A penalty of equal amount would be levied in case of violation of the provision, says Reveue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia
New Delhi : The Government on Tuesday moved a fresh proposal to cap cash transactions at Rs 2 lakh instead of Rs 3 lakh as provided in the Budget, as it introduced as many as 40 amendments to the Finance Bill in an ‘unprecedented move’.
As the Finance Bill was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha, opposition parties like TMC, BJD and RSP protested against the introduction of the amendments to 40 Acts, saying it was being done in the form of “back-door entry”.
The amendments to the laws like Companies Act, Employees’ Provident Fund, Smuggling and Foreign Exchange Act, TRAI Act and Information Technology Act, have been moved with an aim of making the functioning of tribunals more efficient by merging the smaller ones and reducing their numbers from 40 to 12.
Earlier, while presenting the Budget on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed the cap to be Rs 3 lakh with effect from April 1. A penalty of equal amount would be levied in case of violation of the provision, according to a tweet by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia after the amendment was moved.
Jaitley, while defending the move to make amendments, invoked first Lok Sabha Speaker G V Mavalankar. He said if a substantial portion of a bill deals with imposition or abolition of tax, then even if it has other incidental provisions, it still can be introduced as a Money Bill.
“You cannot have a bill which says government will spend Rs 100,000 crore without detailing how it would be spent. You cannot have a bill where you say there will be 5 per cent without specifying what will be the deduction, what will be the power of assessing officer, appeal provision… No tax can be imposed without reference to courts or tribunals.. These are incidental provisions…,” Jaitley said.The Minister said opposition’s objection is borne out the language in Article 110(1) and ever since the inception, the House has been debating on the word ‘only’ used in the Article.
Jaitley said the electoral bond has been proposed for cleansing the political money since a lot of electoral funding, across the spectrum, comes from unknown sources.
The Budget has proposed Income Tax incentive for money paid by cheque, or small donation of Rs 2,000, or mass collection by digital medium and electoral bond issued under I-T Act.
“How are the Electoral Bonds to be issued. Electoral bonds will not be issued by individuals. RBI will authorise a particular bank to issue electoral bonds. The buyer will buy by cheque and the money will go to the political party in a pre-declared account. RBI may authorise or notify a particular bank,” he said.
Jaitley said at present the Representation of the People Act provides for revealing of identity of people making donations above Rs 20,000. The amendment would provide that if money comes by way of electoral bonds, the identity will not be disclosed.
The Finance Minister also said the amendments proposed in the Post Office Act, the Oil Industry Development Act and the Research and Development cess can be made part of the Finance Bill as these squarely come within the purview of Article 110.
