Appendix A
(See rule 3)
Articles allowed free of duty
1 | 2 |
(a) All passengers of and above 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of more than three days. | (i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life. (ii) Articles other than those mentioned in Annex. I upto a value of Rs. 25,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger. |
(b) All passengers of and above 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of three days or less. | (i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life. (ii) Articles other than those mentioned in Annex. I upto a value of Rs. 12,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger. |
(c) All passengers up to 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of more than three days. | (i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life. (ii) Articles other than those mentioned in Annex. I upto a value of Rs. 6,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger. |
(d) All passengers upto 10 years of age and returning after stay abroad of three days or less. | (i) Used personal effects, excluding jewellery, required for satisfying daily necessities of life. (ii) Articles other than those mentioned in Annex. I upto a value of Rs. 3,000 if these are carried on the person or in the accompanied baggage of the passenger. |
Please note that only (a) and (b) above were amended by the Budget Notification 21/2012 and not (c) which actually related to the baggage allowance for passengers up to ten years of age about which the Finance Minister and the JS made announcements in their pronouncements. And that was contained in (c). The wise babus forgot to amend (c) and thereby did not give effect to what the FM solemnly announced in Parliament and which the Hon'ble JS communicated in his DO Letter.
So, the Baggage Allowance for passengers upto 10 years of age remained at Rs. 6,000 in spite of the FM's announcement in Parliament. And it was not Rs. 12,000 as announced by the FM in Parliament and confirmed by the JS in his DO Letter. So, on 16.3.2012, neither the FM nor the JS knew what the baggage allowance exactly was. (Why should we blame junior Customs officers in airports?). The FM has no means of knowing it except through the CBEC, but if the CBEC does not know, what can this poor country do? The babus show their contempt for the Supreme Court by invoking Parliament's supremacy and by creeping lizards into the FM's speech. But obviously they have no respect for Parliament and the FM – they would callously allow the FM to tell Parliament that baggage allowance for passengers below 10 years was Rs. 12000 when it actually was Rs. 6000.
The Final Correction: Anyway, finally Board has corrected the mistake by issuing Notification No. dated 23.04.2012 amending the Baggage Rules;
In the Baggage Rules, 1998, in Appendix A, in column (2), against item number (c) in column (1), for “Rs 6,000”, “Rs 15,000” shall be substituted.
And strangely, this Notification issued on 23.04.2012 was not available for money or love till 11.05.2012.
But, will somebody explain why a concession announced in Parliament by the FM on 16.03.2012, was not implemented by the Board till 23.04.2012?
The ultimate Authority for TAX LAW in India is not the Minister, not the Parliament, not the Supreme Court – but the Under Secretary in the Board, who obviously has no respect for any of these institutions!
Supremacy of Parliament over Supreme Court? The Babu has the last laugh.
Notification No. , Dated: April, 23, 2012