In exercise of the powers conferred by section 99 of the Rajasthan Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (Act No. 4 of 2003), the State Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Rajasthan Value Added Tax Rules, 2006, namely :
1. Short title and commencement.-
(1) These rules may be called the Rajasthan Value Added Tax (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2011.
(2) They shall come into force with immediate effect.
2. Substitution of rule 67.-
The existing rule 67 of the Rajasthan Value Added Tax Rules, 2006, herein after referred to as the said rules, shall be substituted by the following, namely: -
"67. Terms and conditions of Chairperson and members of the Tax Settlement Board.-
(1) The Chairperson and members of the Tax Settlement Board shall be appointed by the State Government for a period of three years, which may further be extended for a period of one year at a time, but shall not be extended after completion of tenure of five years in the Board or attaining the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier;
Provided that the tenure of member, who is serving Government Servant, shall be regulated in accordance with the rules applicable to him.
(2) The other terms and conditions of appointment, salary or allowances payable to Chairperson and members shall be such as may be specified by the State Government, from time to time:
Provided that salary, allowances and other terms and conditions of appointment of the member, who is serving Government Servant, shall be regulated in accordance with the rules applicable to him.
(3) The Chairperson and the members, other than the serving Government Servant appointed as a member, of Tax Settlement Board shall not be eligible for further employment under State Government or under any local authority / corporation owned or controlled by the State Government.
(4) The Chairperson or any member, other then serving Government servant, if desires to quit the Tax Settlement Board before completion of his tenure, he shall give one month's prior notice to the State Government."
3. Insertion of new rule 67 A and 67B.-
After rule 67, so substituted, and before the existing rule 68 of the said rules, the following new rules 67A and 67B shall be inserted, namely:-
"67 A. Committee for appointment and extension of the term of Chairperson/members.-
A committee comprising of Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretary / Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Principal Secretary, Law Department shall forward its recommendation for appointment and extension of term of the Chairperson/members of Tax Settlement Board to the State Government.
67B. Officer, other staff and headquarter of the Tax Settlement Board.-
(1) The State Government shall make available to the Tax Settlement Board, -
(i) An officer of the rank of the Deputy Legal Remembrancer or Joint Legal Remembrancer, who shall be Registrar of the Tax Settlement Board.
(ii) Such other officers and employees as may be necessary for discharge of the functions of the Tax Settlement Board.
(2) The Headquarter of the Tax Settlement Board shall be at Jaipur. Subject to the direction of the State Government, the Tax Settlement Board may hold its sittings at such place or places as may be considered fit by the Chairperson."
4. Substitution of rule 68.-
The existing rule 68 of the said rules, shall be substituted by the following, namely:-
"68. Application for Settlement.-
(1) Every application submitted to the Tax Settlement Board shall be accompanied with the proof of deposit of fee of Rupees ten thousand.
(2) Application for settlement shall be submitted, in Form VAT- 56 in duplicate and separate applications shall be submitted by the applicant for separate orders:
Provided that such fee and application shall not be required in the matters referred by any court/authority to the Tax Settlement Board."
5. Substitution of rule 69.-
The existing rule 69 of the said rules, shall be substituted by the following, namely:-
"69. Powers and Authority of the Tax Settlement Board.-
(1) The Tax Settlement Board shall have powers to resolve the disputes relating to outstanding demand of tax or arrears of tax, interest or penalty payable under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994, Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 or Rajasthan Value Added Tax Act, 2003, if:-
(i) the dispute is not pending for decision before any competent/appellate authority or any court and any party to the dispute submit an application along with fee; or
(ii) the dispute is pending for decision before any competent/appellate authority or any court and the parties to the dispute agree or one of the party thereof make an application to the court or the authority before whom the case is pending, for referring the case to the Tax Settlement Board for settlement and if such court/authority, as the case may be, is prima facie satisfied that there are possibilities of such settlement or the court/authority, as the case may be, is satisfied that the matter is appropriate for settlement by the Tax Settlement Board, the such court/authority may refer the case to the Tax Settlement Board; and
(iii) the outstanding demand of tax or arrears of tax, interest or penalty shall not be less than rupees one lac and not more than rupees 50 Crore.
(2) After presenting an application or case is referred to the Tax Settlement Board, no party to the dispute shall invoke jurisdiction of any other court/authority for the same dispute and where the disputes are pending before any court/authority, the parties shall be under obligation to inform the court/authority about initiation of the proceedings before the Tax Settlement Board and they should not pursue the case pending before the court/authority till the matter is pending before the Tax Settlement Board.
Explanation:
(a) Tax means tax payable by any dealer or person under the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1994, Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 or Rajasthan Value Added Tax Act, 2003 but does not include the tax collected or charged; -
(b) Penalty means penalty imposed on a dealer or person under the Acts referred to in Explanation (a) above; and
(c) Interest means interest payable by a dealer or person under the Acts referred to in Explanation (a) above.
(3) The Tax Settlement Board shall not interpret the Laws and applicability of tax, penalty or interest in settlement proceedings.
(4) The Tax Settlement Board shall have the powers to stay the recovery of the demand for a period not exceeding sixty days, which may, after recording reasons, further be extended for a period of thirty days."
