Exemptions for UPSC staff, poll chiefs to go

Source: hindustantimes.com

The budget says that these exemptions should be done away with by April 2021 for not just Election Commission members but also members of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

One of the proposals of the union budget presented on Saturday is to do away with tax exemptions that election commissioners enjoy. These perks, which are equivalent to those offered to Supreme Court judges, are on the value of rent-free accommodation, conveyance allowance and medical allowance.

The budget says that these exemptions should be done away with by April 2021 for not just Election Commission members but also members of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

“This tantamounts to altering conditions of service with retrospective effect and that too in the Finance Bill,” an an Election Commission member said on condition of anonymity,

The budget document calls for amending the EC Act of 1991 which entitles members of the Commission to these perks.

It also proposes that Section 10 of the Income-Tax Act, 1995 which offered tax exemption to perks to the UPSC chairman and members should be completely done away with.

Clause 45, was inserted by the Finance Act, 2011; it also applies to the retired chairman or members of the UPSC and said that allowances shouldn’t be included in computing their total income.

“If the government thinks they can get rich by doing away with these tax exemptions then good luck to them,’’ said a former Chief Election Commissioner, also on condition of anonymity.

These allowances and perks include value of rent-free official residence, value of conveyance facilities including transport allowance, sumptuary allowance and the value of leave travel concession provided to a serving chairman or member of UPSC and members of their family.

In the case of retired chairman and members of the UPSC, the notification states that allowances such as a maximum sum of ~14,000 per month for defraying services of an orderly and for meeting expenses incurred towards a sectorial assistant on contract basis and the value of residential telephone free of cost will be exempt from income tax for the purpose of clause (45) of section 10 of the act.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission was on Saturday allocated ~269 crore in the Union Budget under the ‘Election’ head as compared to ~255.46 crore last year when the Lok Sabha elections were held.

A senior Law Ministry officer and a former Election Commission functionary explained that the amount allocated to the poll panel would also be used for “book adjustments” for expenditures incurred in holding of LS polls and other elections.

In the previous budget, the Law Ministry was allocated an additional sum of over ~666 crore for conducting the Lok Sabha elections which were held in the summer of 2019.