Ajit K. Sengupta, J.
1. In this reference under Section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for the assessment year 1984-85, the following two questions of law have been referred to this court :
' 1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is justified in law in holding that there is nothing illegal on the part of the assessee in giving notice to the Income-tax Officer in Form No. 10 listing all its objects for the purpose of accumulation of income as provided in Section 11(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, which requires specification of the purposes ?
2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal is justified in cancelling the order of the Commissioner of Income-tax under Section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, holding that the assessment of the Income-tax Officer allowing accumulation of the income under Section 11(2) of the Income-tax Act, for all the objects for which the trust was created and not for any specific objects, was neither erroneous nor prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue ?'
2. The facts leading to this reference are that the assessee, a public charitable trust, was assessed by the Income-tax Officer for the assessment year 1984-85 on January 7, 1987, and allowed exemption under Section 11, relying on the notice given by the assessee under Section 11(2). Thereafter, the Commissioner of Income-tax, invoking the powers vested in him under Section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, called for and examined the assessment records of the assessee. On such examination, the Commissioner of Income-tax found that, in the notice given by the assessee under Section 11(2) of the Act, the assessee had listed as purposes of accumulation of income all the charitable objects for which the assessee-trust was created. According to the Commissioner of Income-tax, Section 11(2) enjoins on the assessee to state the specific or concrete purposes to which its income is being accumulated for application at a later point of time. Since this was not done by the assessee, the impugned order of the Income-tax Officer was erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue. He, therefore, put the assessee on notice of his intention to pass suitable orders under Section 263 of the Act.
3. The assessee responded by pointing out that the notice given by it in Form No. 10 was valid in law and that the Income-tax Officer rightly exempted the assessee's income on the basis of the said notice and that,therefore, the impugned order of the Income-tax Officer was neither erroneous nor prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue.
4. The aforesaid arguments of the assessee did not find favour with the Commissioner of Income-tax, Holding that Section 11(2) contemplates only specific or concrete purposes and holding further that ' it will be a mockery of the section if, in the application for permission, all the objects of the trust are listed out and the period also is mentioned as ten years which is the maximum permitted under law', the Commissioner of Income-tax set aside the impugned order of the Income-tax Officer and directed him to redo the assessment ' taking into account the correct position of facts and law as stated above'.
5. Thereupon, the assessee moved the Tribunal which, on an examination of the scheme of the Act, held that since a plurality of charitable purposes is not ruled 'out under the scheme of the Act, no objection could possibly be taken to the assessee's listing out all the objects of the trust in Form No. 10 : 'that when the Act itself allows the accumulation of trust income up to a maximum period of ten years, no objection could possibly be taken to the assessee's deciding to accumulate its income for the maximum permissible period of ten years ; and that, consequently, the Commissioner of Income-tax was not justified in taking recourse to Section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 1961'.
6. The main controversy raised before us is as to whether it is necessary for the assessee to make particular mention of any purpose or purposes to enable it to accumulate the income. The resolution passed by the board of trustees of the trust is as follows :
' That consent be and is hereby accorded that, out of the balance of unapplied income of Rs. 94,125 for the year, the sum of Rs. 68,814 be accumulated and/or set apart for purposes of application to any one or more of the objects of the trust as set out in items Nos. (i) to (xvi) under paragraph 1 of the deed of trust till the previous year ending on March 31, 1994.'
7. Notice was given by the assessee in Form No. 10. That notice mentions the clauses of the trust deed and says that the accumulation was being made for any one or more of the said purposes. The purposes are :
' (i) To assist, finance, support, found, establish and maintain any institution meant for the relief of the poor, advancement of education and medical relief ;
(ii) To open, found, establish or finance, assist and contribute to the maintenance of hospitals, charitable dispensaries, maternity homes, children's clinics, family planning centres, welfare centres, schools, colleges and/or institutions for promotion of research and education in medical science including surgery ;
(iii) To maintain beds in hospitals and to make research grants for the promotion and advancement of medical science in India ;
(iv) To help needy people in marriage, funeral and cremation of the dead ;
(v) To open, found, establish, maintain and assist leper asylums or other institutions for the treatment of leprosy ;
(vi) To open, found, establish, assist and maintain schools, colleges and boarding houses ;
(vii) To open, found, establish or contribute to the maintenance of orphanages, widows' homes, lunatic asylums, poor houses ;
(viii) To open, found, establish and assist schools, colleges and hostels, for the physically or mentally handicapped, spastics, blind, the deaf and the dumb ;
(ix) To distribute dhotis, blankets, rugs, woollen clothing, quilts or cotton, woollen, silken or other varieties of clothes to the poor ;
(x) To grant fees, stipends, scholarships, prizes, books, interest-free loans and other aid for prosecuting studies, training or research ;
(xi) To establish, found and maintain libraries, reading rooms for the convenience of the public ;
(xii) To establish scholarships, teaching and research chairs in Indian universities and to contribute towards installation of capital equipment in educational and research institutes ;
(xiii) To print, publish, distribute journals, periodicals, books and leaflets for the promotion of the objects of the society ;
(xiv) To establish or support or aid in the establishment or support of any other associations having similar objects ;
(xv) To assist, support and to give monetary help to any individual in distress, poor or poors for his or their medical treatment, advancement of education ;
(xvi) To start, maintain and assist in relief measures in those parts of India which are or become subjected to natural calamities such as famine, epidemics, fire, flood, dearth of water, earthquake.'
