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Judgment
The present application has been filed for quashing the communication dated October 27, 1999 (annexure 7), made to the petitioner by the Commissioner of Income Tax, Patna, that the application filed by the petitioner for renewal of exemption u/s 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961, has been rejected. The reason for passing the aforesaid order was not communicated to the petitioner and, accordingly, we directed counsel for the Income Tax Department to supply the reason for not granting the renewal of approval. The same has been mentioned in paragraph 7 of the counter affidavit, which runs as follows :
"The notes on activities for last three years as submitted by the ''a'' trust, clearly suggests that apart from constructing a shopping complex, no charitable activities as mentioned in Clause 4(i) to (ix) of the MOA, has been carried out by the institution. In reply to the show cause dated September 10, 1999, the ''a'' trust has submitted that the charitable activity will be taken up after the completion of musafirkhana, which is none other than the shopping complex. The funds available have been used in the construction only.
This cannot be said to be beneficial to the public in general. In view of all these facts and circumstances, the application for renewal of approval u/s 80G(5) is not tenable and may be rejected.
Put up for kind perusal/approval/order of the learned Commissioner of Income Tax."
It appears that the exemption was granted in the year 1995, for a period of three years. On an expiry of the period of approval the petitioner on March 31, 1998, filed an application for renewal of exemption u/s 80G and that application was rejected by the Commissioner of Income Tax after having noticed the fact that except the construction of shopping complex no other charitable work has been carried out. The Commissioner has also found that advance has been taken from the persons to whom the shop has been allotted but the same has not been spent for any of the charitable purposes mentioned in the memorandum. Even the show cause filed by the petitioner as contained in annexure 6, shows that the charitable activities will be taken up after completion of shopping complex.
The memorandum containing the details of charitable purposes has been annexed as annexure A to the counter affidavit. On a perusal of the same it appears that a large number of charitable activities have been indicated but unfortunately since 1995 except the construction of shopping complex no other charitable work has been done by the petitioner. Thus, the finding arrived at by the Commissioner of Income Tax is correct and no case for interference with order dated October 27, 1999, is made out.
Accordingly, the present application is dismissed.