Rule 252 — Educational qualifications prescribed. Made under s.515 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 252 gives effect to Section 515 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.
The rule prescribes the educational qualifications for the purposes of section 515(3)(a)(vi), and lists two. The first is a degree in Commerce or Law conferred by any University in India established by law currently in force, or by a deemed university, or by an institution with the authority to confer degrees under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956. The second is a degree in Commerce or Law conferred by any foreign university or educational institution, which is recognised as equivalent to a degree conferred by an Indian University, as determined by the Association of Indian Universities.
The subject is fixed — Commerce or Law — and so is the source of recognition for a foreign degree.
Section 515(3)(a)(vi) admits a person holding prescribed educational qualifications, leaving the qualification itself to the rules. Rule 252 supplies it, and does so narrowly: two subjects, and only degrees from institutions that can lawfully confer them. For a foreign degree the rule does not attempt its own comparison, but adopts the determination of the Association of Indian Universities, so equivalence is decided by an existing body rather than case by case by the Department.
Both limbs require a degree, and a degree in one of two named subjects; a diploma, a certificate course, or a degree in another discipline does not answer either limb however relevant it may be in practice. On the Indian side, the institution must be a University established by law currently in force, a deemed university, or an institution with authority to confer degrees under the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, so the standing of the awarding body is part of the test. On the foreign side, the rule does not ask whether the degree looks equivalent — it asks whether it is recognised as equivalent to a degree conferred by an Indian University, as determined by the Association of Indian Universities, which means an actual determination by that body.
A person holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce from a university in India established by law. That answers rule 252(1). Another holds a law degree from a foreign university; it counts under rule 252(2) only if the Association of Indian Universities has determined it to be equivalent to a degree conferred by an Indian University. A postgraduate diploma in taxation, however specialised, answers neither, because both limbs require a degree in Commerce or Law.
You meet it when a person's eligibility under section 515(3)(a)(vi) is established or questioned, as the degree certificate and, for a foreign degree, the Association of Indian Universities equivalence determination produced with it.
The following educational qualifications are prescribed for the purposes of section 515(3)(a)(vi)
which is recognised as equivalent to a degree conferred by an Indian University, as determined by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU)