STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Former minister in the Mufti Mohammed Sayed led government and MLA Udhampur Pawan Gupta has accused the BJP-PDP Government of providing benefits to law breakers and chronic defaulters by launching an amnesty scheme for sales tax defaults in Jammu and Kashmir and termed the scheme as “illegal, arbitrary and discriminatory”.
“We demand revocation of SROs 360, 361 and 362 which are illegal, arbitrary, and discriminatory, and are in violation of the Constitution to benefit law breakers, tax evaders and chronic defaulters in the name of public interest,” Gupta told reporters here on Monday.
On one hand, he said, the government has shown its inability to waive off the tax imposed on helicopter service deployed on various pilgrimages including Shri Mata Vaishno Devi but on the other hand it has helped the law breakers with its illegal and malafide considerations using power which is neither permissible under the constitutional provisions nor under the Section 25-D of J&K GST Act.
Under the amnesty scheme notified by the state government last week, penalty has been waived for traders and industrial units who will clear their general sales tax dues, assessed up to 2015-16, in six equal installments.
Gupta said that the notifications have created class discrimination between honest taxpayers and tax evaders quite in contradiction to the mandate of the constitution which protects the honest not the dishonest by rewarding tax evaders who are habitual in tax evasion and defaults, he said.
“The Government in the present democratic form has pledged before entering into office that it will do justice without favour or ill-will and uphold the Law of the land but in the present case they have issued the aforesaid SROs in sheer breach of oath so taken by discouraging the innocent tax payers in contrary to the spirit of the constitution well based on equality, fair play and justice well enshrined under State Constitution besides under Articles 14 and 19 of the Indian Constitution which could never be expected from the responsive Government to provide such exemplary relief repeatedly to the Law breakers and that to without assigning compelling reasons inviting such contingencies. It is a gross breach of trust to the people,” he added.
Even the High Court at several times have reprimanded for not recovering due tax arrears from various dealers who collected the levy from consumers but did not deposit with the authorities, he said, adding, however, at last at the instance of the government, the High Court allowed the State Government to grant amnesty to the extent of waiver of penalty subject to the deposit of principal tax along with interest.
