Veteran Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionary Kunnur Seenivasan has filed a petition at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court challenging the fact that Rs 2.5 lakh has been fixed as the base income for collecting income tax. The plea has been moved referring to the recent Supreme Court verdict that upheld the validity of 103rd Constitutional Amendment, which provides reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the society with gross annual income up to Rs 8 lakh.
A bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Sathya Narayana Prasad has issued notice to the Union Ministries of Law and Justice, Finance Personnel, Public Grievance and Pension seeking a response to the plea.
Stating that collecting income tax from individuals having income above Rs 2.5 lakh per annum is against the Constitution of India, the 82-year-old petitioner said that there is no rationality and equality in collecting the tax when the government has fixed an income criteria that a family having gross income up to the limit of Rs 8 lakh is an EWS family.
Further, he said that while the government is permitted to collect income tax from an individual having income within Rs 2.5 lakh per annum would lead to economic inequality among the citizens, because a section of people having income below Rs 8 lakh per annum are considered to be EWS and eligible to get reservation on the basis of income criteria. “Hence, it is a clear violation of fundamental rights,” he said and sought that the government should not be permitted to collect income tax from individuals having income up to Rs 8 lakh.
Kunnur Seenivasan is an agriculturist and also a member of the Assets Protection Council of DMK party. The Supreme Court, on November 7, had pronounced its verdict upholding the validity of the 103rd Constitution amendment providing 10% reservation to EWS persons in admissions and government jobs.