DEPB extended till December but there is a gap
Notification No. 96/2004-Cus., dated 17-9-2004 exempts goods imported under the DEPB scheme or rather exempted., as the notification originally expired on 31st March 2005, but was by Notification No. 31/2005-Cus., dated 30-3-2005 extended till 30th September 2005. As we reported earlier, 30th September 2005 went by without any extension. But things cannot be left at that and everyone knew that the scheme had to be extended. We were flooded with calls and mails enquiring about the fate of the scheme. As an agony aunt, we comforted people that the scheme was bound to be extended – it was only a matter of time; they must have forgotten, the officer concerned must have been on leave or trying for a new posting. And further 30th September was a weekend and may be the babus were in a rush to go. The earliest opportunity they had, to realise the lapse was Monday 3rd October and by that time the notification had lapsed. Resurrection is not the option always. So a new notification had to be issued and that would take a couple of days and so was born Notification No. 89/2005-Cus., dated: October 4, 2005. The notification is dated 4th October but it was not made available till the evening of 5th October. These are minor infirmities of governance. The taxed should learn to live with the audacious actions of the taxmen. You may wonder why the government could not extend the scheme well before 30th September. But governance is a serious business and these things do happen. The new notification is an identical copy of the dead notification, but it raises an important issue. What happens to the imports between 1st October and 3rd October 2005, when there was no notification? More clarifications or litigation to follow!.
NOTIFICATION NO. , Dated: October 4, 2005