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Judgment
Bharucha, J.—The reference is made at the instance of the Revenue. It raises the following question :
"Whether on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal erred in holding that the property gifted to Shri Jain Dharmik Shikshan Society was exempt under s. 5(1)(v) of the GT Act ?"
The assessment year with which we are concerned is the asst. yr. 1968-69. The assessee, an individual, made a gift of immovable property to a public charitable trust called the Shri Jain Dharmik Shikshan Society, Bombay, on 1-4-1966. He claimed that it could not be subjected to gift tax. The GTO rejected his claim. The AAC in appeal, confirmed the order of the GTO. The Tribunal, in further appeal, upset the order.
The object of the charitable trust is, inter alia, the imparting of education and the encouragement and promotion of the study and practice of the Shwetamber Jain Murtipujak religion amongst students of the ashrams, boarding houses, gurukulas, vidyalayas, pathshalas and shravikashramas and also amongst all persons without distinction of sex, caste, creed, place or religion. Sec. 5(1) (v) of the GT Act stated that gift tax shall not be charged in respect of any gifts made be any person to any institutions or fund established for a charitable purpose to which the provisions s. 88 of the IT Act applied. Sub-s. (1A) of s. 5 stated in relation to any gift made on or after 1-4-1964, with reference to the cl. (v) aforementioned, that ''charitable purpose'' should be construed as not including a purpose "the whole or substantially the whole of which is of a religious nature". Having regard to the object of the charitable trust to which we have just adverted, it cannot be said that the assessee''s gift was for a purpose the whole or substantially the whole of which was of a religious nature. Accordingly, the assessee is entitled to succeed.
It has been brought to our attention that upon the answer to the question posed depends the amount of Rs. 250. We express the hope that the Revenue shall take the amount involved into account before seeking a reference especially when no really substantial question of law is involved.
The question is answered in the negative and in favour of the assessee.
The Revenue shall pay to the assessee the costs of the reference.