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Kamal Narang

New plan: The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, and the President of the Bar Association of India, Mr Fali S Nariman, at the Silver Jubilee function of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal in the Capital on Saturday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Oct. 6 The Government is contemplating appointing two exclusive additional solicitor-generals to effectively present its arguments in direct and indirect tax related cases, the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has said.

“We are concerned about the quality of government representation and looking into it. With globalisation, complexities of transaction will increase and it is important to have good quality government representation. Many judges have told me that the quality of their judgments was as good as the lawyers appearing before them,” Mr Chidambaram said at the Silver Jubilee celebration function of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) here on Saturday.

The Finance Minister also advised tax administrators and the adjudicators to improve domain knowledge to cope up with the changed settings on economic transactions. “Lack of domain knowledge hampers administration of tax laws and also adjudication of tax disputes. Administration and judiciary should constantly update themselves on the changes in tax laws through out the world,” Mr Chidambaram said.

Meanwhile, commenting on the proposed goods and service tax (GST) regime, which is expected to be ushered in from April 1, 2010, Mr Chidambaram asked the Tribunal to suggest an appropriate model on how disputes should be adjudicated in a common GST regime.

“As we go to common GST, there is a need to rethink on how disputes should be adjudicated in such a regime,” he added.

Mr Chidambaram also noted that customs duty disputes before the Tribunal were on the decline, but disputes on service tax were on the rise. “The fact that disputes on service tax are on the rise is a matter of concern for me. Either there is an arbitrage or the administration of service tax is not fair. I would like the service tax to be administered in taxpayer friendly manner,” he added.

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