Why do we replace one form by five? Law Minister
Law and Justice Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj noted how efforts to simplify often end in replacing a form by five new forms. He was inaugurating a new court room in the ITAT. Or was he taking a dig at his famous colleague, the FM?
The ITAT was set up 65 years ago in 1941. The Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal is one of the oldest temples of justice in our country. It is said that the older the temple, the greater is its sanctity and reverence.
The first President of the Tribunal Mohammad Munir went on to become the Chief Justice of Pakistan and under his famous Doctrine of Necessity stamped the seal of approval on Governor General Ghulam Mohammad's action to dissolve the first Constitutional Assembly of Pakistan.
The President in 1941 used to get a basic pay of Rs. 3000/- per month. On an annual increase of 6%, that basic pay should be now more than Rs. 1, 30,000/- pm. Maybe the judges do deserve this kind of salaries at least to keep them away from temptations and to give them a decent life style.
Coming back to the present day, ITAT President Vimal Gandhi said that ITAT has reduced pendency of cases from "around three lakhs in 1998 to 1,03,000 as on 30th June 2005.
The Delhi Chief Commissioner who was also present had a grouse; Tax collection was 10% of the GDP in 1991, now it is 10.5%.