Ravi Agrawal Vs Union of India (Supreme Court of India)
The Legislature has provided the condition that amount/annuity under the policy is to be released only after the death of the person assured. This is the legislative mandate. There is no challenge to this provision. The prayer is that Section 80DD of the Act be suitably amended. This Court cannot give a direction to the Parliament to amend or make a statutory provision in a specified manner. The Court can only determine, in an exercise of its power of judicial review, as to whether such a provision passes the muster of the Constitutional Scheme. Though there is no specific prayer in this behalf, in the body of the writ petition, an argument of discrimination is raised. Here, it is found that the respondents have been able to successfully demonstrate that the main provision is based on reasonable classification, which as a valid rationale behind it and there is a specific objective sought to be achieved thereby.
FULL TEXT OF THE SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT
This writ petition is filed by the petitioner, Ravi Agrawal, under Article 32 of the Constitution of India as a Public Interest Litigation. The petition is stated to be filed in the interest of handicapped children whose parents have taken Jeevan Aadhar Policy (Table 114) from the Life Insurance Corporation of India (for short, ‘LIC’) for the livelihood of their children. The petitioner himself is a differently abled person as he is suffering from Cerebral Dysphagia. The petitioner also is an income tax assessee whose Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax Department is AAPPA5222M. He has stated that he has no personal interest in the subject matter raised in this petition which he has filed on behalf of the handicapped children.
2) Section 80DD of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’) provides for payment of annuity of lump sum amount for the benefit of a dependant, being a person with disability, in the event of the death of the individual or the member of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) in whose name subscription to the scheme stipulated in the said provision has been made. Though it is a long provision, for our purposes it would be suffice to reproduce sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) thereof, which are as under:
“80DD. Deduction in respect of maintenance including medical treatment of a dependant who is a person with disability.— (1) Where an assessee, being an individual or a Hindu undivided family, who is a resident in India, has, during the previous year,—
(a) incurred any expenditure for the medical treatment (including nursing), training and rehabilitation of a dependant, being a person with disability; or
(b) paid or deposited any amount under a scheme framed in this behalf by the Life Insurance Corporation or any other insurer or the Administrator or the specified company subject to the conditions specified in sub-section (2) and approved by the Board in this behalf for the maintenance of a dependant, being a person with disability, the assessee shall, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of this section, be allowed a deduction of a sum of seventy-five thousand rupees from his gross total income in respect of the previous year:
Provided that where such dependant is a person with severe disability, the provisions of this sub-section shall have effect as if for the words “seventy-five thousand rupees”, the words “one hundred and twenty-five thousand rupees” had been substituted.
(2) The deduction under clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall be allowed only if the following conditions are fulfilled, namely:—
(a) the scheme referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (1) provides for payment of annuity or lump sum amount for the benefit of a dependant, being a person with disability, in the event of the death of the individual or the member of the Hindu undivided family in whose name subscription to the scheme has been made;
(b) the assessee nominates either the dependant, being a person with disability, or any other person or a trust to receive the payment on his behalf, for the benefit of the dependant, being a person with disability.
(3) If the dependant, being a person with disability, predeceases the individual or the member of the Hindu undivided family referred to in sub-section (2), an amount equal to the amount paid or deposited under clause (b) of sub-section (1) shall be deemed to be the income of the assessee of the previous year in which such amount is received by the assessee and shall accordingly be chargeable to tax as the income of that previous year.”
3) As per clause (b) of sub-section (1), if an assessee, being an individual or a HUF, has paid or deposited any amount under the scheme framed in this behalf by the LIC or any other insurer etc., such an assessee is entitled to deduction of a sum of Rs.75,000/- from his Gross Total Income in respect of the previous year. It is subject to the conditions which are specified in sub-section (2) of Section 80DD. We are concerned with the condition mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (2). As per this condition, disabled dependant would get annuity or lumpsum payment in the event of death of the individual or the death of the member of the HUF, in whose name subscription to the scheme has been made. In order to give effect to the aforesaid special provision meant for the benefit of persons with disability, LIC has floated insurance policy named ‘Jeevan Aadhar (Table 114)’ for the benefit of the handicapped dependants. Accordingly, those assessees who get the Jeevan Aadhar policy for the benefit of handicapped dependants and pay or deposit the amount under the said policy become entitled to the deduction mentioned in Section 80DD of the Act. Synopsis of the said policy introduced by the LIC gives a glimpse of the salient features of this plan and is, thus, reproduced below:
“A) Synopsis of Plan
