RAMASWAMI J.

The assessees in these two references are employees of the National & Grindlays Bank, Madras. T. C. No. 277/67 relates to the assessment year 1962-63 and T.C. No. 280/67 relates to the assessment year 1961-62. In the first case the assessee returned a sum of Rs. 69, 517 under the head "salary" which included a sum of Rs. 4, 636, being the value of rent-free quarters. The assessee's employer had paid a sum of Rs. 15, 119 by way of tax on the salary. The assessee had valued the rent-free accommodation at 12 1/2 per cent. on the basic pay after excluding the income-tax paid by the employer and the fuel and lighting charges borne by the employer. In the other case (T.C. No. 280/67) also the assessee, in calculating the value of the rent-free accommodation, has excluded the income-tax paid by the employer and the fuel and lighting charges borne by the employer. In both these cases the Income-tax Officer considered that the tax borne by the employer of the assessees was a "perquisite", that it represented a fixed regular payment and that, therefore, it should have been included in the sum in arriving at the value of the rent-free accommodation. Both the assessees