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2. Empty Land Tax: Proposal To Abolish GST & Levy Tax On Empty Land

Instructions for citizens and officers

03 The amount that will come after subtracting the sum of deductions from the gross payable tax will be the actual payable tax. If this amount is negative then the taxpayer will be able to use this tax credit next year as well. This credit can be used for next 4 years.

(3.1) Common deductions that will be deducted from gross payable tax:

  1. Income tax paid on non-salaried income,

  2. 50% of income tax paid on salaried income,

  3. The employer will receive a deduction of 50% of the income tax paid by the employees of the employer on the salary paid or 5% of the total salary paid by the employer,

  4. 15% of the provident fund paid by the employer to the staff,

  5. Electricity tax paid,

  6. Stamp duty paid during last 10 years before the ELT came in force (read clause 3.2), and

  7. Charity Service Points Received.

(3.2) Stamp Duty : The tax payer will not get tax credit on the stamp duty paid after the publication of this statute in the Gazette. The tax credit will be given only on the amount paid by the taxpayer in the 10 years before the enactment of this law. State governments can implement ELT at the state level by cancelling stamp duty. If the state government continues the stamp duty, the taxpayer will not get a deduction on the stamp duty paid after the publication of this statute in the Gazette.

(3.3) Charity Service Points (CSP) : Points received by an individual, company, trust or entity in lieu of service to an individual. Each citizen will get 5 donation service points per year and the person can donate these donation service points to the desired trust or entity. The cost of 1 donation service point will be Rs. 100, and thus if a person transfers 2 points out of his 5 donation service points to a trust, then such trust will be able to get a deduction of Rs. 100 x 2 = Rs. 200 in its ELT return. A person can give all 5 points to any one person or a trust or an entity. Using a notification, Prime Minister can increase or decrease the value of CSP per donation.

Explanation : Suppose a trust has 10 lakh followers and assume that the trust receives 1 point from 7 lakh followers, 2 points from 2 lakh followers, and 5 points from 1 lakh followers. Then the total marks earned will be = 7 lakhs x 1 + 2 lakhs x 2 + 1 lakhs x 5 = 16 lakhs. Hence the tax credit will be Rs. 16 lakhs x 100 per point = Rs. 16 crores

Clarification: Some Examples demonstrating the Computation of ELT

Example 1:

Suppose a 5-member family has a house of 1000 square feet, then according to 5 members they will get 5 x 250 = 1250 sq ft exemption, so the owner of the building will not have to pay any tax on it But if there were only 3 members in this family, then their exemption limit would have been 250 x 3 = 750 sq ft. Thus the additional land here was 1000 – 750 = 250 sq ft. Suppose if the value of this house is Rs. 10,00,000, then the tax payable will be as follows;

Taxable Excess Land: 250 sq ft Market price rate per sq ft: Rs. 10,00,000/1000 = Rs. 1000 per sq ft Market value of additional land: Rs. 250 x 1000 = Rs. 2,50,000 Tax payable due: 1% of Rs. 2,50,000 = Rs. 2,500, hence the ELT payable will be Rs. 2,500.

Now suppose that the landowner is a salaried employee and has paid Rs. 4,000 income tax in the previous year, then 50% of Rs. 4,000 = Rs. 2,000 will be deducted from the payable ELT. Hence, the net tax payable would be Rs. (2,500 – 2000) = Rs. 500. But if the landlord is not a salaried employee then he will get full exemption of income tax paid. In this case, the calculation would be as follows: 2,500 – 4,000 = (– 1500), the actual tax payable here is negative, hence the landlord will not pay any tax, and it will become Rs. 1500 tax credit for the next year.

Example 2:

Suppose a person has the following members in his family: himself, wife, 2 children and 2 senior citizens are parents. The family owns 1500 square feet of land and 3000 square feet of construction. This much construction or land can be scattered in one house or more than one house, shops or offices. For 6 members, they will be allowed to own 250 x 6 = 1500 square feet of uncultivated land and 3000 square feet of construction, so no tax this family will have to pay.

(i) Now suppose that this family has an office above this exemption limit, which is worth Rs. 1 crore. It has a staff of 5 employees who have been paid Rs. 12 lakh as salary, and Rs. 1 lakh has been paid for provident fund for the staff. The tax paid on the electricity bill in that year was Rs. 1 lakh and assume that he has paid income tax of Rs. 3 lakh on his own income. So the calculation of ELT will be like this:

Gross Empty Land Tax payable = 1% of Rs. 1 Crore = Rs. 1,00,000 Income Tax paid: Rs. 3,00,000 15% of paid provident fund: Rs. 15,000 (15% of 1,00,000) 5% of salary paid: Rs. 60,000 (5% of 12,00,000) Electricity tax: Rs. 1,00,000 Sum of deductions = Rs. 4,75,000 (Rs. 3,00,000 + Rs. 15,000 + Rs. 60,000 + Rs. 1,00,000)

Now the tax credit will be deducted from the gross tax payable to remove the actual payable tax. 1,00,000 – 4,75,000 = (– 3,75,000) Since it is negative, the tax to be paid will be zero and the credit for the next year will be Rs. 3,75,000.

