Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1999Ker93
..... in our view, the act, to stand the test of the constitutional mandate of equality before law and equal protection of law in the context of avoiding discrimination, the act requires an amendment. ..... learned senior counsel said that article 14 is the declaration of equality of civil rights of all persons within the territory of india and that it secures equal protection to all such persons in the enjoyment of their rights and liberties without discrimination or fa- ..... is the ability of even an insignificant minority to find its identity under the country's constitution.it is the duty and function of the court whenever the fundamental right under article 25 is invoked to examine the act and see if it is to protect public order, morality and health, or whether it gives effect to the other provisions of part 111 of the constitution or whether it is authorised by a law made to regulate or restrict any economic, financial, political or secular activity which may be ..... 14 states that the state shall not deny to any person equalily before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of india. ..... proposition, the next question is, on whom the burden lies to affirmatively establish the rational principle on which the classification is founded correlated to the object sought to be achieved the thrust of article 14 is that the citizen is entitled to equality before law and equal protection of laws. ..... the guarantee of equal protection embraces the entire realm of 'state action .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1995Ker307
..... this is clearly a case which offends the guarantee for equal protection of the laws under article 14 of the constitution. ..... in such a context the court observed in paragraph 7 at page 61 as follows : 'it is well settled that a law which confers an arbitrary or unguided power on the executive or any administrative authority is violative of the fundamental right for equal protection of the laws guaranteed by article 14 of the constitution. ..... it is only those essential and basic provisions which are protected by the latter part of article 19(6). ..... clause 6(ii) only gives protection for the state or a corporation owned or controlled by the state doing any monopoly business or trade to the exclusion of complete or partial of the citizens. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1962Ker110
..... all of a certain well-defined class, it is not obnoxious and is not open to the charge of a denial if equal protection on the ground that it has no application to other persons, for the class for whom the law has been made is different from other persons and therefore there is no discrimination against equals'.the need for classification, between those who are taken in by the legislation and those who are left out, is emphasised in the above passages ..... the objection that the state has denied equal protection of the law to hindu undivided families was rested on the absence of an intelligible differentia having a rational relation to the object of the act, as the basis of such classification. ..... 684 of 1959 has contended, that the act has denied equal protection of the law to hindu undivided families. ..... we therefore, come to the conclusion, that hindu undivided families of wealth have been singled out by the act from, other similar joint families in the country and that the state has thereby denied equal protection of the law to the former. ..... 627 that'the equal protection clause does not require that state laws shall cover the entire field of proper legislation in a single enactment'.the court also holding, that the exclusion of certain categories of employees from the scope of the .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1959Ker182
..... it is no doubt true that the principle of equality before the law and equal protection of law extends to taxing laws as well. ..... proceedings should be concluded according to the law applicable at the time when the rights or liabilities accrued and the proceedings commenced is a reasonable law founded upon a reasonable classification of the assessees which is permissible under the equal protection clause and to which no exception can be taken. ..... appears to be deducible from the decisions that discrimination due to fortuitous circumstances arising out of the peculiar situation in which one or some particular tax payers find themselves are generally not invalid under requirements as to equality and uniformity in taxation, where it appears that such tax payer or tax payers are not singled out for special treatment and not taxed by. ..... though uniformly with the travancore-cochin area, would therefore be to impose an unequal additional burden.the contention of the state in reply was that the default was not on the law impugned which admittedly was equal and uniform but arose out of the extraneous circumstances due to the integration on the 1st november, 1956. ..... this does not mean that every person should be taxed equally but that persons under the same circumstances or property of the same character should be taxed by the same standard and inequality in fact in the result is no ..... law as adapted or modified occupied the field for purpose of future amendments equally effectively in both cases. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1979Ker68
..... the judges have been overruled by events -- self-limitation can be seen to be the path of judicial wisdom and institutional prestige and stability (see joseph tussman and jacobs ten breck, 'the equal protection of the laws', 37 california law rev. ..... arena in which no perfect alternatives exist, the court does well not to impose too rigorous a standard of scrutiny lest all local fiscal schemes become subjects of criticism under the equal protection clause. ..... repetition it may also be pointed out that the provisions for appeal and revision also do not improve matters in any way since the appellate and revi-sional authorities are also equally governed by the mandatory provisions contained in section 6 and the definition of 'capital value' contained in section 2 (f). ..... to which the court has gone in dreaming up rational bases for state regulation in that area may in many instances be ascribed to a healthy revulsion from the courts's earlier excesses in using the constitution to protect interests that have more than enough power to protect themselves in the legislative hall: dandridge v. ..... operation, any taxing, statute is found to contravene article 14, it wouldbe open to courts to strike it down as denying to the citizens the equality before the law guaranteed by article 14. ..... transactions essentially dissimilar are treated alike by the imposition of a uniform tax, discrimination may result, for refusal to make a rational classification may itself in some cases operate as denial of equality. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : [1962]44ITR277(Ker)
