His right to attach property

We have taken lightly so far the fact that a misguided government long ago removed our fundamental right to own property. We can no longer a...

We have taken lightly so far the fact that a misguided government long ago removed our fundamental right to own property. We can no longer afford to. It is time we demanded that our right to property be restored because it could be the only way to prevent the Finance Minister unleashing upon us an economic reign of terror the like of which even Indira Gandhi could not have dreamt up. In his latest move to collect more revenue, the Finance Minister, in a circular from the Central Board of Direct Taxes CBDT last week, authorised tax inspectors to confiscate property of anyone suspected of evading taxes. Only the financial newspapers noticed the dangers of this move. The Business Standard described the new measure as 8216;8216;one of the most draconian tax regulations to emerge in recent times8217;8217;.

This understates the case. What the Finance Minister has done is give petty, and usually corrupt, officials the right to march into your home or mine and take it over if according to his assessment, we have not paid enough taxes. He would not be able to do this if the Janata Party government had not endorsed, and written into the Constitution, Indira Gandhi8217;s decision to remove the right to property from our list of fundamental rights. She did this because the Supreme Court interfered in her decision to abolish the princes and take away their privy purses, and said adequate compensation would need to be paid if the Government took something away from a citizen. Those were socialist times and she was a Dictator so behaved as good dictators should, but why the Janata government went ahead with the move remains a mystery and why no government since has realised the need to restore the right to property an even bigger one.

The biggest mystery of all is why we the people have accepted the removal of our right to property without clamouring in the courts for justice. Perhaps because we have never before had a Finance Minister who believes he has the fundamental right to trample over our rights in the name of tax collection. The most they did in the past was 8216;raid8217; those they suspected of evading taxes. A barbaric enough practice in a country that fancies itself as civilised, but baby stuff compared to what Chidambaram now orders his goons to do.

They will be extra diligent about following orders because the Finance Minister has also decided that tax inspectors will be held responsible if they fail to 8216;attach8217; in advance the property of a possible defaulter. Draconian is too mild a word for what the Finance Minister is up to, but we must remember that this is the man who once gave us TADA and the Defamation Bill.

There are other reasons why we need to fight for our right to property, and they concern the poorest of the poor. Because Indians do not have the right to own property, policemen and municipal officials routinely confiscate and destroy property belonging to pavement hawkers, rickshawallahs and streetchildren. These are people who constitute what our politicians like to call the 8216;8216;weakest sections8217;8217; of the society, so let us have no qualms in acknowledging that the Prime Minister8217;s move to introduce reservations for 8216;8216;weaker sections8217;8217; in private companies is for political and not compassionate reasons. Had any prime minister one ounce of compassion for the 8216;8216;weaker sections8217;8217;, he would have arrested officials and policemen who steal from pavement hawkers and rickshawallahs.

The middle classes are so smug in their belief that in our 8216;liberalised8217; new India, nobody would dare take away their property that, as far as I know, there has been only one case in which the suspension of the right to property has been questioned. A group called the Maharashtra Property Owners8217; Association went to court and in its defence in the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra government said it had every right to confiscate not just property but valuables and cash as well for a 8216;pittance8217; as compensation because Indians do not have the right to property. The case is shortly due to be heard in the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, I have a proposition for P Chidambaram. If he insists on going ahead with the mad idea, then let us begin in Parliament. Let every Member of Parliament8217;s declaration of assets be scrutinised not just by the Finance Ministry8217;s unreliable policemen but us. Let us find out how men who began their career in politics with a few hundred rupees to their name became owners of lakhs and crores worth of assets. I am willing to bet that men who have declared themselves worth only a couple of lakhs will be wearing watches that cost more than that.

Story continues below this ad

Let us set up a citizen8217;s tribual before which the MPs can appear and have their assets publicly scrutinised. Let us ask them the sort of questions tax inspectors ask when they barge into people8217;s homes: How much is that shawl, that pair of shoes, that bangle for? Who paid for these things? Where are the bills? Can you prove they were heirlooms? If not, we hereby attach your property. If our elected representatives are prepared to go through with this kind of exercise and if our ministers and wives also come forward to explain how they acquired their crores worth of assets, then it would be fair for the Finance Minister to go ahead with the draconian new measures. Otherwise, it is time he woke up to the reality that India is no longer an economic dictatorship, and can never be. All he will achieve through his madcap schemes is to widen the roads of corruption. The only people who must be thrilled by his new measures are the tax inspectors. Does P Chidambaram not understand this?

write to tavleensinghexpressindia.com