The government tabled the bill to adjust the customs duty on the import of gold and silver on par with India to curb possible smuggling of imported precious metals to India.[break]
The UCPN (Maoist) maintains that a caretaker government has no authority to introduce such a bill.
"The government in the bill has not specified the rate of increment on customs duty for gold imports. We can´t allow parliament to endorse such a bill which is like a blank check," Maoist leader Dev Gurung told Republica.
He said they have suggested to the government to withdraw the bill and bring a new one by specifying the rate. "The government can enforce a new rate in the market by issuing a notice as per Current Tax Mobilization Act-2012 BS for the time being," Gurung said.
Maoist leaders including Gurung pushed the government to register the new bill during a meeting with Finance Minister Surendra Pandey, CPN-UML Chief Whip Bhim Acharya, and Finance Secretary Rameshore Khanal at the presence of Speaker Subas Nembang in Singha Durbar on Sunday.
But leaders are yet to finalize whether the government would issue such a notice just after registration of the bill at parliament secretariat or only after the bill is tabled at a House meeting. While the Maoists are for issuing the notice just after registration of the bill the government side wants to table the bill before issuing the notice.
Finance Minister Pandey earlier tabled the bill at a parliament meeting on September 7 as the Finance Act expired on September 3. The government decided to amend the act to stop illegal import of gold with expire of the law that regulates the gold market.
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