JUDGMENT :

Bechu Kurian Thomas, J.

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's

Render unto God the things that are God's."

We are reminded of the above teachings of Jesus Christ as written in the synoptic gospels of the Bible, while we consider an engrossing question on the liability of tax deduction at source from the salary paid to teachers who are nuns or priests of the religious congregations. The learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petitions by concluding that tax is liable to be deducted at source from the salary paid to the teachers, who are nuns or priests. Hence this batch of writ appeals, at the instance of writ petitioners.

2. Few of the nuns and priests indulge in pedagogy apart from their religious calling. Those pedagogues are paid salaries. Under their religious covenant, nuns and priests bind themselves to a vow not to own property. At the time of initiation into their religious calling, they claim to have taken that vow -known as the vow of poverty. Therefore, the income received by them is handed over to their religious congregation.

3. From 1944 until the filing of the writ petitions in 2014, the salary paid to the nuns or priests by the Government was admitte