No tax relief for hospital that is part of nursing college: High court

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/no-tax-relief-for-hospital-that-is-part-of-nursing-college-high-court/articleshow/57215398.cms

TNN | Feb 18, 2017, 05.55 AM IST

KOCHI: A hospital attached to a nursing college cannot claim the exemption granted to educational institutions from paying building tax, the high court has held. Such an exemption can be availed only if the hospital is offering free treatment or is using all its earnings for educational purposes, the court said.

The judgment by a division bench on an appeal stated, "We would assume that if at all a claim is laid out that a hospital exists only for the purpose of a college or school of nursing, it would then have to be made manifest by the asserter that the hospital caters solely to the purposes of students... and that all the profits and earnings from such hospital is being used solely for the purposes of the school or college of nursing..." The verdict came while considering an appeal filed by Sanjoe Hospital at Perumbavoor which runs a college and school of nursing with an annual intake of 56 students in both BSc and MSc courses. The hospital is a parent hospital for the nursing college and school and it should be deemed as an educational institution, the group had demanded. However, a single bench had declined to agree.

In the judgment, the single bench had said that a division bench of the court had earlier held that a hospital attached to a medical college cannot claim the tax exemption (Jubilee Mission Medical College vs Govt of Kerala, 2011). Agreeing to the single bench in Sajoe Hospital case, the division bench said when a hospital attached to a medical college was not granted exemption, a hospital attached to a nursing college would fare no better.