Customs duty on petrol and diesel slashed – but where are the notifications?
We need not tell you about the hiked cost of petrol; that is everywhere, but we should have been able to tell you that the customs duty on petrol and diesel has been reduced from 10% to 7.5%. It has been indeed, but where is the customs notification? We tried our best to get the notification, but we found that the only person in the whole country who had some authentic information about the cut in customs duty was Petroleum Secretary M.S. Srinivasan, who announced that the slashed rates are applicable from the midnight of 5th June 2006. Frantic calls from Oil Companies could not be answered as Revenue Ministry had closed shop by the time the Petroleum Ministry announced the customs duty cut! Tomorrow the notification will be issued and oil companies will seek refund which will be refused and the matter will ultimately reach the Supreme Court of India.