..... been fully argued on both sides, and the department having had sufficient opportunity to meet the objection under article 14, we shall now proceed to consider the same.the objection that the state has denied equal protection of the law to hindu undivided families, was rested on the absence of an intelligible differentia having a rational relation to the object of the act, as the basis of such classification. ..... texas power and light company that 'the equal protection clause does not require that state laws shall cover the entire field of proper legislation in a single enactment', the court also holding, that the exclusion of certain categories of employees from the scope of the ..... 684 of 1959, has contended that the act has denied equal protection of the law to hindu undivided families. ..... . we, therefore, come to the conclusion, that hindu undivided families of wealth have been singled out by the act from other similar joint families in the country and that the state has thereby denied equal protection of the law to the former ..... 'earlier the learned judge said that :'if the law deals equally with all of a certain well-defined class it is not obnoxious and is not open to the charge of a denial of equal protection on the ground that it has no application to other persons, for the class for whom the law has been made is different from other persons and, therefore, there is no discrimination against equals. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : (2002)176CTR(Ker)268; [2002]258ITR679(Ker)
..... and that in such a complex area in which no foolproof device exists, the court should be slow inimposing strict and rigorous standard of scrutiny by reason of which all local fiscal schemes may be subjected to criticism under the equal protection clause. ..... in such a complex arena in which no perfect alternatives exist, the court does well not to impose too rigorous a standard of scrutiny lest all local fiscal schemes become subjects of criticism under the equal protection clause'.38. ..... of income tax, bombay, air 1955 sc 58, the supreme court held that the rules which apply to the interpretation of other statutes apply equally to the interpretation of a constitutional enactment subject to this reservation that their application is of necessity conditioned by the subject-matter of the enactment itself ..... objects which it would tax, and which it would not tax-so long as the classification made within this wide and flexible range by a taxing statute does not transgress the fundamental principles underlying the doctrine of equality, it is not vulnerable on the ground of discrimination merely because it taxes or exempts from tax some incomes or objects and not others. ..... but with all this latitude certain irreducible desiderata of equality shall govern classifications for differential treatment in taxation laws as ..... the evident intent and general operation of the tax legislation is to adjust the burden with a fair and reasonable degree of equality, the constitutional requirement is satisfied. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1962Ker267
..... state of binar, air 1958 sc 731 in the following words:-- 'the meaning, scope and effect of article 14 which is the equal protection clause in our constitution has been explained by this court in a series of decisions in cases beginning with air 1951 sc 41 and ending with the rcceat case of air 1958 sc 538. ..... following main heads:-- (a) the development of banking with a view to the expansion of indigenous, co-operative and join-stock banking with special reference to the needs of agriculture, commerce, and industry;(b) the regulation of banking with a view to protecting the interests of the public; and(c) banking education with a view to the provision of indian personnel in adequate numbers and with necessary qualifications to meet the increasing needs of the country for a sound and well-managed ..... the learned chief justice emphasises that the principles extracted above will have to ba constantly borne in mind by the court when it has to adjudge the constitutionality of a particular law, which is attacked as discriminatory and violative of the equal protection of laws.120. ..... the report then adverts to the appointment of the indian central banking inquiry committee, the terms of reference of which included :'the regulation of banking with a view to protecting the interests of the public.'61. ..... the equality before law which is guaranteed by article 14 no doubt prohibits class legislation but 1' does not prohibit the legislature from legislating on the basis of a reasonable classification .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : AIR1996Ker379
..... the varying needs of different classes of persons often require separate treatment and it is, therefore, established by judicial decisions that the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment of the american constitution does not take away from the state the power to classify persons for legislative purposes. ..... if the law deals equally with all of a certain well defined class it is not obnoxious and it is not open to the charge of a denial of equal protection on the ground that it has no application to other persons, for the class for whom the law has been made is different from other persons and therefore, there is no discrimination amongst equals. .....
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kerala
Reported in : [1988]69STC119(Ker)
..... a complex arena in which no perfect alternatives exist, the court does well not to impose too rigorous a standard of scrutiny lest all local fiscal schemes become subjects of criticism under the equal protection clause.the following passage from the judgment of marshall, j. ..... 'the extremes to which the court has gone in dreaming up rational bases for state regulation in that area may in many instances be ascribed to a healthy revulsion from the court's earlier excesses in using the constitution to protect interests that have more than enough power to protect themselves in the legislative hall: dandridge v. ..... resorts to the principle of classification in an attempt to harmonise the doctrine of equality with differences inherent in the categories of properties or persons assessed. ..... evident intent and general operation of the tax legislation is to adjust the burden with a fair and reasonable degree of equality, the constitutional requirement is satisfied. ..... impossible in the nature of things to aim at absolute equality in the matter of taxation. ..... the equality clause in article 14 does not take from the state a power to classify a class of persons who must bear the heavier burden ..... taxing legislation makes a genuine attempt to adjust the burden with a fair and reasonable degree of equality. ..... make his tax heavier, both absolutely and relatively, is not arbitrary discrimination, but an attempt to proportion the payment to capacity to pay and thus to arrive in the end at a more genuine equality. .....
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