CHANDIGARH: The Haryana Cabinet on Tuesday decided not to charge Value Added Tax (VAT) on the element of the latest increase in the prices of petrol and diesel and also on the amount of bonus paid to farmers by the Central Government for procurement of wheat in the rabi season 2006-07.

The meeting was presided over by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

An official spokesman said the decision not to impose VAT on the increased petroleum and diesel prices effective from June 11 would give a relief of 67 paise per litre in case of petrol and 21 paise per litre in case of diesel to the consumers. The State Government would be thus giving an annual benefit of Rs. 95 crores to the people, he added.

The Centre had paid a bonus of Rs. 50 per quintal to the farmers on procurement of wheat in addition to the minimum support price of Rs. 650 per quintal on the condition that the State Governments fully exempt the bonus amount from State taxes and levies. The Haryana Government would bear a one-time loss of about Rs.5 crores on this account.

The Cabinet also decided to promulgate an ordinance to amend certain provisions of the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003, to give this relief to the people.

It also approved the proposal of the Excise and Taxation Department to change the qualifications for appointment and tenure of Chairman and members of the Haryana Tax Tribunal to broaden the qualification criteria. It was decided that a person would not qualify for appointment as Chairman of the Tribunal unless he has been a judge of a High Court or an advocate with a minimum 15 years of practice or is or has been a Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary of the State Government or a Chartered Accountant with a minimum of 15 years of practice in a Tax Tribunal or has completed at least three years as member of the Tribunal.

It was also decided that a person would not be qualified for appointment as a member of the Tribunal unless he had been a District and Sessions Judge or an advocate with a minimum of 10 years of practice or is or has been an officer of the Excise and Taxation Department, Haryana having worked as Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner for at least three years or is a Chartered Accountant with a minimum of 10 years of practice. All members of the Tribunal would not be appointed from single category.

The Cabinet also approved a scheme for re-employment of retrenched employees. Regular employees of Boards, Corporations and Cooperative Federations and other public undertakings, who were retrenched due to closure or restructuring of these organisations between March 1, 2000, and March 1, 2005, will be considered for adjustment. However, they should be less than or 55 years of age as on May 18, 2006.

All vacancies of direct recruitment in Group C and Group D posts in Departments, Boards, Corporations, Cooperative Federations, State Public Sector Undertakings, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions would be kept aside for adjustment from among retrenched employees to be done in six months. It was decided that the State Public Enterprises and Apex Cooperative Federations, which had been closed, would not be reopened. The adjustment of such employees would be treated as a special case in itself to fulfil the commitment of the present Government. The adjustment of retrenched employees would be at the discretion of the Government and they would have no legal right in this regard.

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