Chandigarh, October 1
Haryana Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas Act, 2008, is unconstitutional. Declaring it void, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court held: Mere mention of the words exclusive for development or facilitating trade, commerce and industry, are not enough to satisfy the test laid down for holding the levy to be compensatory in character.

Throwing a challenge to the Act, the India Oil Corporation Limited, through counsel Puneet Bali, had contended it was unconstitutional, being of violative of Articles 301 and 304 of the Constitution, as the tax levied on them was not compensatory. It was for augmenting the general revenue of the state without any facility or special benefit to the payee.

Bali had added the high court had declared the Haryana Local Areas Development Tax Act, 2000, invalid. The state, for bypassing the judgment, had converted it into Haryana Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas Act, 2008.

In fact, the state by a notification dated April 16 issued Haryana Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas Act, 2008, repealing the Haryana Local Areas Development Tax Act, 2000.

The provisions of Haryana Local Areas Development Tax Act, 2000, were scrutinised by the Supreme Court. A Constitution Bench in Jindal Stainless's case had held entry tax has to be compensatory in nature, meaning thereby the benefit of the tax collected from traders and persons should have direct nexus and measurable relation to the services provided by the State.

The earlier legislation was, thus, held violative of Article 301 of the Constitution, as it impeded the free flow of trade and commerce within the territory of India.

The state counsel, on the other hand, had defended the validity of the Act by submitting that the legislature had necessary competence under the provisions of the seventh Schedule to the Constitution. It was to facilitate trade and commerce in the state.

The new Act was improvement upon the earlier Act. The amount was to be credited to a special fund and was to be utilised for infrastructure development to ensure free flow of trade and commerce.

Taking up the matter, the Bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Ajay Tewari ruled: “It has not been disputed that out of Rs 1,600 crores already collected, only a sum of Rs 240 crores was available and the remaining had already been spent.

“In the absence of any estimate of services to be provided or projected to be provided, in accordance with the purposes which may make the levy to be compensatory in character under Article 301 of the Constitution, the impugned levy has to be held unconstitutional.

Accordingly, we allow the petition and declare the provisions of the Haryana Tax on Entry of Goods into Local Areas Act, 2008, to be unconstitutional and void”.

Chandigarh, October 1
The high court order, declaring the entry tax imposed by the Haryana government as “unconstitutional”, will translate into a loss of Rs 350 crore revenue to the government.

While there is no contingency plan for back up to meet this loss, the state government will move the Supreme Court in this regard.

Reacting to the decision, the finance minister, Birender Singh, said they would file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court against the order of the high court.

“We were hoping to collect nearly Rs 350 crore by the end of this financial year after the revenue collection from the Local Area Development Tax (LADT) dried up. This money was not even going to be a part of the treasury and had been earmarked exclusively for development of the industrial areas. Also, a part of the revenue was to be given to the municipal bodies for executing development works and all this would have been carried out through a board constituted by us. This is a big loss to us,” he stated.

The tax came into force from April 16, 2008, after it was passed by the Haryana Legislative Assembly during the budget session in March this year. Sources said the collections for the tax had not started yet since the rules drafted for the implementation of the Act had not been notified.

“Since the rules were ready but had not been notified, the people did not furnish their returns for the tax. Consequently, the department was yet to collect tax which is deposited with the returns. Obviously, the tax would have been effective from April 16 and we would have had Rs 175 crore plus in our kitty for development works by now. We were expecting a growth rate of nearly 20 per cent in this tax,” an official said.

Entry tax to the tune of up to 5 per cent on goods brought to Haryana from outside the state was passed without discussion. Finance minister Birender Singh, who had moved the Bill in Assembly, said only 2 per cent entry tax would be charged though the government had been empowered by the Assembly to impose this tax up to 5 per cent. The entry tax would be imposed on those goods which did not attract VAT and those covered under Schedule A. The entry tax was passed as a replacement for the LADT. Meanwhile, orders on LADT have been reserved by the Supreme Court. 

