Govt’s draconian steps through the back door

The amended Finance Bill that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley bulldozed through the Lok Sabha on March 23 without drawing much public attention makes a mockery of the transparency and openness that the Narendra Modi government has been promising since it came to power. It is difficult to believe that this legislation has come out of the BJP’s closet. Taking advantage of the provision that money bills can pass muster without having to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha where the NDA does not command a majority, the Finance Minister has injected into the Finance Bill provisions that have little bearing on money. The Congress-led opposition has been crying ‘wolf ’ ever so often over trivial or non-issues that when there is a genuine issue to corner the government on, their voice is not being heard. Indeed, their credibility is at low ebb. The media as it stands is obsessed with sensationalism to pick up cudgels meaningfully.

A case in point is the new way the government has created of donating to political parties called ‘electoral bonds’ which guarantee to keep the donor’s identity a secret. Anyone can buy electoral bonds for any amount and donate them to a political party. The party does not need to declare the donor’s name. Earlier, if anyone donated more than Rs 20,000 to a party, it had to be declared. Electoral bonds will help political parties to circumvent that rule. Besides, companies (including foreign ones) can donate to parties without any limit contrary to earlier when there was a limit of 7.5 per cent of last three years’ total profits. Also, companies now don’t need to declare their donations to parties. Another shocking provision introduced through the Finance Bill makes it possible for income tax officials to raid anyone, anytime, without giving any reason (earlier they had to give a convincing reason to the IT Appellate Tribunal which is a court). This is truly draconian and can open the floodgates of misuse. It needs to be reviewed and in fact withdrawn forthwith in the interests of transparency and fairness.

Another significant provision in the new Finance Bill is that appointment of judges on tribunals under 17 laws would now be totally controlled by the government without the approval of Parliament which was earlier required. Many other Acts have been changed in the garb of a money bill. These include the Industrial Disputes Act, the Employees Provident Funds Act, the Copyright Act, the Trademark Act, the Railways Claims Tribunal Act, among other Acts. Yet another provision in the amended Finance Bill provides for the Aadhaar card being compulsory for filing tax returns in India. The provision makes it clear that the government can cancel a PAN card if the person does not enrol for Aadhaar.This runs contrary to the Supreme Court order which said people cannot be forced to register for Aadhaar. All this smacks of a devious design that must be nipped in the bud. A concerted campaign to get the government to withdraw this must accompany action on the legal front if necessary.