Joe Antony Vs ITO (Kerala High Court)
The Kerala High Court considered writ petitions challenging assessment orders in which exemption claimed under Section 10(16) of the Income Tax Act was declined. The petitioners, Medical Post Graduation students, contended that amounts assessed as taxable income were stipends received for pursuing their postgraduate studies and were therefore exempt.
The assessing authorities had conducted detailed inquiries and concluded from records, communications/reports of educational authorities, returns filed by the petitioners and TDS deducted that the receipts had the characteristics of salary rather than stipend.
The High Court accepted the proposition that stipend received by a Medical PG student is liable for exemption under Section 10(16), but held that the nature of the particular receipts was a factual dispute. The question whether the amounts constituted “stipend” could not be resolved in a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The Court therefore disposed of the writ petitions, directing the petitioners to pursue the statutory remedies against the assessment orders. To facilitate this, coercive proceedings arising from the assessment orders were directed to remain in abeyance for two months. The period from filing of the respective writ petitions—24.01.2026 and 17.04.2026—until issuance of certified copies of the judgments was directed to be excluded while computing limitation for the statutory appeals.
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