Parliamentary panel adopts report on Income Tax Bill, suggests 285 changes

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The parliamentary select committee headed by BJP MP Baijayant Panda, during its meeting, adopted the report on the Bill, which is likely to be presented in the Lok Sabha on July 21, which is the first day of the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament.

However, according to sources, a few members reportedly objected to Clause 247(1) of the 'powers' section of the Bill, which deals with the search and seizure component.

Under it, the assessing officer, joint commissioner, joint commissioner (appeals), the dispute resolution panel and others have been given unprecedented powers to seize assets, both physical and electronic. The clause also empowers such an officer to enter any premises, place, vessel, vehicle and aircraft where he has reason to suspect that such assets, books of account, other documents, or any information may have been stored in electronic media or computer systems by the person to whom the summons was issued.

The select committee made 285 suggestions on the draft legislation that seeks to modernise and simplify the country's tax laws.

A member said the report would be presented to the Lok Sabha on July 21 and the Bill was likely to be passed in the monsoon session.