Import of wheat – The Pawar–full exemption
On 06-09-2006, DDT reported that the Agriculture Minister, SharadPawar had announced exemption to import of Wheat about which the CBEC Chairman was not aware. The CBEC Chief, told reporters that 5% duty continues. But the Minister had announced that the notification would be issued in a couple of days. The Board apparently could not meet the Minister’s deadline. But apparently they worked overtime and came out with the notification on a second-Saturday, a closed holiday for Government of India. But Wheat is important and so is the Agriculture Minister and so in such situations, the Board would happily work on a holiday.
There is an interesting sidelight to this notification. This notification is numbered 97/2006. The previous customs notification issued by the Board was 92/2006, dt.06-09-2006. The next notification is numbered 97. What happened to notification numbers 93 to 96 of 2006?. Obviously they are ready and numbers have been allotted and are waiting somewhere for release. In the mean time the Wheat notification became urgent and was issued on Saturday. The other 4 notifications 93 to 96, will most probably be issued today with a back date probably 08-09-2006. A notification is valid only when it is made available to the public. The Board has a serious problem in making the notifications public. May be they are so much in love with their notifications that they don’t like to leave them – to public scrutiny. The Board has an elaborate website which also does not take cognizance of the notifications. The site tells you that the latest notification is 92/2006. The site will also tell you that there are missing notifications. After 80, it is 86; after 87 it is 89; after 89, it is 92. The site simply does not have these notifications. The government’s reaction to criticism is generally – kill the messenger. The best way to defend a notification is to keep it a secret.
Manufacture of notifications is clearly a complicated job for the poor Board.
NOTIFICATION NO : , Dated: September 9, 2006