Madras High Court staff not paying professional tax, causing loss of ₹60 lakh per year: Justice SM Subramaniam

Noting that no public servant is entitled to have unjust gain over public money, Justice SM Subramaniam has written to the Registrar General of the Madras High Court urging the deduction of professional tax from the salaries of court employees..As per a complaint sent to the judge, High Court staffers have been avoiding payment of professional tax owing to the pendency of a writ petition filed in 1998 challenging provisions of the Tamil Nadu Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employment Act of 1992.Justice Subramaniam was also informed that the State exchequer was suffering huge financial loss of approximately about ₹59.8 lakh per year on account of the non-payment of professional tax by the High Court employees."It is very unfortunate that the Madras High Court and Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Officers Staff Association taking undue advantage of the pendency of the above said writ petition and evading payment of professional tax for several years, resulting huge financial loss to the State Exchequer," the judge wrote in a letter addressed to the Registrar General of the High Court..On September 19, one C Selvaraj, General Secretary of an organisation called the Federation of Anti Corruption Teams India, had sent a complaint to Justice Subramaniam highlighting that the staff and judges of the Madras High Court were not making paying professional tax for several years..The complaint further stated that the Tamil Nadu government had issued orders to collect professional tax dues from defaulters from the year 1998 onwards.Subsequently, the Madras High Court Staff Association filed a writ petition in 1998 challenging the provisions of the 1992 Act. The petition was initially dismissed for default in 2011, but restored in 2013.Justice Subramaniam was concerned over the fact that despite no interim stay being granted in the writ petition over deduction or any exemption by the government, the staff was reluctant to pay professional tax."In the whole State of Tamil Nadu, the High Court's staff alone are not paying the professional tax, merely citing the pendency of the abovesaid writ petition, wherein there is no interim order in force," his letter stated..It is unfortunate that the writ petition filed in 1998 is kept pending for the past 24 years without any acceptable reason, he added. .The judge went to the extent of speculating that the Staff Association of the Madras High Court was manipulating the case bundle in the matter, preventing its listing.He further expressed shock over the fact that the bills presented were cleared by the Pay and Accounts Office due to the misguidance of the High Court Registry. Further, the Pay and Accounts Office was unduly pressurised to clear the bills without deducting professional tax, despite the fact that they are bound to deduct the tax in accordance with the provisions of the Act and as per the orders of the government.The Pay and Accounts Office has been raising objections to this practise which was orally replied by the court staff, stating that they were exempted from paying professional tax, the letter stated."Such a conduct of the Registry Officials is to be enquired into and due actions are to be taken and, they are expected to present the bills in accordance with law and by providing oral information to the Pay and Accounts Office, they cannot clear the bills," he wrote..Given the fact that the issue is in public domain and questions the integrity of the High Court staff and the Registry, Justice Subramaniam urged the Registrar General to issue instructions to the Registry to deduct professional tax from the salaries of the court staff..[Read Letter]