Circular No. 373

312. Contribution to recognised provident fund - Rules 68 and 69 of Income-tax Rules governing house building advances from provident fund accounts amended - Pending matters on the point to be decided in accordance with amended rules

What this is

Circular No. 373 was issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 14 December 1983. Its subject is 312. Contribution to recognised provident fund - Rules 68 and 69 of Income-tax Rules governing house building advances from provident fund accounts amended - Pending matters on the point to be decided in accordance with amended rules.

What it does

Tells the field that rules 68 and 69, which govern house building advances out of an employee's provident fund account, have been amended by Notification No. SO 789 dated 1 November 1983, and directs that all pending matters on the point be decided in accordance with that notification. The notification itself is being circulated separately, and officers are asked to put a copy on the notice boards of all offices and sub-offices of the Department.

Why it was issued

Associations, unions, chambers and industry had been pressing the Board to amend rule 68 on house building advances from provident fund accounts, and the amendment has now been made.

Who it reaches

Trustees of recognised provident funds sanctioning house building advances
Employees drawing such advances from their provident fund accounts
Employers whose fund rules follow rules 68 and 69
Officers with pending matters on house building advances

The instrument, as the Board published it

The words below are the department’s own, reproduced from its published text. Where the department’s copy carried a publisher’s notes after the instrument, those are not reproduced.

312. Contribution to recognised provident fund - Rules 68 and 69 of Income-tax Rules governing house building advances from provident fund accounts amended - Pending matters on the point to be decided in accordance with amended rules.
1. The Board have been receiving representations from various associations/ unions/chambers/industries, etc., for amendment of rule 68 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 which govern the rules regarding house building advances from the Provident Fund accounts of the employees. Rule 68/69 has since been amended vide Board’s Notification No. SO 789, dated 1-11-1983 which is being circulated separately. It is requested that all the pending matters, on this point, should be decided in accordance with the said notification.
2. Copy of the notification may also please be exhibited on the notice boards of all the offices and sub-offices of the Income-tax Department.
Circular : No. 373 [F. No. 215/43/83-IT(A-II)], dated 14-12-1983.

What to watch

The circular carries no substance of its own; everything turns on Notification No. SO 789 dated 1 November 1983, which was circulated separately.
The direction is to decide pending matters under the amended rules; the circular says nothing about matters already concluded.
Rules 68 and 69 are Income-tax Rules provisions governing withdrawals from a recognised provident fund, and their text as amended has to be seen for any working.

Where you meet it

In a question over the recognition of a provident fund, or in an old dispute about a house building withdrawal sanctioned around 1983.

What it names

Rules it names. Rule 68 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The 1962 Rules were replaced by the Income-tax Rules, 2026, which renumbered nearly everything: a rule number quoted here almost never means the same rule today.

← Circular No. 375 · Circular No. 374 →

A circular binds the department, not you and not a court. The Board issues a circular to its own officers. An assessee may hold the department to a circular that helps him; the department cannot hold an assessee to one that hurts him, and the Tribunal and the courts decide the law for themselves.

Source: the Income Tax Department’s own published text — its page for this instrument.