§ 6. Colonel YATEasked the Secretary of State for India whether he is aware that the Indian Army Regulations lay down that officers who entered the Army before 1st July, 1881, who accepted the 1886 leave rules, and are residing out of India until retirement are sanctioned leave pay until such retirement, and that the Income Tax Commissioners are not conceding to those officers the concession granted under Section 31 (b) of the Finance Act of 1916; that the officers in question are entitled to this concession as leave pay is reckoned as full pay; and will he take steps to safeguard the interests of these officers of the Indian Army, and to obtain a refund of the arrears of Income Tax cut from them in excess?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Mr. Montagu)The officers in question, though they receive pay at leave rates, if they elect to reside out of India, are not on leave, but are unemployed officers so far as the Indian Army is concerned. I cannot, therefore, move the Treasury, with whom the decision rests, to treat these officers as though they were on leave.