IF PENSION OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT ARE EXEMPTED FROM INCOME TAX, SO WHY NOT FOR EX-SERVICEMEN

1. The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Act, 1999 (16 Of 1999), Dt. March 22,1999 Published in Received the assent of the President on March 22, 1999 and published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section I, dated 22nd March, 1999, pp. 1-3, No. 21

2. Ins. by Act No. 40 of 2006 w.e.f. 12-9-2006.

Section 8 AC. Family pension

¹[Family pension. (1) On the death of a member of either House of Parliament during his term of office, his spouse, if any, or dependent of such member shall be paid during the remaining period of life of such spouse or, as the case may be, such dependent so long as such dependent continues to be a dependent within the meaning of clause {ad) of Section 2, family pension equivalent to one-half of the pension which such number of Parliament would have received had he retired (emphasis supplied):

Provided that no such family pension shall be payable to a dependent if such dependent is a sitting member of Parliament or is drawing pension under Section 8-A.

(2) The family pension payable under sub-section (1) shall also be payable to the spouse or dependent of a person who was a member of either House of Parliament or the Provisional Parliament at any time before the commencement of the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Act, 2006 and died after serving as such member:

Provided that such spouse or dependent is not drawing any pension under this Act or is not entitled to draw family pension under the proviso to sub-section (1):

Provided further that no person shall be entitled to claim arrears of any family pension under this sub-section in respect of a period before the commencement of the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Act, 2006.

Exemption from Income Tax – Please see Section 10 of the  Finance Act 2017

JCO'S ARE GAZETTED OFFICERS CLARIFIES ARMY HEADQUARTERS

New Delhi : 02 Nov 17 (18.34 IST) - PTI

In a significant move that will benefit over 64,000 personnel, the Army has said junior commissioned officers (JCOs) are gazetted officers, cancelling its earlier note that described them as “non-gazetted” officers.

The decision by the Army two days back comes amid growing resentment from a large section of its personnel over issues relating to pay-parity and ranking.

In an official note, the Army headquarters has cancelled a communication issued in response to an RTI application in 2011 which had stated that the JCOs are non-gazetted officers, according to documents accessed by PTI.

Highly placed official sources said the Army committed a “major mistake” in 2011 on the status of the JCOs and now the Army headquarters has removed the ambiguity and made it clear that JCOs are gazetted officers.

The clarification will benefit over 64,000 JCOs who are ranked in three categories — Naib Subedar, Subedar and Subedar Major.

The 2011 note had triggered widespread outrage among the JCOs.

Asked how the Army headquarters made the “mistake” in 2011, classifying the JCOs as non-gazetted officers, a senior Army official said there are separate definitions of officers and the JCOs in the manual of military law and it could have been a case of misinterpretation of the rule book.

The issuance of the letter is also seen as a message by the Army to the government to address grievances of a section of the Army personnel over what they call “disparity” in the current pay band.

The issue of status equivalence between military officers and their civilian counterparts was discussed at the recently concluded Army Commanders’ conference.

Asked whether the Army headquarters will send a fresh communication to the RTI applicant who had filed the query about status of the JCOs in 2011, the Army refused to comment.

Defence Ministry sources last week had said that it was seriously examining the long-standing issue relating to status equivalence between military officers and their civilian counterparts.

There has been growing resentment among the military officers who have been insisting that the current status equivalence was flawed and that government must address their concerns.

As per the current pay structure, the subedar majors and subedars are part of the pay band for gazetted officers but there has been discrepancies there as well, said an official.

The Naib subedars whose number of around 55,000 get salary under non-gazetted category, he said.

The matter is among the main issues being examined as part of the pay and allowances anomaly.

Last year, then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had set up a high-level committee to look into the issue.