DGFT plays spoil sport for importers of used photocopiers
Import of Second hand photocopiers has been a matter of litigation for some time. Even after the Larger Bench of the Tribunal headed by the President gave a categorical order that they could be imported freely, DGFT and the Board had been issuing letters to field formations to somehow put a break to these imports. We had commented about a couple of these letters in our editorial some time back - 'Import of Secondhand photocopiers caught in legal sandwich'.
In DDT of 20.9.2005, we had asked Why should the might of the government be so harshly used against the small man – with so persistent vigour? Is there a hidden agenda? Is some big fish getting state support to swallow the small ones?
Obviously the State is determined to kill the small businessmen importing these used photocopiers which are in turn a source of livelihood for some very small businessmen. The DGFT has amended para 2.17 of the policy which will now read as,
“Import of second hand capital goods, including refurbished/ re-conditioned spares shall be allowed freely. However, second hand personal computers/laptops, photocopier machines, air conditioners, diesel generating sets will only be allowed against a license issued in this behalf.”
Who will import second-hand photocopiers and computers? Obviously the small man whose customer will also be a small man!. And these people can never go round the offices to get a licence. Or does the government want to re introduce a licence Raj for the small man while the big fish can have a whale of a time? Who are we trying to protect? Who is against import of second-hand photocopiers and computers? If we can get a good second-hand photocopier for Rs. 20,000 instead of the Rs.60,000 that a new one will cost, why should that be disallowed? And how will licensing benefit except bringing in more maze of procedures and opportunities for corruption?
The President recently recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s advice to the government that it should conjure up the face of the poorest man, whenever, in doubt and decide on the policies considering their effects on the common man. And here is his Government trying to steal the bread from the common man – obviously to give it to the Rich man!
DGFT NOTIFICATION NO. 31 (RE-2005) / 2004-2009, Dated : October 19, 2005