Staff Correspondent:The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the government cannot collect value added tax (VAT) from the students of English medium school students.
The apex court also extended its stay order on the High Court verdict that announced imposition of 7.5 percent VAT on tuition fees of English medium schools illegal.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order after hearing a leave to appeal petition filed by National Board of Revenue (NBR) seeking a stay on the HC verdict.
He also said the NBR has been collecting 7.5 percent VAT from the English medium schools not from their students.
Following a writ petition, the HC on December 12 last year announced the imposition of VAT on tuition fees of English medium schools illegal and directed the authorities concerned to stop collecting VAT from January this year.
The HC court delivered the verdict on the ground that VAT on English medium education is discriminatory since no VAT was imposed on fees of other institutions and such discrimination is a violation of Article-17 of the constitution.
Following a stay petition filed by the NBR, the SC on January 3 stayed the HC verdict also asked the NBR to file a leave to appeal petition with the SC by January 29 against the High Court judgment.