IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA CWJC No.4075 of 1994 ADVOCATE ASSOCIATION,Patna High Court, Patna through its President Shri Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, son of Late Ashutosh Kumar Mukherjee, resident of North Shrikrishnapuri, Police Station Shrikrishnapuri, District Patna…… ………..Petitioner Versus 1. THE UNION OF INDIA 2. The Central Board of Direct Taxes, Ministry of Finance, Department of Economic Affairs, New Delhi 3. The Under Secretary, Central Board of Direct Taxes, New Delhi 4. The Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Bihar, Patna 5. The Commissioner of Income Tax, Bihar, Patna ……Respondents ----------- 03- 13/8/2010 None appears on behalf of the petitioner. Heard Mr.Harshvardhan Prasad, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the Department of Income Tax. The writ petition has been preferred to quash Circular No.681, dated 8.3.1994 (Annexure 2), inter alia, calling upon the lawyers to ensure TDS with respect to the payments mentioned in the circular. 2. We have perused the materials on record and considered the submissions of learned counsel for the parties. The petitioner is an association of lawyers of the Patna High Court. The impugned circular was issued by the Board of Direct Taxes, whereby it has been made obligatory for the lawyers to collect TDS. The same fell for the consideration of the Rajasthan 2 High Court in the case of Rajasthan Tax Consultants Association & others vs. Central Board of Direct Txes [(1998) ITR 657]. The learned single Judge of that court had quashed the impugned circular. We agree with the judgment of the learned single Judge of the Rajasthan High Court. 3. Accordingly we quash circular no.681 dated 8.3.1994 (Annexure 2). It is made clear that the said judgment covers the period upto 30.6.1995. The Rajasthan High Court has held that the circular falls foul of section 194© of the Income Tax Act and does not cover lawyers. It may incidentally be mentioned that the Parliament has inserted 194(J) in the Income Tax Act which is headed “professional or technical service” with effect from 1.7.1995. 4. The writ petition is accordingly allowed. ( S K Katriar ) ( Jayanandan Singh ) mrl