Legal Metrology Act Has Not Come Into Force!
IN yesterday's DDT, we mentioned,
Has Legal Metrology Act come into force? In the Finance Bill, in several clauses, it had been provided that, for the words, figures and brackets “Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 (60 of 1976)”, the words and figures “Legal Metrology Act, 2009” shall be and shall be deemed to have been substituted with effect from the 1st day of March, 2011.
Now the amendment to the Finance Bill in all those clauses substitutes that "Legal Metrology Act, 2009" shall be substituted with effect from such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint. What happened? Has the Act not come into force?
The Department of Consumer Affairs by Notification dated 31.12.2010, had notified 01.03.2011 as the effective date for the Legal Metrology Act. The Finance Ministry went by this notification and proceeded to amend “Standards of weights and measures Act” with “Legal Metrology Act” wherever it appeared in Customs and Central Excise – and that too with effect from 01.03.2011.
But then the Consumer Affairs Ministry casually without informing the Revenue Department rescinded the Notification dated 31.12.2010 and issued another notification making the Legal Metrology Act effective from 01.04.2011. So the position would have been that the Finance Act 2011 would have recognized the LM Act much before it became effective! Somebody woke up well in time and now the amendments to the Finance Bill include provisions to make the LM Act effective from a date to be notified. This time Revenue is not taking any risks – they will notify it after the Department of Consumer Affairs finally notifies it!
The Consumer Affairs Ministry issued the notification making LM Act effective from 01.04.2011, on 31.01.2011 and the budget was presented on 28 th February – a good 28 days later.
They could have avoided the embarrassment if somebody had checked the web site of the Consumer Affairs Ministry or picked up the phone and asked the ministry officials if the LM Act is really coming into force on 1 st March, 2011. Revenue Babus usually have no respect for other Babus!
DDT is grateful to Bangalore based Advocate and friend B. Anil Kumar for his inputs on this issue.