8. It was contended that one purpose is interlinked with the other and, therefore, the mention of all the purposes does not make any difference and satisfies the requirement of Sub-section (2) of Section 11. We are unable to accept this contention having regard to the broad nature of the purpose being all the objects mentioned in the deed of trust. Doubtless, it is not necessary that the assessee has to mention only one specific object. There can be setting apart and accumulation of income for more objects than one but whatever the objects or purposes might be, the assessee must specify in the notice the concrete nature of the purposes for which the accumulation is being made. Plurality of the purposes for accumulation may not be precluded but it must depend on the exact and precise purposes for which the accumulation is intended for the statutory period of ten years. The generality of the objects of the trust cannot take the place of the specificity of the need for accumulation.
9. We are, therefore, of the view that the Tribunal was not right in allowing the benefit of the accumulation without first ascertaining whether the purpose has been precisely specified or not.
10. The Tribunal's decision in fact overlooks the scheme relating to the accumulation of income for a particular future use. Section 11(1) itself provides for marginal setting apart and accumulation not in excess of 25 per cent, of the income of the trust. It is only such accumulation which can be taken for the broad purposes of the trust as a whole that the statute does not require specification of the purpose. Such setting apart for any of the purposes of the trust is, however, a short-term accumulation, accumulation not beyond the year next succeeding. It is Sub-section (2) which provides for the long-term accumulation of the income. Obviously, such long-term accumulation should be for a definite and concrete purpose or purposes. What the assessee has sought to be permitted to do here is to accumulate not for any determinate purpose or purposes but for the objects as enshrined in the trust deed in a blanket manner. Accumulation in such a global manner is definitely not in the contemplation of Section 11(2) when it is construed in its setting. The assessee's contention that saving and accumulation of income for future application of the same is for the purposes of the trust in the widest terms so as to embrace the entirety of the objects clause of the trust deed would render the requirement of specification of the purpose for accumulation in thatSub-section redundant. The purposes to be specified cannot, under any circumstances, tread beyond the objects clause of the trust. The Legislature could not have thought of the need of specification of the purpose if it did not have in mind the particularity of the purpose or purposes falling within the ambit of the objects clause of the trust deed. When Sub-section (2) of Section 11 requires specification of the purpose, it does so having in mind a statement of some specific purpose or purposes out of the multiple purposes for which the trust stands. Were it not so, there would have been no mandate for such specification. For, a charitable trust, in no circumstances, can apply its income, whether current or accumulated, for any purposes other than the objects for which it stands. The very fact that the statute requires the purpose for accumulation to be specified implies such a purpose to be a concrete one, an itemized purpose or a purpose instrumental or ancillary to the implementation of its object or objects. The very requirement of specification of purpose predicates that the purpose must have an individuality. In our view, the provision of Sub-section (2) is a concession provision to enable a charitable trust to meet the contingency where the fulfilment of any project within its object or objects needs heavy outlay to call for accumulation to amass sufficient money to implement it. Therefore, specification of purpose as required by Section 11(2) admits of no amount of vagueness about such purpose.
11. We, therefore, answer question No. 2 in the negative and we decline to answer question No. 1. We remand the matter to the Tribunal and the Tribunal will allow the assessee to adduce fresh evidence whether in the form of any resolution or otherwise showing that the specific purpose for which the trust requires the accumulation of the income exists and, if such resolution or evidence is placed before the Tribunal, the Tribunal will consider whether the obligation cast on the assessee under Section 11(2) has been discharged and the exemption, accordingly, may be granted to the assessee.
12. There will be no order as to costs.
Shyamal Kumar Sen, J.
13. I agree.