Per S. Kannan, Accountant Member - The assessees before us are private discretionary trusts. A single common issue arises for consideration in these cases. And that is whether the assessee-trusts are entitled to deduction under section 80L of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

2. The Assessing Officer took the line, first, that the status of the assessees must be taken as that of ‘Association of Persons’ and, secondly, that the assessees are not entitled to deduction under section 80L of the Act.

3. Thereupon, the assessees moved the CIT (Appeals), contending that their status must be taken as that of Individual and that consequently, they were entitled to deduction under section 80L of the Act. In this regard, reliance was placed on the following orders of the ITAT:

The CIT (Appeals) held that the status of the assessees must be taken as that of "artificial juridical person" and that consequently,