TMI Blog1997 (1) TMI 61X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s an association of officers of the Vijaya Bank--a Government of India undertaking. It was alleged that the writ application was filed by respondent No. 1 for and on behalf of and representing the association of officers of the respondent-bank. The respondent-bank is a nationalised bank and is governed by the provisions of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, and in exercise of the powers conferred by section 19 read with sub-section (2) of section 12 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, the board of directors of the Vijaya Bank in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India and with the previous sanction of the Central Government made a regulation known as Vij ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te and chargeable to income-tax. In the year 1990, the respondent-bank issued a circular to all its branches informing them that in cases where the employees are paying standard rent for the accommodation provided by the bank, the same shall not be treated as accommodation given to them at a concessional rate. It was further clarified that such accommodation is not a perquisite and therefore is not chargeable to income-tax. This circular, however, was sought to be modified by another circular dated October 14, 1992, by providing that the standard rent recovered by the bank in the case of accommodation provided to the employees, is not a fair rental value and as such it is a perquisite to be calculated as per rule 3(b) of the Income-tax Rule ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uthority to a private person or private persons for the utilisation or working of lands, an industry, a railway, waterworks, etc. " We have also referred to regulation 25 which provides that the officers shall be required to pay standard rent where they are provided with the accommodation of the bank. Therefore, in this context, we have to see as to whether the accommodation provided to the employees on payment of standard rent is a "concession" within the meaning of sub-clause (ii) of clause (2) of section 17 of the Act. The question of concession depends on the nature of accommodation provided to the employee, namely, the normal rent payable for such accommodation, provided to the employees, by other employees similarly situated and emp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ument that since the employees are paying rent less than 10 per cent. of their salaries, such accommodation provided to them on standard rent is a perquisite within the meaning of clause (2) of section 17 of the Income-tax Act. The above argument need not detain us any longer. A bare perusal of the rule referred to shows that this is for the purpose of valuation of the perquisite provided to the employees and if there is no perquisite, the question of valuation does not arise. Rule 3(b) of the Income-tax Rules can only be applied where the accommodation has been given to the employee at a concessional rate and if there is no concession, rule 3(b) of the rules is not applicable. For the foregoing reasons, we do not find any merit in the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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