Title: Discussion on the Cotton Textiles Cess (Repeal) Bill, 2000. (Bill passed)
1445 hours
THE MINISTER OF TEXTILES (SHRI KASHIRAM RANA): Sir, I beg to move:
“That the Bill to repeal the Cotton Textiles Cess Act, 1948, be taken into consideration. ”
Sir, the Cotton Textiles Cess Act, 1948 was enacted to impose a cess on the manufacture of certain cotton textiles, namely, cloth, yarn, etc. This Act has jurisdiction all over India. Such cess was to be levied on any cloth or yarn held in stock by a producer or dealer at such rate and in such manner as might be notified by the Central Government. There are provisions for imposition of penalty in case of non-payment of cess, recovery of cess as arrears of land revenue, inspection of books or documents belonging to a producer or dealer, entry and search of any premises and seizure of cloth or yarn in case of contravention of the provisions of this Act.
It may please be noted that there is another Act, namely, the Textile Committee Act, 1963, which, inter alia provides for collection of cess on the textiles. Accordingly, under this Act, the cess is being collected and the amount of cess so collected is remitted to the Consolidated Fund of India.
The Cabinet has approved the proposal for repeal of the Cotton Textiles Cess Act, 1948. The Commission on Review of Administrative Laws has also recommended the repeal of this Act.
In today’s liberalised scenario, when it is considered desirable to do away with unnecessary controls, there is strong justification for the repeal of this Act. The provisions of this Act appear to have outlived the utility and are widely perceived as being impediments to the manufacture of cotton yarn and cloth. Indeed for these very reasons, this Act has never been implemented. Experience
has shown that removal of uncalled for fetters would improve the environment for facilitating trade, which, in turn, would have a healthy multiplier effect in the production chain. Since the Act was never activated, it is redundant and its repeal will have no financial implications.
I hope that this august House will be pleased to approve the repeal of Cotton Textiles Cess Act, 1948. Thank you.
MR. CHAIRMAN (SHRI P.H. PANDIYAN): Motion moved:
“That the Bill to repeal the Cotton Textiles Cess Act, 1948, be taken into consideration.”
SHRI VARKALA RADHAKRISHNAN (CHIRAYINKIL): I support the move of repeal of this Act. The irony of fate is that this Statute was passed in 1948, with a view to implement it with certain penal provisions, but it was never activated. It was for recovery of cess under the provisions of the Revenue Recovery Act. The Statute, which was passed here, was never implemented, during the last 52 years. That is the interesting part of the story. It was never implemented and no amount was collected under that Act. That means, nothing has come to the exchequer by way of this Act. The Executive was quite negligent or inactive in implementing a Statute passed by this House. That is the tragedy.
It is very amusing and very interesting to see that a Central Statute was never activated, and hence, there is no financial commitment. That is the present position.
They have now come before this House again to repeal an Act, which was never implemented. What is the logic behind it? I do not understand it. The Minister is coming before the House to repeal an Act, which was never implemented in the history, and not a pie was collected under this Act.
Now, the position is that textile traders want this Act to be repealed. If by mistake somebody activates this statute, they would be put to difficulties. I think, this Government must have come before this House to give impetus to the growth of the textile industry. The Minister has come before the House to repeal an Act which was never implemented. But hereafter, never should this House come across such an occasion, because it would be recorded in our legislative history that this august House is repealing Acts which are never implemented.
With these words, I support the move of the Government.
SHRI PRIYA RANJAN DASMUNSI (RAIGANJ): I rise to support the move of the Government. I feel that the document of non-implementation of this Act would be useful for the research students of Indian politics who are keen to know how the Government works and how it fails. If I may interpret like this, it is the reflection on those who were manning the Textiles Department all these years, irrespective of the parties they might have belonged to. It raises a doubt whether they did it in connivance or whether they had some understanding with the big textile industries of those days which were sick. I do not want to go into that. If this House passes a Bill with a view to collecting revenue and if it is not done, then it is not merely inactivity but also an insult to Parliament. So, from the academic point of view, I consider this document as a useful document for the research scholars who are interested to study the connivance of the textile commissioners of the past and the good days that they had enjoyed.
Sir, at this hour, I would appeal to the hon. Minister to consider reviving the NTC mills. Today, during Question Hour a question – Starred Question No. 566 – was asked about the NTC mills. The question was about the revival of the NTC mills in the country, particularly in Maharashtra. The answer was that the Government has not yet finalised the turn-around plan. It is really very pathetic. You are in office for the last six months. Textile workers in South, North, West and East are expecting a policy from the Government which would revive these units. I remember, during Tenth Lok Sabha when Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister and Shri G. Venkataswamy was the Textile Minister, a package was announced to sell the surplus land of the NTC mills and to create a corpus which would be used to revive these NTC units, but that was not done. In the Eleventh Lok Sabha, when I was Member of the Public Undertakings Committee, I found there was a tremendous amount of non-cooperation from the Maharashtra Government of those days regarding disposal of the lands. The hon. Minister has taken the first initiative to remove the redundant Act. Now, he should take another initiative to announce a turn-around plan to protect the textile workers of the NTC mills. They have done a good job in the country. I went to one NTC unit in Coimbatore and I was pleasantly surprised that it was making huge profits. My friend Shri Akbar is sitting here. In his district, Hoogly, also many textile units were closed due to non-monitoring of the Government at the appropriate hour.
I would, therefore, request the Government to make a plan.
