Trust running classes for and under authority of University is not a coaching centre

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ITAT CHENNAI

Soorya Educational Trust

v.

Income-tax Officer

IT APPEAL NO. 579 (MDS.) OF 2012- ASSESSMENT YEAR 2008-09

Trust running classes for and under authority of University is not a coaching centre & cannot be denied exemption u/s. 11 & 12

When assessee was employing teachers and teaching the students for getting a formal degree or diploma of a recognized University and when attendance to such classes was compulsory for being eligible to write the examinations, we cannot place the assessee at par with a coaching centre. Coaching centre only trains the students to face competitive, professional, entrance examinations or similar examinations. Here, the training given by the assessee was for award of formal degrees or diploma courses and scheme of the examination was jointly decided by assessee and Annamalai University. Assessee had a say in charting out the scheme of examination and assessee was solely responsible for conducting classes. As already mentioned, assessee was only getting a share of the fees from Annamalai University. In our opinion, as long as Annamalai University was not considered a commercial institution, assessee also could not be considered a commercial institution. If Annamalai University was an educational institution, then assessee, which was conducting classes for the said University under its authority, was also an educational institution.

Though, in the context of the provision of section 10(22), the concept of education need not be given any wide or extended meaning, it surely would encompass systematic dissemination of knowledge and training in specialised subjects as is done by the assessee. The changing times and the ever widening horizons of knowledge may bring in changes in the methodology of teaching and a shift for the better in the institutional set-up. Advancement of knowledge brings within its fold suitable methods of its dissemination and though the primary method of sitting in a classroom may remain ideal for most of the initial education, it may become necessary to have a different outlook for further education. It is not necessary to nail down the concept of education to a particular formula or to flow it only through a defined channel. Its progress lies in the acceptance of new ideas and development of appropriate means to reach them to the recipients.”

Assessee here, in our opinion, did fall within the concept of rendering a formal education and could not be equated with a coaching institute. We are, therefore, of the opinion that assessee could not have been denied the eligible exemption under Sections 11 and 12 of the Act for a reason that it was not doing charitable activity as defined under Section 2(15) of the Act