A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Thursday held that if a hall or auditorium owned by religious institutions is located very near or around a place of worship, the institutions are entitled to exemption from the State luxury tax on the hall or auditoriums.
The Bench comprising Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice K. Harilal observed that such hall or auditorium must have been inseparably connected with the activities of the place of worship. If the income from the auditorium was being used for the place of worship, it would go a long way to establish the inseparable connection of the activities between them.
The court made the observation while setting aside a single judge order rejecting the claim of Sree Narayana Dharma Samajam, Ayyappankavu, in Ernakulam for exemption under Section 4 of the Kerala Tax on Luxuries Act for its hall.
