Plea for TDS on salary of MLAs, MPs

CHENNAI: A writ plea has been made in the Madras High Court for a direction to the Parliamentary Affairs Secretary and the State Legislative Assembly Secretary to deduct tax from the salaries and other allowances paid to the MPs and MLAs.The first bench comprising Chief Justice MY Eqbal and Justice TS Sivagnanam, before which the petition from C Selvaraj, president of the Association of Transparency & Anti-Corruption, came up for hearing on Friday, adjourned the matter till March 13.The petitioner said that members of parliament and members of the legislative assembly in the State received payments totaling  Rs 11.40 lakh and Rs 5.60 lakh respectively. But neither the Union nor the State deducted the tax at source, which violatated Sec 190 of the Income Tax Act. While eight MLAs did not even have the personal account number (PAN), six others claimed nil income and 47 others under-reported their income.  The same is the case of MPs, the petitioner contended.