Page 18 - Banking Finance September 2024

LEGAL UPDATE

HC: Pvt employees with
periodic hikes deemed

permanent
Madhya Pradesh high court said in a
recent judgment that a person in a
non-govt job getting periodic pay hikes
or annual increments can be consid-
ered a permanent employee, while
partly allowing a revision petition for
increase in compensation in a road
accident. The high court increased the
compensation by over Rs 2.7 lakh.

Petitioner Anjum Ansari had chal-
lenged the compensation awarded by prospects" at a 15% rate rather than salary is increased periodically / re-
a tribunal in a claim under the Motor a 10% rate, the petition argued. ceives annual increment etc., such a
Vehicles Act, arguing that she deserved The respondents contended that only person would be treated as being in
higher amount as her deceased hus- govt employees are considered perma- permanent job."
band taught in a private college affili- nent employees and employee of a
ated to Rajiv Gandhi Praudyogiki private college cannot be treated as Sebi categorises dues
Vishwavidyalaya (MP's umbrella tech such. worth Rs. 76000 crore as
university). Justice A K Paliwal cited a five-judge though to recover
Since he was a permanent employee bench SC order in National Insurance
of the college, the claims court should Company vs Pranay Sethi and said, "If Capital markets regulator Sebi has seg-
have computed the amount of "future a person is in such a job wherein his regated dues to the tune of Rs 76,293
crore under difficult to recover (DTR)
category at the end of March 2024,
Rs. 20 lakh gift from bro based in UAE not taxable: marking an increase of 4% from the
ITAT preceding year. Of this, a huge chunk

In a significant ruling, the Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal's (ITAT) Mumbai is on account of cases pending before
bench has held that a gift of Rs 20 lakh received by a taxpayer from his non- court-appointed committees.
resident brother, based in the UAE, is not subject to tax. This judgement Difficult to recover (DTR) dues are
underscores that Indian tax laws exempt certain gifts from being taxed, those that could not be recovered
particularly those received from close relatives. even after exhausting all modes of re-

Under the Income-Tax Act, gifts exceeding Rs 50,000 are generally taxed covery.
as 'income from other sources' at the applicable slab rate, in the hands of "Segregation of such DTR dues is purely
the recipient. However, there are several exemptions that do exist: Gifts an administrative act and this will not
received from relatives, on the occasion of marriage, or through a will or preclude the recovery officers from re-
inheritance are not taxed. Under the Section 56 (2)(x) of the I-T Act, gifts covering the amount so segregated as
from a brother fall under the exempted category. DTR as and when there is a change in
The case involved A Salam, who received the substantial gift from his any of the DTR parameters," Sebi said
brother. However, the income-tax (I-T) officer initially classified the gift as in its annual report for 2023-24.
taxable income. The income tax commissioner of appeals supported this As of March 31, 2024, Sebi identified
decision, arguing on the ground that the taxpayer failed to convincingly 807 cases as DTR, with a total out-
prove the donor's creditworthiness and the genuineness of the gift. Conse- standing of Rs 76,293 crore, up from
quently, Salam filed an appeal with ITAT. 692 cases amounting to Rs 73,287

BANKING FINANCE | SEPTEMBER | 2024 | 17