Command of law can claim allegiance of law only by simplicity in legislation
"TO return what has been taken wrongly is as much a duty and grace of government as to levy relentlessly and fully what is due. Default in either, not altogether unfamiliar, brings down the confidence of the community in the administration. That a party should have been put to two expensive and elongated litigations to recover a relatively small sum is regrettable.
Assuming that the tax officers have an alibi of two interpretations of the given notification, the question is whether plainer use of language is an art beyond the draftsman's skills. We think not.
To liquidate obscurity in legislative language, by abandoning obsolescent vocabulary and style of expression is an overdue measure if we remember the Renton Committee's observations made for British consumers but applies a fortiori to our Republic:
"There is hardly any part of our national life or of our personal lives that is not affected by one statute or another. The affairs of local authorities, national industries, public corporations and private commerce are regulated by legislation. The life of the ordinary citizen is affected by various provisions of the statue book from cradle to grave."
The rule of law is the corner-stone of democracy and how can there be a rule of law society if the members, the bulk of whom are too poor to buy legal services, cannot decode the legislator's law and therefore obey it? Incomprehensible law annoys the administration and estranges the citizen at a time when quick justice and less sterile litigation are the desiderata. The command of the law can claim the allegiance of the law only by simplicity in legislation."
The above extract is from a judgement delivered by Justice VR Krishna Iyer in 1975 []. After 36 years, is there any change in the attitude? Yes - for the worse. If you don't get a stay, the Central Excise Department will pounce on you to collect their arrears, but should you win a case, they will use all their might and intelligence to deny the refund to you.