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From the President
Dear CTC Family Members,
At the outset, let me wish all
of you a very happy and joyous New Year. I hope by now the “hangover” of the New
Year and New Year celebrations must have been totally evaporated and you all are
back to the hustle and bustle of the active professional life; albeit, with a
relaxed mind, now that the laborious period of October, November and December is
over and that January and February being relatively “light” months, coupled with
good weather.
But at North Block in New
Delhi, this period of January and February is a very hectic one, with intensive
“budgetary exercise”; an exercise that has capacity to affect our professional
practice considerably. Let’s hope, while doing this exercise, the Finance
Ministry do “seriously” take into account the suggestions that are being
bombarded upon it by various trade and professional bodies.
I also hope that quite
sufficient time will be given for intensive discussion on the proposed new
enactment. I sincerely wish that the new endeavour will not meet the same fate
as of the earlier such initiatives. “Today the Income-tax Act, 1961, is a
national disgrace” – so lamented our beloved Nani Palkhivala in 1990. One only
has to read his Preface to the Eight Edition of his treatise “The Law and
Practice of Income Tax” to feel the deep sense of anguish and frustration that
he must have felt about this sorry state of affairs. Things do not seem to have
improved ever since. Therefore, it is high time that this piece of “national
disgrace” is given a decent burial at the earliest and a refreshing and
pragmatic piece of legislation is brought in its place, which is bold and
innovative enough to meet new challenges on one hand and yet is simple and
stable on the other hand.
In the meanwhile, we have
decided to bring out a detailed Study Paper comprising of suggestions on some of
the fundamental and important areas of the Income – tax Act, 1961, which require
re-look and overhaul and which can be taken into consideration while drafting
the new enactment. I request you to send your suggestion/views/comments on any
aspect of the present Act, which require some serious discussion.
At the Chamber, many programmes
are scheduled to be held in these two months; the details of which are give in
“The Chamber News”. I suggest you to take the benefit of the same. I am happy to
inform that this year’s RRC (Residential Refresher Course) at Mahabaleshwar has
received tremendous response and the enrollment reached to the maximum capacity
much before the anticipated date. I thank the participants for this overwhelming
response.
Vipul Joshi
President |
