Single judge held that under Section 96 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, no income tax deduction is permissible from land compensation. Dismissed the income tax department respondent's stand and directed full disbursal.
Compensation to be disbursed to the petitioner without deduction of income tax.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE A.M.SHAFFIQUE
TUESDAY, THE 25TH DAY OF OCTOBER 2016/3RD KARTHIKA, 1938
WP(C).No. 34200 of 2016 (Y)
PETITIONER(S):
ABDUL SALAM N.A. AGED 48 YEARS, S/O.N.M.AHAMMED, AVIKKARA, BALLA VILLAGE, KANHANGAD, KASARGOD.
BY ADV. SRI.M.S.IMTHIYAZ AHAMMED
RESPONDENT(S):
1. DISTRICT COLLECTOR COLLECTORATE, CIVIL STATION, KASARGOD-671 121.
2. SPECIAL TAHASILDAR (LA) KASARGOD-671 121.
3. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX (TDS) CR BUILDING, IS PRESS ROAD,KOCHI-682018.
R1 & R2 BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.V.K.SHAMSUDHEEN R3 BY SRI.K.M.V.PANDALAI,SC,
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON 25-10-2016, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
bp
WP(C).No. 34200 of 2016 (Y)
APPENDIX
PETITIONER(S)' EXHIBITS ----------------------EXHIBIT P1 : COPY OF THE NOTICE DATED 19-9-2016. EXHIBIT P2 : COPY OF THE REPLY DATED 3-10-2016. EXHIBIT P3 : COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 23-5-2016 IN WP.12485/2016 EXHIBIT P4 : COPY OF THE JUDGMENT DATED 8-8-2016 IN WA 1528/2016. RESPONDENT(S)' EXHIBITS : NIL.
//TRUE COPY//
P.A. TO JUDGE
bp
A.M. SHAFFIQUE, J.
W.P.(C) No. 34200 of 2016
Dated this the 25th day of October, 2016
JUDGMENT
This writ petition is filed by the petitioner seeking for a direction to the respondents to disburse the whole land acquisition compensation as due to the petitioner without any deduction of income tax.
issue is already covered by judgment of this Court in W.P.(C) No.12194 of 2016 and connected cases, wherein a Division Bench of this Court held as under:
“3. It is seen that the very same issue has been considered by a learned Division Bench of this Court in W.A. No. 1536 of 2016, whereby the judgment of the learned single Judge in W.P.(C) No. 12484 of 2016 and connected cases has been upheld. The learned Division Bench in the judgment dated 08.08.2016 in W.A. No. 1536 of 2016 has held thus:
“3. We find that the judgment of the learned single Judge is just and proper in as much as Section 96 of the Act, 2013 clearly discloses that no income tax or stamp duty shall
W.P.(C) No. 34200 of 2016
-2-
be levied on any award or agreement made under this Act, except under Section 46. It is not in dispute that Section 46 of the Act, 2013 is not applicable to the facts of this case. Hence, it is amply clear that as per Section 96 of the Act, 2013, exemption is provided for levying income tax and stamp duty. In an identical case, a Division Bench of this Court in W.A.No. 1422 of 2015 has already concluded that income tax is not liable to be deducted from the compensation payable to similarly placed persons. The learned single Judge, following the dictum laid down in W.A. No. 1422 of 2015 and observing the provisions of Section 96 of the Act, 2013, has allowed the writ petitions directing the authorities to pay compensation to the petitioner, without deducting any amount towards income tax or stamp duty.”
In the light of the above, the legal position now stands clarified that in view of Section 96 of the Act, 2013, the deduction towards income tax cannot be made from the compensation payable to the land owners. Therefore, these writ petitions are disposed of clarifying the position as above and directing that the compensation be disbursed to the petitioners without deducting any amount towards income tax.”
W.P.(C) No. 34200 of 2016
-3-
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
This writ petition is disposed of as above.
Sd/A.M. SHAFFIQUE
JUDGE
Scl/25.10.2016
2 issues framed by the court
Whether income tax can be deducted from land acquisition compensation under Section 96 of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013
Whether the petitioner is entitled to full compensation without tax deduction
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
1 provisions across 1 enactments
ABDUL SALAM N.A.
DISTRICT COLLECTOR
SPECIAL TAHASILDAR (LA)
COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX (TDS)
A.M. SHAFFIQUE
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