6. Insertion of rule 69A.-
After rule 69, so substituted, and before the existing rule 70 of the said rules, the following new rule 69A shall be inserted, namely:-
"69 A. Settlement of dispute and issue of Certificate of Settlement.-
(1) On receipt of a reference from any court/ authority or an application, the Tax Settlement Board shall forward the same to the other party concerned and call upon to furnish the relevant records along with comments.
(2). The Tax Settlement Board shall, for the purposes of holding any settlement, have the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act No. 5 of 1908) in respect of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any witness and examining him on oath;
(b) the discovery and production of any document;
(c) the reception of evidence on affidavits;
(d) the requisitioning of any public record or document or copy of such record or document from any court or office; and
(e) such other matters as may be prescribed.
(3) The Tax Settlement Board shall adopt summary procedure for the disposal of settlement proceedings and disposed off the proceedings within ninety days.
(4) Subject to the provisions of these rules, the Tax Settlement Board shall have power to regulate their own procedure for the purpose of discharging their functions and the Tax Settlement Board may,-
(a) direct to file before it a written statement, stating therein the facts and nature of dispute, points or issues in such dispute and grounds relied in support of or in opposition to, such points or issues, as the case may be, and such party may supplement such statement with any document and oilier evidence which such party deems appropriate in proof of such facts and grounds and shall send a copy of such statement together with a copy of such document and other evidence, if any, to other party to the application;
(b) require any party to the dispute to file additional statement before it at any stage of the settlement proceedings; and
(c) communicate any document or statement received by it from any party to the dispute to the other party, to enable such other party to present reply thereto.
(5) When statement, additional statement and reply, if any, have been filed to the satisfaction of the Tax Settlement Board, it shall conduct settlement proceedings between the parties to the dispute in such manner as it thinks appropriate taking into account the circumstances of the dispute.
(6) The Tax Settlement Board shall, during the settlement proceedings, assist the parties in their attempt to reach an amicable settlement of the dispute in an independent and impartial manner.
(7) It shall be the duty of every party to the dispute to cooperate in good faith with the Tax Settlement Board in settlement of the dispute relating to the application and to comply with the direction of the Tax Settlement Board to produce evidence and other related documents before it
(8) The Advocates or the Tax Consultants, unless specially permitted by the Tax Settlement Board under exceptional circumstances recorded in writing, shall not appear in any proceedings before it.
(9) When the Tax Settlement Board, in the aforesaid settlement proceedings, is of the opinion that there exist elements of settlement in such proceedings which may be acceptable to the parties, it may formulate the terms of a possible settlement of the dispute and give to the parties concerned for their observations and in case the parties reach at an agreement on the settlement of the dispute, they shall sign the settlement agreement and the Tax Settlement Board shall pass an order of settlement in terms thereof and furnish a copy of the same to each of the parties concerned.
(10) The Tax Settlement Board may grant facility of payment of the amount mentioned in the settlement order along with amount of interest payable, in monthly installments not exceeding twenty four, subject to such conditions including condition of furnishing security to the satisfaction of the Assessing Authority, as it may deem fit.
(11) The decision of the Tax Settlement Board shall be unanimous.
(12) No penal action against the applicant shall be initiated in the matter under consideration of the Tax Settlement Board, after an order of settlement has been passed. The applicant / dealer shall not be entitled to refund of any amount or other benefit under any Act afterwards.
(13) Where the parties fail to reach at any settlement, the Tax Settlement Board shall order accordingly.
(14) The applicant shall submit to the Tax Settlement Board the proof of deposit of the amount determined in lieu of arrears of tax, penalty, and interest along with the copy of the order of withdrawal of the case, if any, within thirty days from receipt of order of settlement.
(15) After receipt of the proof of deposit of the amount determined and the order of withdrawal of the case, if any, the Tax Settlement Board shall issue a Certificate of Settlement of arrears of tax, penalty and interest in dispute.
(16) The Certificate of Settlement shall be binding on all the parties to the dispute.
(17) In case the applicant fails to deposit the amount determined by the Tax Settlement Board in the stipulated period or such time as may be extended by the Tax Settlement Board, the Certificate of Settlement shall seize to be effective and the whole of the outstanding demand shall be recoverable forthwith.
(18) For all purposes under this rule, amount determined shall be treated to be tax levied or amount of penalty imposed, as the case may be, and date of order made by the Tax Settlement Board shall be treated to be the date of order of assessment or penalty, as the case may be.
(19) Where application of the dealer or other person has been rejected by the Settlement Board, the Assessing Authority shall proceed in the matter in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
(20) Where a case of settlement under this rule is pending before the Settlement Board, nothing shall preclude the Assessing Authority from making re-assessment or passing order to give effect to any appellate/revision-able order pertaining to the assessment years to which settlement case is pending before the Tax Settlement Board.
(21) Where any dispute is pending for settlement before the Tax Settlement Board and settlement order has not been passed, if any additional notice is issued in the same matter on any ground not mentioned in the earlier notice, the applicant or the Assessing Authority may request the Tax Settlement Board to consider the grounds mentioned in such additional notice."
By Order of the Governor,
(Dr. Ravikumar S.)
Deputy Secretary to Government