Supreme Court: 'Marriage Won't Take Away Women's Identity'

NEW DELHI: The Sikkimese women who marry non-Sikkimese people are not exempt from paying income taxes under Section 10(26AAA), according to a ruling by the Supreme Court.

The supreme court ruled that it is completely discriminatory and hence unlawful to exclude a Sikkimese lady simply because she marries a non-Sikkimese. The top court stated in its decision that a woman is not a chattel and has her own identity.

Simply being married to a non-Sikkimese person cannot erase that identity, it was stated. A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna rendered the decision, it was noted.

The bench stated that a Sikkimese man who marries a non-Sikkimese after April 1, 2008, is not disqualified.

According to LiveLaw reports, the supreme court's decision extended the exemption under Section 10(26AAA) of the 1961 law to anyone who were residents of Sikkim on April 26, 1975, the day the state united with India. With this decision, the Supreme Court effectively extended the tax exemption net to about 95% of the Sikkim population.

Only residents with a Sikkim Subjects Certificate or their descendants who acquired Indian citizenship in accordance with the Sikkim Citizenship Amendment Order, 1989 qualified for the prior income tax exemption.

The two groups included the Bhutia Lepchas, Sherpas, and Nepalis, who make up around 94.6% of the population of Sikkim, according to a story in the Hindustan Times. Older settlers who lived in Sikkim at the time of India's union with Sikkim are the ones who have petitioned the court. They only make up 1% of the population.

The petitioners have argued that it is discriminatory and unlawful for Sikkimese women to be excluded from the exempt category if they marry non-Sikkimese after April 1, 2008, according to Section 10(26AAA) of the Act, 1961.

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