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An early Winter Session on the anvil

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI OCT. 22. Is the convening of an early Winter Session of the Delhi Assembly on the cards? Well, if the hectic activity going on within the administration is any indication, the Government is clearly contemplating holding a five-day Winter session sometime in November to clear the way for introduction of important legislations and Government business.

Insiders in the Delhi Government said the officials had been asked to work out dates for holding the session sometime in mid-November or the last week of next month. It is learnt that the decision to convene an early Winter Session, which is normally held in the last fortnight of December, was taken informally by the Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, and her Cabinet colleagues in order to enable the Government to go ahead with introduction of legislation on Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Anti-Theft Power legislations.

When contacted, the Chief Minister said that things were being worked out and no final decision had been taken. But she did indicate that an early Winter session was on the anvil. "We do not want to spoil your Christmas vacation by holding a session in the last week of December,'' she remarked jokingly.

In fact, the need to hold an early session was felt as during the recent meeting of the Finance Ministers held in the Capital it was pointed out that almost 17 States had given their approval for implementation of VAT from April 1, 2002, but Delhi had not done so. Similarly, officials in the Delhi Government, especially, the Sales Tax Department, have conveyed to the Chief Minister and the Finance Minister, Mahinder Singh Saathi, that it was important that the VAT legislation was passed by the Assembly at the earliest for smooth implementation from next year.

The officials were of the view that it would take at least four months to frame the guidelines and rules for the new VAT regime and therefore VAT Bill had to be passed by the Assembly at an early date. Similarly, it was pointed out that despite all the preparations including computerisation, training of personnel and other logistics being in place, it was important that the rules and guidelines were framed and publicised among the tax payers to enable them to get a grip of the new taxation regime. On the other hand, sources said the Government also proposed to come out with an anti-power theft legislation in order to deal with the incidences of theft in the Capital -- which is to the tune of Rs. 1,200 crores per annum.

The private companies have been pressuring the Delhi Government to bring about this legislation to make theft of power a serious offence and ensure strict punishment for those who indulge in this act.

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