TIOL-DDT 593 · the untouched capture
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<p align="justify"><b><font color="#663399" size="3" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">TIOL-DDT 593</font></b><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><br>
16.04.2007<br>
Monday</b></font></p>
<p align=center><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>When should the
President give assent to the Finance Bill?</b></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the last few weeks we have received a number of calls
from worried assessees and professional consultants on the effective date of
the hiked rate of Service Tax and new services. And there was a strong rumour that Parliament had passed the Finance bill and we
were asked to inform whether the President has given his assent. Many others
thought that the new services and rat are effective from 1<sup>st</sup> April.
In the beginning, we thought the queries were stray
and from a few innocent assessees, but as the number increased, we realized that
this was a national doubt. Today we are carrying an article on the effective
dates of the budgetary exercises by a young Chartered Accountant. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thankfully this year, the budgetary changes for Service
Tax are not effective immediately after enactment; they come into force only on
a date to be notified by the government after enactment of the Bill. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But when is the bill going to be enacted? Is there any
time limit? When the Bill is passed by the LokSabha and sent to the RajyaSabha, it has to be passed within a maximum period of
fourteen days and then it goes to the President. Is there any time limit for
the President? Sadly, No.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As per article, 111 of the Constitution, which is
extracted below, there is no time limit for the President to assent the Bill;
even for returning a Bill other than a Money Bill, the time limit is <i>as soon as possible.</i> Now you know where
the babu got to make laws that do not fix any definite time for his adjudication.
At least the President is required to act “as soon as possible’, but the
adjudicating authorities in tax department canwhere<b> it is possible to do
so, </b>adjudicate within the time prescribed.</font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#663399">111.Assent to
Bills.—</font></b><font color="#663399">When
a Bill has been passed by the Houses of Parliament, it shall be presented to
the President, and the President shall declare either that he assents to the
Bill, or that he withholds assent therefrom:</font></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#663399" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Provided that the
President may, <b>as soon as possible</b>
after the presentation to him of a Bill for assent, return the Bill if it is
not a Money Bill to the Houses with a message requesting that they will
reconsider the Bill or any specified provisions thereof and, in particular,
will consider the desirability of introducing any such amendments as he may
recommend in his message, and when a Bill is so returned, the Houses shall
reconsider the Bill accordingly, and if the Bill is passed again by the Houses
with or without amendment and presented to the President for assent, the
President shall not withhold assent therefrom.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>In the Constituent
Assembly</b></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There was a very interesting debate in the Constituent
Assembly on 20<sup>th</sup> May 1949 on this issue. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mr.
H V Kamath said in the
house,</font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
In
human nature, if you will permit me to say so, unless
there is a compelling sense of duty of service, there is always a tendency to
procrastinate. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
This
tendency to inertia, this inclination to procrastinate has to be rooted out, by
infusing the ideal of duty or service.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
We
cannot be sure that every President of the Union of India will always be guided
by this ideal, by this compelling ideal of duty and service.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
Of
course we hope and pray that it may be so, but there is no guarantee.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
Therefore,
it is very necessary, to my mind, that the
Constitution should provide specifically a time limit for a contingency of this
nature.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Difference
between <b>immediate</b> and <b>urgent</b>: </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mr Kamath continued,</font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
As
a minister, Dr. Ambedkar, I am sure, must be aware
that in the Secretariat various files are knocking about with tags of labels
attached to them, some being "Immediate", some urgent," some
"early" and so on. Files marked "Immediate" reach the honourable Minister in a day, those marked
"urgent" reach him in a couple of days and those marked
"early" have been known to sleep in the Secretariat for two of three
months. Further latterly, Government has devised new forms such as
"consideration" and 'active consideration". </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
I therefore wish to obviate any difficulty arising from substitution of
the words "as soon as possible". Nobody knows what they mean, what
"as soon as" means. We know in the Legislative Assembly Ministers are
in the habit of answering questions by saying "as soon as possible".
When we ask, " When will this thing be lone?"
the answer is "As soon as possibly or very soon." But six months
later, the same question is put, and the answer is again, "As soon as
possible," or "very soon". This phrase is vague, purposeless and meaningless and it should not find a place
in the Constitution, especially in an article of this nature where we specify
that the President must do a thing within a certain period of time. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">++
Why
do we do it? We do it in order to see that Bills are not left hanging fire in
the President's Secretariat--and I know his
secretariat is not going to be different in any way from other secretariats. </font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As we now know, his suggestion was not accepted.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Also see our</strong> <u><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=5325" target="_blank">Guest article</a></u></font></p>
<p align=center><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>CUSTOMS DUTY ON EDIBLE
OILS REDUCED – BUT WHERE IS THE NOTIFICATION ?</b></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">CBEC seems to be too shy of making its notifications public.
Late Friday evening, the Government issued a release :-</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">As part of its strategy to keep
the prices of essential commodities under check, Government has moderated
customs duty on edible oils in the past. In addition, the tariff values have
also been kept frozen at July, 2006 levels.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Keeping in view the
high prices of edible oils, Ministry of Finance, Government of India has
decided to further reduce the customs duty on
specified edible oils as under: </font></p>
<blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">a. Crude palm oil, crude palmolein and other fractions of crude palm oil from
60% to 50%; </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">b. Refined Bleached Deodorized (RBD) palm oil, RBDpalmolein and other refined palm oils from 67.5% to 57.5%;</font></p>
</blockquote>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Notification
No.58/2007-Customs to this effect has been issued
today by the Central Board of Excise and Customs.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Reduction in customs duty will reduce the landed
cost of these oils, and is expected to soften the domestic prices of edible
oils. The tariff values for the palm group of oils will also continue to remain
frozen at July, 2006 levels. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Why can’t the release issue the notification itself? We
are ready to upload and make the notifications available free to the public within
five minutes of it being given to us. </font></p>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
</font>
<p align=center><font color="#006600" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Amendment to statute – retrospective effect?</b></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The issue is as old as law
itself. When the government makes an amendment why can’t it make clear that the
amendment will have only prospective effect or otherwise? Why should every
amendment reach the Supreme Court for it to decide whether the effect is only
prospective? </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Supreme Court in a case we
are reporting today suggested</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Four factors relevant for deciding
whether a statute would have retrospective effect:</b></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1.
general
scope and purview of the statute; </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">2.
the
remedy sought to be applied; </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">3.
the
former state of the law; and </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">4.
What
it was the legislature contemplated.</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>See our </strong><u><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/inside2.php3?filename=bnews_detail.php3&newsid=5329" target="_blank">Breaking News</a></u></font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Until
tomorrow with more DDT</font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Have a nice day. </font></p>
<p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><u1:p></u1:p>Mail
your comments to</font> <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
href="mailto:vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com">vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com</a></font></p>
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