COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Vs. PANDEY B D

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AT the instance of the Commissioner of Income-tax, Kanpur, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Allahabad, has referred the following question of law for the opinion of this court, under Section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short "the Act") :

(2.) WE have heard Sri R. K. Agarwal, learned standing counsel for the Income-tax Department. No one is present for the respondent-assessee, although the case was taken up in the revised list.

(3.) IN view of the above amendment which was effected from April 1, 1975, it is clear that the standard deduction admissible under Section 16(i) is to be computed with reference to the aggregate amount of salary due, paid or allowed to the assessee, and such deduction is, in no case, to exceed the monetary ceiling specified in that Section. The amendment brought about in Section 16 is fully applicable to the case of the respondent-assessee, as we are concerned with the assessment year 1978-79. Thus the assessee was not entitled to separate deduction under Section 16(i) on the amount of salary received by him from more than one employer. The deduction under Section 16(i) was liable to be computed with reference to the aggregate salary due, paid or allowed to the assessee during the year relevant to the assessment year in question which could in no case be in excess of the amount specified in those provisions. We are supported, in our view, by two decisions of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in CIT v. P. S. Kalani [1986] 159 ITR 681 and in CIT v. S. C. Deora [1987] 167 ITR 682. The same view has been expressed by the other High Courts also, but it is not necessary to multiply the citations.