DCIT CIR 1(4), MUMBAI vs. PODAR EDUCATION TRUST, MUMBAI

Brief fact of the case shows that assessee is a charitable trust registered under Section 12AA (1) (b) (i) of The Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act) from 3 January 2006 as per registration granted by the Director of Income tax (Exemption), Bangalore. 07. During the year, assessee has earned income from educational activities as well as interest income. Assessee filed return of income under Section 139 of the Act on 21 September 2021 at ₹Nil. The assessment was completed under Section 143(3) of the Act as per order dated 27 March 2014 at ₹ nil. 08. Subsequently, search under Section 132 of the Act was carried out in case of Podar Group on 9 January 2018, where the case of the assessee was also covered. Consequent to that, search notice under Section 153A of the Act was issued on 16th August, ii. Ld AO has erred in relying upon the statements of the persons, which have been subsequently retracted by them post search. iii. statements recorded u/s 131 of the Act have no evidentiary value and relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT vs. Khader Khan Sons (2013) 352 ITR 480 and relied upon other judicial pronouncements. iv. During the process of cross examination in the course of the remand proceedings, the above persons stood by their retractions v. that material found of messages of Shri Navin Nishar cannot be applied against the assessee. vi. digital evidence retrieved from the premise of Jayesh Zanani was not provided to the assessee and opportunity of cross-examination of Jayesh Zanani was not provided to the assessee, which is a violation of principles of natural justice. The AR relied upon various decisions of various High Courts and the Apex Court. viii. Ld AO had failed to bring on record that the Exemption Certificates of any of the donee trusts had been cancelled, because of the allegation of the siphoning of the hands by them. Thus, there is no adverse finding by the AO on the issue of alleged siphoning of the funds by the Appellant through the donee trusts. ix. Assessee has submitted, complete details of the donation given to Ramrao Adik Education Society, which is also engaged in education activities, at page no. 15 to 17 of the Paper Book. It is submitted that independent enquiry under Section 133(6) of the Act, made by the Assessing Officer was replied by the Donee party. After that there is no enquiry made by the learned Assessing Officer with respect to the Donee trust that whether any cash is returned back to any of these persons stated by the learned Assessing Officer. Therefore, there is no evidence against the assessee that Sr No Name of The PAN Donation [ In Trust Rs] 1 Dr D Y patil AATD9542N 50,00,000 International Academy 2 Shantidevi AAGTS2305G 3,50,00,000/- Charitable Ay 2015-16 SR Name of The PAN Donation [ In No Trust Rs] 1 Varunarjun Trust AABTV5968K 1,00,00,000 2 Ujjain Charitable AAATU0192K 1,50,00,000 Trust Hospital & Research Centre 3 Nathiya AABTN8918A 25,00,000 Charitable Trust For AY 2016-17 Sr Name of The Trust PAN Donation in No Rs 1 Khsetropasana AAATK5385L 15,00,000 Trust 2 Prabodh AACAP3230A 1,00,00,000 Foundation 3 Surajmal Memorial AACTS5981Q 25,00,000 4 Varunarjun Trust AABTV5968K 1,00,00,000 5 Heritage AAATH5375B 1,00,00,000 Foundation 6 Shantidevi AAMAS5018H 1,00,00,000 Murlidhar Education Trust AY 2017-18 Sr Name of The Trust PAN Donation no [In Rs] 1 Surajmal memorial AACTS5981Q 1,00,00,000 Education society 2 VSPM Academy of AAATV0836H 2,00,00,000 Higher Education

For all the above assessment years, identical facts and circumstances exists, both the parties have raised identical arguments. 048. We have carefully considered the rival contentions and also per use the orders of the lower authorities. The learned assessing officer has made identically worded assessment orders wherein deduction is

Accordingly, appeal is filed by the learned assessing officer for assessment year 2014 – 15 to assessment year 2018 – 19 in case of Podar Education and Sports trusts are dismissed.

Accordingly, all 11 appeals filed by the learned assessing officer are dismissed.