(A) to be decided afresh as per the directions given therein. Since the facts and circumstances are pari materia the same, we find force in the contention of the ld. Counsel for the assessee. The Co-ordinate Bench in AY 2015-16 (supra), has held as under:- “After rival submissions are heard, the Bench has observed that it is an undisputed fact that no details were furnished before Ld. CIT(A) despite the hearing notices were sent to 5 email ids mentioned in the return of income. The cases-law relied upon the appellant are not applicable to the facts of this case because in those cases, the appellant has submitted all the details and decisions were taken accordingly. In the impugned case, there was no compliance to the questionnaire issued by Ld. CIT(A) and hence an adverse inference was taken by him while adjudicating the appeal. Anyhow, taking a lenient view, the Bench decided to give one more opportunity to the appellant trust, as requested by Ld. AR of the appellant to submit all the details before Ld. CIT(A). The Bench has observed that only one opportunity was given by Ld. CIT(A) and then the appeal was dismissed for non-prosecution. In view of this facts and peculiar circumstances, the matter is remanded to the file of Ld. CIT(A) with a direction to given the appellant an effective opportunity and dispose of the appeal. The appellant is also directed to cooperate with the Department and furnish all relevant particulars and help them in expediting the appeal.”
Respectfully following the decision of the Co-ordinate Bench, we set aside the quarrel to the file of the ld. CIT(A) to be decided afresh in line with AY 2015-16. 6. Coming to the additional grounds raised by the assessee, we are of the considered view that since the assessee has not claimed any exemption nor allowed u/s 11 of the Act, therefore, the income of the assessee has to be computed on the commercial principles i.e., all the related incidental expenditure needs to be allowed. Therefore, we direct
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the ld. CIT(A) to examine and verify the expenditures and allow the same as per the relevant provisions of law.
7. In the result, appeal of the assessee is allowed for statistical purposes.
Order pronounced in the Court on 24th October, 2025 at Mumbai. (SAKTIJIT DEY)
ACCOUNTANT MEMBER
Mumbai, Dated 24/10/2025
*SC SrPs
*SC SrPs
*SC SrPs
*SC SrPs
आदेश की ितिलिप अेिषत/Copy of the Order forwarded to :
अपीलाथ / The Appellant 2. थ / The Respondent 3. संबंिधत आयकर आयु" / Concerned Pr. CIT 4. आयकर आयु")अपील (/ The CIT(A)- 5. िवभागीय ितिनिध ,आयकर अपीलीय अिधकरण, मुंबई /DR,ITAT, Mumbai, 6. गाड& फाई/ Guard file.
आदेशानुसार/ BY ORDER