ON September 30, 2011, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Om
Prakash Vs Union of India (2011-TIOL-95-SC-CX-LB) had held Customs and
central excise duty evasions and other offences, which are
non-cognizable, are also bailable .
Former FM Pranab Mukherjee in the last budget attempted to make amendments to reverse this verdict but,
however, dropped after strong opposition.
But this time, toughened enforcement regime cuts across all indirect taxes to deal with evasion, makes customs offences over Rs 50 lakh non- bailable , and gives powers to service tax officials to arrest tax evaders.
Our Hon'ble Finance Minister in his budget speech, told
"When I took over in August, 2012, I made a statement that "clarity in tax laws, a stable tax regime, a non-adversarial tax administration , a fair mechanism for dispute resolution, and an independent judiciary will provide great assurance". That statement is the underlying theme of my tax proposals, both on the direct taxes side and on the indirect taxes side."
Do the stringent penal actions denotes to better tax administration and aligned with the speech?
Let us look into the offences and their classifications.
The offences under the Indian Penal Code are classified as cognizable and non-cognizable, as bailable or non- bailable and by the lowest courts which can try them. These are given and defined in the First Schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
1. In regard to offences under the Indian Penal Code, the entries in the second and third columns against a section the number of which is given in the first column are not intended as the definition of, and the punishment prescribed for, the offence in the Indian penal Code, but merely as indication of the substance of the section.
2. In this Schedule,
i) the expression "Magistrate of the first class" and "Any Magistrate" include Metropolitan Magistrates but not Executive Magistrates;
ii) the word " cognizable" stands for a "a police officer may arrest without warrant "; And
iii) the word " non-cognizable" stands for "a police officer shall not arrest without warrant".
3. Herein
i) " bailable " means the person shall be offered to be released on suitable bail upon his arrest [by the police or the court] {informing about his right to be so released} And
ii) "non- bailable " means shall not be automatically entitled to be released on bail [but does not mean that the court may not order him to be released on a suitable bail - with or without any conditions]
Here Cognisable offence implies that an officer can arrest an offender sans a warrant. Fraudulently availing exemption of customs duty or a drawback benefit over Rs 50 lakh , or not declaring imported goods over Rs 1 crore is also being proposed as a non- bailable offence.
Let's hope the proposed Tax Administration Reform Commission be set up soon to review the application of this tax policy.
Former FM Pranab Mukherjee in the last budget attempted to make amendments to reverse this verdict but,
however, dropped after strong opposition.
But this time, toughened enforcement regime cuts across all indirect taxes to deal with evasion, makes customs offences over Rs 50 lakh non- bailable , and gives powers to service tax officials to arrest tax evaders.
Our Hon'ble Finance Minister in his budget speech, told
"When I took over in August, 2012, I made a statement that "clarity in tax laws, a stable tax regime, a non-adversarial tax administration , a fair mechanism for dispute resolution, and an independent judiciary will provide great assurance". That statement is the underlying theme of my tax proposals, both on the direct taxes side and on the indirect taxes side."
Do the stringent penal actions denotes to better tax administration and aligned with the speech?
Let us look into the offences and their classifications.
The offences under the Indian Penal Code are classified as cognizable and non-cognizable, as bailable or non- bailable and by the lowest courts which can try them. These are given and defined in the First Schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
EXPLANATORY NOTES
1. In regard to offences under the Indian Penal Code, the entries in the second and third columns against a section the number of which is given in the first column are not intended as the definition of, and the punishment prescribed for, the offence in the Indian penal Code, but merely as indication of the substance of the section.
2. In this Schedule,
i) the expression "Magistrate of the first class" and "Any Magistrate" include Metropolitan Magistrates but not Executive Magistrates;
ii) the word " cognizable" stands for a "a police officer may arrest without warrant "; And
iii) the word " non-cognizable" stands for "a police officer shall not arrest without warrant".
3. Herein
i) " bailable " means the person shall be offered to be released on suitable bail upon his arrest [by the police or the court] {informing about his right to be so released} And
ii) "non- bailable " means shall not be automatically entitled to be released on bail [but does not mean that the court may not order him to be released on a suitable bail - with or without any conditions]
Here Cognisable offence implies that an officer can arrest an offender sans a warrant. Fraudulently availing exemption of customs duty or a drawback benefit over Rs 50 lakh , or not declaring imported goods over Rs 1 crore is also being proposed as a non- bailable offence.
Let's hope the proposed Tax Administration Reform Commission be set up soon to review the application of this tax policy.
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