The pertinent question is as to why should the common citizen pay tax liabilities of the Chief Minister, Ministers and other designated public functionaries and why should the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Ministers’ State Salaries Act of 1956 be not revisited for scope of possible review and amendments is what the State Law Commission has felt and recommended accordingly. Basing recommendations rightly on the premise of ‘instance of unchecked inequality’, being there in the Act, the Commission wants the relevant section to be deleted. This all needs a serious attention and taking of necessary steps in the direction to evolve a mechanism whereby the public functionaries paid their income tax from their salaries like other common citizens.
How could the makers of the law be so self protective for themselves at the cost of the public money as provided for under Section 3 of the said Act is what the Chairperson of the State Law Commission has rightly observed. In this context, could certain steps be expected to be taken under the State Reorganisation Act remains to be seen but won’t the entire issue be seen in relation to what was the arrangement of paying income tax on salaries and allowances earned by Members of the Parliament and law makers of other States and Union Territories ?
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