The Hindu Business Line : Whiffs of fun in Finance Bill

Begin, therefore, with a simple test of your lung power, by reading the following sentence in one breath: "The Assessing Officer shall determine the amount of expenditure incurred in relation to such income which does not form part of the total income under this Act in accordance with such method as may be prescribed, if the Assessing Officer, having regard to the accounts of the assessee, is not satisfied with the correctness of the claim of the assessee in respect of such expenditure in relation to income which does not form part of the total income under this Act."

Only 81 words, those were, from clause 7, on amendment to Section 14A of the Income Tax Act, more as a warm up before we move on to the Customs tariff changes.

Such as `meat and meat offal' amended to `meat or meat offal'. Offal, as www.onelook.com defines, is "viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal often considered inedible by humans."

Officials at the Finance Ministry haven't stopped with just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

They've expanded the abbreviations to make law understandable. For example: "In Note 3, in clauses (a) and (b), for the letters `e.g.' wherever they occur, the words `for example' shall be substituted."

Nothing academic, please note, because what comes next are `Macadamia nuts.'

Next, `articles of jewellery'. The phrase is defined elaborately, `for the purposes of heading 7113', as "any small objects of personal adornment (for example, rings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, ear-rings, watch chains, fobs, pendants, tie-pins, cufflinks, dress-studs, religious or other medals and insignia)."

Plus: "Articles of personal use of a kind normally carried in the pocket, in the handbag, or on the person (for example, cigar or cigarette cases, snuff boxes, cachou or pill boxes, powder boxes, chain purses or prayer beads)." The definition isn't over.

For, the Bill explains that the above articles "may be combined or set, for example, with natural or cultured pearls, precious or semi-precious stones, synthetic or reconstructed precious or semi-precious stones, tortoise shell, mother-of-pearl, ivory, natural or reconstituted amber, jet or coral."

In heading 8471, you'll come across `automatic data processing machine'.

Isn't it the ubiquitous PC, you may wonder, but in law, the phrase means: "machine capable of (i) storing the processing programme or programmes and at least the data immediately necessary for the execution of the programme; (ii) being freely programmed in accordance with the requirements of the user; (iii) performing arithmetical computations specified by the user; and (iv) executing, without human intervention, a processing programme which requires them to modify their execution by logical decision during the processing run."

With the level of legal drafting skills, don't you think we can pitch ourselves as the ideal outsourcing location for drawing up legislation?

ExParte@TheHindu.co.in