Sirsa/Fatehabad, October 1
A problem of plenty and a face-off between grain market traders and exporters over purchases on Form D-2 have made the condition of paddy farmers pitiable in these two districts.

Irked over slow purchases and exploitation by the traders and procurement agencies, farmers today blocked the Delhi-Fazilka national highway near the Fatehabad grain market for over half an hour. Senior officers of the district and the police reached there and pacified the agitating farmers.

Farmers, who have produced the “muchhal” variety of paddy have been particularly hit. Most of the farmers have grown “muchhal” this year.

Farmers have been sitting in grain markets for the past four to seven days waiting for the purchase of their crop but the pace of procurement is far too slow to mitigate their problems.

"I brought my produce to the grain market on Thursday. A week has passed and I still don't see any chance of my produce being purchased today," said Jagdish Singh, a farmer, who has come to the Sirsa grain market from Mirpur village with his “muchhal” variety of paddy.

Resham Singh, a farmer from Modia Khera, and Chander Bhan and Shankar Lal from Shahidanwali are some other farmers who have been camping in the Sirsa grain market for the past four to seven days.

"Farmers bringing paddy to the grain market are being subjected to a lot of harassment and humiliation this time. No auction of the 'muchhal' variety is being held. The private agencies, who are engaged in purchases on behalf of the exporters, quote prices of their choice and reject the crop the moment farmers try to bargain," alleged Gurdial Mehta, a former president of the Grain Market Beopar Mandal, Sirsa.

He said that agencies wanted to purchase the produce against Form D-2 but the traders were not willing to oblige and they were selling the produce only after charging value added tax (VAT).

The agencies, hence, are disinterested in purchasing much of the crop and have been following a go-slow policy.

The situation is even worse in Fatehabad town and other grain markets of this district.

"It is a problem of plenty to some extent. Attracted by the good price this variety fetched last year, a large number of farmers had shifted to 'muchhal' this year. The exporters, most of whom are stationed at places like Taraori, Panipat, Samalkha and other towns on NH 1, have enough crop in their own areas this year," said Bal Krishan, who works as a broker for agencies engaged by the exporters in the Fatehabad grain market.

He said over 40,000 bags of paddy were lying in this grain market today and more were arriving daily, but the purchase was not more than 8,000 bags per day. Tek Chand Midha, president of the Anaj Mandi Beopar Mandal, Fatehabad, said the traders had decided against selling paddy against Form D-2 this year.

The exporters, he said, were exempted from VAT and had the dual option of purchasing the crop against Form D-2 without paying VAT or paying VAT first and then getting a refund after exports.

Last year, some traders had to suffer by way of recovery as the exporters failed to export the quantity purchased against Form D-2. Hence, no trader from this market was prepared to sell paddy without charging VAT, he added.

Karnal, October 1
It was a historic day for the people of Karnal as the Shan-e-Punjab (Delhi- Amritsar) train introduced 21 years ago made a two-minute stop at Karnal for the first time.

There was a demand from various sections for the stoppage of the train at Karnal and finally the Railways conceded it. The local MP, Arvind Sharma, who took up this issue at various levels, greeted the passengers at Karnal railway station when it stopped for two minutes at 8:33 am.

A large number of people, including the ADRM, H. C. Yadav, the chairman, Municipal Corporation, Balwinder Singh Kalra, 18 councillors and other prominent persons were present.

The stoppage of the Shan-e-Punjab has come as a relief for thousands of people visiting Amritsar, Ludhiana and Beas for religious and business purposes.

Arvind Sharma said the Himalayan Queen also stopped at Samalkha today and he would ensure that the Puja Express (Delhi-Jammu) also stopped at Karnal.

