The spate of recent pronouncements issued by the
Excise and Taxation Commissioner has led to chaos and fury amongst the business
community of the Punjab . All the constructive
suggestions and recommendations are being brushed aside and have taken a seat
aback and directions which will mar the already ailing trade and industry are
being shot one after another. ETC’s efforts for increasing Vat revenue are
targeted at making the dealers’ life more and more miserable instead of doing
internal cleaning and wiping off corrupt officer and practices off the scene.
The
recent pronouncements of ETC of implementing E-TRIP system w.ef. 10-08-2012 has
sent the shock waves amongst trading community. It says information regarding
intra state movement of goods (with in Punjab) shall be furnished by persons
making sales of Rs. 3 lakhs or above in a single transaction except in case of
iron and steel where this threshold shall be Rs. 2 lakhs.
The
pronouncement made by ETC says that section 51(2) stipulates that every movement
of goods shall be accompanied by documents mentioned in section 51(2) and
contravention shall attract penalty u/s 51.
As
per Section 51(2) of Punjab Vat Act 2005
“51(2) The
owner or person Incharge of a goods vehicle shall carry with him a goods
vehicle record, goods receipt, a trip sheet or a log-book, as the case may be,
and a sale invoice or bill or cash memo, or delivery challan containing such
particulars, as may be prescribed, in respect of such goods meant for the
purpose of business, as are being carried in the goods vehicle and produce a
copy each of the aforesaid documents to an officer Incharge of a check post or
information collection centre, or any other officer not below the rank of an
Excise and Taxation Officer checking the vehicle at any place:
Provided
that a person selling goods from within or outside the State in the course of
inter-State trade or commerce, shall also furnish or cause to be furnished a
declaration with such particulars, as may be prescribed:
Provided further that a taxable person, who sells or
despatches any goods from within the State to a place outside the State or
imports or brings any goods or otherwise receives goods from outside the State,
shall furnish particulars of the goods in a specified form obtained from the
designated officer, duly filled in and signed “
So
one thing is loud and clear that section 51(2) no where stipulates that goods
shall accompany such or such like document as mentioned in notification issued
by ETC.
Hence
the prouncement issued by the ETC is not with in the four corners of the law.
Such and similar notifications are being issued to diminish the powers vested
with our legislative assembely. Without making appropriate amendmend in law ,
the ETC is clearly crossing the powers vested in his office. The intentions appears to be that
making and inviting law shall involve discussions going into pros and cons of
the issue which will not suite the designs of Excise and taxation department.
Further
the situation of power in the state of Punjab
is already facing a grim situation. The power problem in the state of Punjab led to delaying the time for filing of returns for
quarter ending 30-06-2012. Further the Central government extended the time of
filing of returns from 31st July to 31st August and
reasons were sheer power problem in some parts of the country including Punjab . Many a times it has been declared by people
sitting atop that it will yet take one to one and half year to make Punjab non deficit state in power.
Now
our question to honorable ETC is that whether the generation of acknowledgement
accompanying the goods is conceivable without availability of power or there
are any plans to fund the cost of invertors and generators that dealers will
have to purchase to make the dreams of ETC a reality.
Further,
we want to know from ETC whether he has got conducted any survey on
availability of internet connection with dealers in Punjab
installed at their office/ shop / factory premises. Not even 5% dealers have internet
availability at their premises. They have to depend upon their accountants and
other people for such like works, It implies that the return filing password of
the dealer that is issued after taking all safeguards by the department so that it reaches the right hands and there
are no unauthorized accesses shall travel in the hands of unprofessional people
and shall be prone to be exchanged with people professing tax evasion. These
unauthorized people can file fake returns, can make fake entries in the return
of dealer, can create any kind of evidence that suites them and endanger the
business and financial health of the dealer. It can not be over emphasized that
it can lead to multi-faceted cyber crimes.
Further
E-TRIP requires information on traveling distance and acknowledgement generated
shall be time stamped. It means if dealer’s goods do not reach the destined
place with time period which definitely is going to be decided according to
fancies of officer on duty and as per vehicle of his choice which will
definitely be fastest moving vehicle on this planet, the dealer shall be liable
to pay penalty under section 51, one of the most draconian and litigative
section under Punjab Vat Act.
Further
while on one hand the notification pronounces that it is applicable to selling
persons only, the E-trip requires information regarding consignment, branch
transfer, Job work, return goods. Hence there is conflict in the instructions
of ETC and implementation part there of also which also speaks of sense of care
and caution being taken care of while issuing notifications at the esteemed
office of ETC.
Further in case of dealer having multiple branches at various locations in Punjab, entries can not be made at the same time in the system. If system has been logged in at one location, the other locations have to wait till the first one logs out.
Further
whether ETC has sufficient faith in website developed by Corbus India Ltd that
it will manage the load of entries that will come its way when all the dealers
shall over the Punjab make their entries or it
will hang as it often does during filing of returns.
Our
considered opinion after this notification is that excise and taxation
department should no longer use the
words “Simple, Transparent , Convnient” which it loves to append at every place
including its web site, advertisements, public notices and press notes.
In
light of above discussion, we strongly demand that this notification being
outside the purview of law and not being
practically implementable be withdrawn with immediate effect.
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