Kerala High Court: The Court deciding an issue on arbitrariness of the cap imposed on financial concessions for the differently abled persons held that the concession granted by the Government was a privilege and hence, Article 14 of the Constitution was not invalidated by a reasonable condition imposed.
The facts of the case were, the Kerala Government by Government Order dated: 31.03.1998 provided for tax concessions for certain motor vehicles, including luxury cars, being purchased by differently abled persons. Later, the Government imposed a cap of Rs 5 lakh on the value of the vehicle entitled for exemption. The appellant in the present case, suffered from 100% disability and was totally wheelchair dependent and his son was specially abled. Given the needs of the family, he decided to buy a ‘bigger car’.
The cap came to be impugned by the appellant by a writ petition, which upon consideration was dismissed by a Single Judge. Thus aggrieved, the question came for consideration before the Division Bench.
It was argued that the imposition of a cap and limiting the value of purchase amounted to arbitrariness and fell foul of Article 14. It was submitted that the imposition of the cap with the view to prevent misuse of the privilege was irrational.
The Division Bench of Antony Dominic and D. M. Naidu, JJ acknowledged the grounds of reasonableness and non-arbitrariness in classification of discrimination in terms of Article 14 of the Constitution and held that the a privilege is different from a right. Dismissing the appeal, it was held that the issue involved only a concession in the form of financial incentive for the physically challenged and therefore, the Government was justified in imposing suitable conditions, and the contentions of discrimination or unreasonableness did not apply. [C.H. Moideen Kunhi v. State of Kerala, 2016 SCC OnLine Ker 5340 decided on June 7, 2016]
