HC dismisses plea challenging IT provision on perquisites

A plea challenging an Income Tax law empowering executive authorities to prescribe value of any fringe benefit or amenity (perquisites), other than those listed under provision provided to salaried class and levy tax on it was dismissed by Madras High Court here today.
Justices V Ramasubramanian and N Kirubakaran dismissed the petition by All India Bank Officers' Confederation, rejecting its contention that Parliament ought not to have given to the executive the right to prescribe the value of "perquisites" without any restrictions.
Though the Confederation claimed that Section 115WB of the Act gave an extensive definition of the expression "fringe benefit" and therefore the officials should not have been empowered under Section 17 (2) to add anything more than that, the judges said "In so far as Section 115WB is concerned, the same defines fringe benefits for the purpose of XII-H of the Act.

"Under Chapter XII-H, an additional income tax known as fringe benefit tax, was sought to be imposed under Section 115WA. Therefore, the benefits listed out in Clauses (a) to (d), in sub-section (1) of Section 115WB, relate only to the fringe benefit tax chargeable under Section 115WA."
"This cannot be extended to Section 17(2) which defines the term perquisites for levying income tax", the judges said.