Forces backed move to tax disability pension: Finance minister - Times of India
NEW DELHI: Facing flak for its recent order that the disability pension of military personnel will now be taxed unless they were forced or “invalidated” out of service, the finance ministry on Tuesday indicated the armed forces themselves wanted the rising trend of personnel seeking disability even for lifestyle diseases to be curbed. The two-page note tweeted by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s office as the “response of the armed forces”, however, created yet another controversy because it derided disability attributed or aggravated by stress and strain of operational service, as opposed to disability suffered due to injuries in combat or war. “I am truly shocked. This unsigned note goes against the rules, Supreme Court judgements, medical science and various reports of commissions and committees on the subject. The rules not only cover operational disability but also cater for all the ailments which are incurred in service and affected by stress and strain of military life,” said high court lawyer Major Navdeep Singh (retd), who was on the expert committee set up by the defence ministry in 2015 to reduce military litigation and resolve servicerelated issues. As was reported by TOI earlier, the central board of direct taxes on June 24 said “income tax exemption” would continue to be available for all Army, Navy and IAF personnel who have been “invalidated” or boarded out of service due to disability. But such tax exemption would no longer be available to personnel with disability who retire after completing their service in the normal course, it said. The note on Tuesday, tweeted by Sitharaman’s office and retweeted by the Army handle, said “weaknesses” in the disability pension and tax exemption mechanism were being “exploited” by some “unscrupulous” military personnel. Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