The halt of the Shan-e-Punjab at Karnal turned into a tragedy for the family of railway inspector Azad Singh who had reportedly come from Kurukshetra to attend the function. He slipped while boarding the train on his way back to Kurukshetra and had a fatal fall. He was taken to the trauma centre at the civil hospital here where the doctors declared him "brought dead", railway sources said.

Panchkula, October 1
The Haryana government has decided to give 50 per cent concession on travel on roadways buses to women above 60 years of age. This was disclosed by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while announcing a number of new schemes for the welfare of senior citizens on the occasion of International Day for Elder Persons an a state-level function organised here today.

Hooda, who laid the foundation stone of the Senior Citizen Club at Sector 25 on the occasion, said all senior citizens would be given identity cards which would help them to avail various concessions and facilities from the coming year. The budget for the new schemes was likely to be about Rs 10 crore, he said.

Hooda also disclosed that Senior Citizens Voluntary Services Network scheme had been started which would provide an opportunity to members of the society to contribute in its development.

All senior citizens who register themselves for rendering voluntary service would be known as “Karamyogis” and would be given jackets for establishing a separate identity. This organisation to be set up in all districts and managed by volunteers, would work in close coordination with the district administration while the government would provide recurring costs to this network, he said.

Earlier, after laying the foundation stone of the Senior Citizen Club, the Chief Minister said Haryana Urban Development Authoirity (HUDA) would provide land and buildings for all clubs to be set up in each urban estate in the state. The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment would provide recurring cost up to Rs 5 lakh every year and these clubs will be managed by a registered society consisting of senior citizens under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner, he added.

Prominent among others present on the occasion included Kartar Devi, social welfare minister, Dharamvir, chief secretary, Haryana, Navraj Sandhu, commissioner, social justice, D.S. Dhesi, financial commissioner, town and country planning.

D.S. Dhesi stated that foundation stones were laid simultaneously at five places - Rohtak, Hisar, Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Sonipat.

The Chief Minister also felicitated Bhagwan Dass Grover for recognition of his services to the society and for 112-year-old Chhanno Devi for being ‘Best Mother’ of a 100 plus joint family. 

Jind, October 1
Students and staff members of a government school in the district adopted a novel approach to register their protest over alleged inaction by the police on their complaint.

They sat down in front of the police station in Pillukhera village and carried out their routine academic work there instead of their school building in Gangoli village.

The protesters had been subjected to molestation and harassment by some antisocial elements in a Haryana Roadways bus near Malshri Khera village a few days ago.

The police had not yet booked or arrested the accused.

Residents of Pillukhera got a surprise when a group of nearly 50 students and teachers of Government Senior Secondary School, Gangoli, reached the police station and started their regular classes in front of it. When the cops and the local residents sought an explanation they were told that the police station had been given a complaint regarding harassment and molestation of students at the hands of some youths on September 18 and 24, when the students, including many girls, were coming back from Gohana after appearing in their supplementary board examinations.

It was stated that the students were now hesitant to appear in the next paper.

The incidents had created a scare among the students and also affected their preparation for the examinations.

The students and the staff demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits and the posting of police personnel in buses in which girl students travelled.

The protest ended after the intervention of the SDM of Safidon, who gave an assurance that appropriate action would be taken.

Karnal, October 1
The Karnal police today claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of robbers allegedly involved in a series of crimes and arrested six persons near Nagla Farms on the Meerut road here.

The police recovered a truck loaded with iron bars and a Scorpio allegedly stolen by them and also thwarted their plan to commit another robbery, SSP, Karnal, A.S. Chawla said. The police also recovered two countrymade pistols, two swords and some live cartages from their possession. The arrested persons were produced in court and remanded in four days’ police custody.

The truck was hijacked by the accused near Khan on the night of September 25. Ratan Singh, CIA in charge, Karnal, said that 11 persons were involved in the hijacking.

The arrested persons were identified as Harbinder Singh, Jaswinder Singh and Gurcharan Singh of Jind in Haryana and Nadar Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Harbhajan Singh from Punjab.