I would also like to request the hon. Minister about one issue which I have raised in the House earlier also a number of times. In West Bengal, the areas on one side of the river Ganges are called as the South Bengal and on the other side as the North Bengal which is absolutely an economically backward region. There is a lot of regional imbalance in that part. All kinds of developments are taking place from Coochbehar to Malda. In the entire North Bengal, there is only one spinning mill which was started in the seventies at the initiative of the West Bengal Government, when Congress was in power. It was started in a backward district of West Dinajpur and now it is in Raiganj which is my Parliamentary constituency. This only one spinning mill in the entire North Bengal has tremendous prospects. West Bengal Government took it over but now they have no plan for its future. The spurns are very good. The yarn is of the best quality. The workers are best talented. I have raised this issue a number of times in the House.
Since the Textile Ministry is the nodal Ministry to monitor the entire textile sector, I would request the Minister to take stock of the fact as to how many handloom units are there in North Bengal. There are a number of them and the best quality of handloom saris are sold to Bangladesh from North Bengal. In that region, the only life line of the spinning mill should be properly taken care of with a joint initiative of the Ministry of Textile and the West Bengal Government. I would also request the Minister to pay a visit to that textile mill in my constituency. It has a tremendous potential in the entire region. I appeal to the Minister to do make a visit alongwith the representatives of the West Bengal Government after the Session. It will prove to be one of the viable and potential units in the entire region. Bangladesh also will be taking yarn from this unit if it is revived properly.
With these words I thank the hon. Minister for bringing this legislation. I would once again request the Minister to please preserve the history, as to why it was not implemented in the past, in the form of a document in the Ministry, as it will be helpful to the researchers to know the nexus that exists from time to time between the Textile Commissioners and the private mill operators.
MR. CHAIRMAN : Now, the Minister.
… (Interruptions)
MR. CHAIRMAN: Let the Minister reply. We will have to take up the Private Members’ Business also.
…( व्यवधान)
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MR. CHAIRMAN: I am not allowing anybody. Nothing will go on record except what the Minister says. Members must obtain prior permission to speak.
(Interruptions)
* Not Recorded.
वस्त्र मंत्री (श्री काशीराम राणा) : सभापति जी, काटन टैक्सटाइल सैस एक्ट,१९४८ के निरसन के बारे में यहां जो डिस्कशन हुआ, मुझे खुशी है कि उसका सभी माननीय सदस्यों ने समर्थन किया है, उसके लिए मैं बहुत आभारी हूं। जैसा माननीय सांसद श्री राधाकृष्णन ने कहा कि यह एक्ट जिसका कभी इम्पलीमेंटेशन नहीं हुआ, उस पर मैं आपको बताता हूं कि जो टैक्सटाइल कमेटी एक्ट,१९६३ बनाया था, उसमें सैस कलेक्ट करना और जो प्रावधान काटन टैक्सटाइल सैस एक्ट में थे, वे सभी प्रावधान इसमें भी हैं तथा टैक्सटाइल कमेटी एक्ट के तहत जो भी प्रावधान हैं उसका हम इम्पलीमेंटेशन करते हैं, सैस कलेक्ट करते हैं। जैसा माननीय सांसद श्री दासमुन्शी ने कहा और खासकर एन.टी.सी. के प्लान के बारे में वह कुछ जानकारी चाहते थे, जैसा सभी जानते है कि वह एक सीनियर सांसद हैं। वैसे १९९२ में भी एक प्लान बनाया था, लेकिन फाइनेंशियल इंस्टीट््यूट से पैसा लेना था, वह नहीं हुआ।
1500 hrs.
1995 में एक प्लान बना। मुम्बई में बंद मिलों की जमीनें बेचकर २००५ करोड़ रुपये लेने थे लेकिन महाराष्ट्र की सरकार ने परमीशन नहीं दी। वह नहीं हुआ। १९९७ में रिवाइवल प्लान बना लेकिन वह भी इंप्लीमेंट नहीं हुआ। अभी रिवाइज़्ड टर्न अराउंड स्ट्रैटेजी प्लान बनाया है और उसमें जो भी एन.टी.सी. की ११९ मिलें हैं, उनको ध्यान में रखते हुए कैबिनेट के पास हम जा रहे हैं। जैसे कि एक बात उन्होंने कही है, मैं स्पिनिंग मिलों की तकलीफ के बारे में कहना चाहता हूं कि हम साथ बैठेंगे और अवश्य उनके लिए काम करेंगे।
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MR. CHAIRMAN: The question is:
“That the Bill to repeal the Cotton Textiles Cess Act, 1948, be taken into consideration. ”
The motion was adopted.
MR. CHAIRMAN: The House will now take up clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill.
“That clause 2 stand part of the Bill.”
The motion was adopted.
Clause 2 was added to the Bill.
Clause 1, the Enacting Formula and the Title were added to the Bill.
SHRI KASHIRAM RANA: Sir, I beg to move:
“That the Bill be passed.”
MR. CHAIRMAN: The question is:
“That the Bill be passed.”
The motion was adopted.
—-
15.02 hrs.
MOTION RE: FIFTH REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
SHRI ALI MOHD. NAIK (ANANTNAG): I beg to move:
“That this House do agree with the Fifth Report of the Committee on Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions presented to the House on the 4th May, 2000. ”
MR. CHAIRMAN: The question is:
“That this House do agree with the Fifth Report of the Committee on Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions presented to the House on the 4th May, 2000. ”
The motion was adopted.
—-
15.03 hrs.