Child's pension benefit under a UN fund is not taxable as the participant's income absent a specific deeming provision.

A child's benefit under the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, payable legally to an unmarried child and not to the employee-participant, is not income of the participant. The entitlement vested in the child, could continue independently of the participant in appropriate cases, and was recoverable by the child rather than by the parent. On that basis, the amount did not fall within the charging or deeming provisions for salary, perquisites, or profits in lieu of salary under the Income-tax Act, 1961, and was not taxable in the assessee's hands.

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Issues: Whether any part of the amount representing the benefit to the assessee's children from the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund was includible in the assessee's total income.

Analysis: The child's benefit under the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund was structured as a retirement benefit payable to an unmarried child and was not a benefit received by the participant assessee in his own right. The scheme showed that the entitlement vested in the child, continued independently of the participant's life in appropriate cases, and was recoverable by the child and not by the participant. On that footing, the amount did not constitute the assessee's income and did not fall within the charging or deeming provisions relating to salary, perquisites, or profits in lieu of salary under the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Conclusion: The amount representing the children's benefit was not taxable in the assessee's hands; the question was answered in the affirmative and in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A child's benefit under a pension fund, when legally payable to the child and not to the employee-participant, is not the participant's income and cannot be taxed in his hands absent a specific statutory deeming provision.

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