Sir Dorabji Tata Trust opposes Income Tax Department's order against outgoing managing trustee R Venkataramanan

Sir Dorabji Tata Trust has contested the Income Tax Department’s order against outgoing managing trustee R Venkataramanan by filing an appeal before the commissioner of income tax, a media report said. The Income Tax Department withdrew the tax exemption granted to Sir Dorabji Tata Trust after the authorities found a violation of certain conditions by the trust. I-T Department had ruled that “the annual salary of Rs 2.66 crore drawn by Venkataramanan was not in accordance with the trust’s deed.” The trust, part of the ‘Tata Trusts’ which collectively own 66 percent of the over $100 billion Tata Sons, had been reportedly served an order withdrawing tax exemption in late December 2018 because of the high compensation. One report also said that the board of trustees had not ratified the payments to the managing trustee, which was denied by a source who countered asking how can any payment be made sans a go-ahead and asserted that the same was cleared by the board. [caption id=“attachment_6080571” align=“alignleft” width=“360”] File photo of R Venkataramanan. Image courtesy: Tata Trusts website[/caption] The trust has said that taxes had been paid in accordance with the Income Tax Act governing charitable trusts. It added that its FY16 income of around Rs 300 crore shouldn’t be brought under tax purview, The Economic Times reported, citing people aware of the development. Last week,  Venkataramanan resigned from the post to pursue other options. Venkataramanan will relinquish responsibilities as the Managing Trustee /Trustee of the Tata Trusts on 31 March, 2019, Tata Trusts said in a statement. A committee of trustees, comprising Ratan N Tata, Chairman of the Trusts, and Vijay Singh and Venu Srinivasan, Vice-Chairmen of the Trusts, was established with immediate effect to oversee the operations and to select a Chief Executive for the Trusts. The statement further said the trustees also appointed Noel N Tata, chairman of Trent Ltd and managing director of Tata International, and Jehangir HC Jehangir, a long-standing philanthropist who is currently spearheading the healthcare mission at Jehangir Hospital, Pune, as Trustees of Sir Ratan Tata Trust. He was also subject of an investigation by the CBI last year for allegedly trying to manipulate government policies through corrupt means to get an international licence for AirAsia India. Tata Trusts had, however, come out in support of him. With inputs from PTI