Delhi High Court issues notice to BSNL on 93 ex-employees’ plea

New Delhi, October 1: The Delhi High Court has issued notice to BSNL on a plea filed by 93 petitioners, all of whom are erstwhile employees of the public sector company, and have been relieved from duty following the BSNL VRS Scheme of 2019.

The issue raised on behalf of the petitioners is in respect to the taxability and consequent tax deduction on the amounts received by them pursuant to the VRS Scheme while agitating simultaneously the way their consent was procured in enrolling for Voluntary Retirement. 

It was also contended on behalf of the petitioners that the VRS Scheme, irrespective of its nomenclature, inherently amounts to Retrenchment. Accordingly, applying Section 10(10B) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the amounts received by them should be eligible for complete tax exemption.    

Justice Prateek Jalan on Wednesday issued the notice to BSNL while directing the respondents to seek instructions on the interim relief sought by the Petitioners. 

The matter has been kept returnable for October 14.

The petitioners were led by Mr Jayant Kumar Mehta, advocate briefed by counsels Mr Rajiv k Vimani, Mr Saurabh Dev Karan Singh, Mr Malhotra, Mr Gaurav Jain along with Ms. Kanika Jain, advocates.