Payment of pension to its employees shall not be considered as an object of general public utility

Where the object of a trust is to pay pension to employees and their dependents shall not be considered as an object of general public utility therefore, registration under section 12AA shall not be granted.   images2
Case: GCDA Employees, Pension Fund Trust vs. Commissioner of Income Tax
Facts:
The appellant, a trust, had the object of paying pension to the employees of the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) from the corpus created out of the contributions made by the employees of the GCDA itself.
The Commissioner of Income Tax rejected registration of trust under section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on the ground that the said object of the trust did not spell out any charitable purpose as defined in section 2(15) of the Act.
The Tribunal confirmed the order of the CIT.
Held:
The High Court viewed that the employees of the GCDA are contributing and from out of that contribution, they or their dependents are getting pension. Such an object implemented by the appellant-trust cannot be said to be an object of general public utility attracting section 2(15) of the Act.
The Court also mentioned that if the beneficiaries are different from the contributories then the object of paying pension could be considered as an object of general public utility attracting section 2(15) of the Act.
Thus, payment of pension to its employees shall not be considered as an object of general public utility. Hence, Court upheld the decision of the Tribunal.

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