Example 3:

Suppose a trust owns 4,000 acres of land in Mumbai, with a market value of 2,00,000 per sq. ft. Therefore, the cost of this land will be Rs. 3,40,000 crores, and before reducing the tax credit, the gross tax payable will be 1% of this amount i.e. Rs. 3,400 crores.

(i) Now if the pay of employees of such a trust is negligible, and if the trust does not undertake any notable activities, and also pays negligible income tax, then its tax credits can be almost zero. In this case the net tax payable will be Rs. 3,400 crore or its equivalent.

(ii) Assuming that this trust conducts enough activities for philanthropy and thousands of citizens are benefiting from these services, then citizens can give CSP to this trust. And then the tax will be deducted in proportion to the CSP received to this trust.

Example 4:

Suppose a person has 2000 square feet of land on which he has built 4 flats. Each flat is 1000 square feet, and each flat costs Rs. 50 lakh. In this way, the total construction of the flat here was 4000 square feet. If there are 4 members in his family, then he will get exemption to build 250 square feet of land per member and 500 square feet. And thus the total exemption would be 1000 square feet of land and 2000 square feet of construction. In this situation this family will not have to face ELT for 2 flats. But the tax on the remaining 2 flats will have to be paid, and each flat will have to face tax of Rs. 50,000.

(i) Now suppose he has rented 3 flats, and the rent of each flat is Rs. 60,000 per year. Hence, the total rental income = Rs. 1,80,000 per year. Assuming that the landlord has other income that brings him under the 20% income tax slab, the income tax on such rent income will be around Rs. 36,000 per year. Suppose each tenant consumes electricity of Rs. 40,000 per year, and is paying electricity tax of Rs. 10,000 per year on it.

Hence the actual tax payable by the land owner will be: 1,00,000 – 36,000 – (10,000 x 3) = Rs. 34,000, which is about 19% of his total rent income.

(ii) But if suppose all of his flats are vacant, then he will have to pay ELT of Rs. 50,000 per flat i.e. a total of Rs. 1,00,000 for his two flats. But if such a flat owner also has income from other sources, and if he is also paying its income tax nearly equal to the gross payable tax, then that income tax will also be deducted from this tax and thus the final ELT will be reduced to zero.

Example 5:

Suppose a person has 10,000 square feet of land, on which his 20 flats are each 1000 square feet, the total sum = 20,000 square feet. Suppose the price of each flat is Rs. 50 lakhs. Suppose there are 4 members in his family, then the total exemption will be 1000 square feet of land and 2000 square feet of construction. Hence, 2 flats will not have to face ELT, and the remaining 18 flats will have to face tax of Rs. 50,000 for each flat.

(i) Suppose he has given all these flats on rent, and the rent of each flat is Rs. 1,50,000 per year. Income tax on such rental income will be around Rs. 30,000 per year, which is assumed to be 20% of the income tax slab. Suppose each tenant is consuming electricity of Rs. 40,000 per year, and electricity tax is Rs. 10,000 per year. Then the deductions for a flat will be Rs. 30,000 (Income Tax) + 10,000 (Electricity Tax) = Rs. 40,000. The actual tax paid by the owner will be Rs. 10,000 (50,000 – 40,000) per flat, which is about 7% of the rental income from the flats.

(ii) But if he has kept all his flats vacant by not paying them for rent, then he will have to pay ELT at the rate of Rs. 50,000 per flat.

Conclusion : From the above examples, it is possible to conclude that people who are using land and construction for rent and for commercial or industrial work, their tax credits will be high and they do

not have to pay much tax. But individuals who have a large number of buildings and land inoperable and unusable, may have to pay a large amount of ELT. In this way, this system will motivate the landowners to start using their non-functional and vacant land for commercial, residential, production, service, etc.

04

General Exemptions from ELT

(4.1) The ELT on a person will be reduced to zero when the sum of the land and construction owned by him and his family is less than the prescribed exemption limit. The general exemptions are given below per person, and the person can transfer the unused exemptions to one or more members of his family.

  1. 250 square feet per person non-agricultural plots in 10 cities of Category A and 500 square feet plots in other cities. However, this exemption will not be available separately in the two categories of cities.

  2. 500 square feet per person construction in Category A cities and 1000 square feet per person in other cities. However, this exemption will not be available separately in the two categories of cities.

  3. Agricultural land up to 2 acres per person.

  4. The exemption for persons above 60 years of age shall be twice the normal exemption. And for those above 80 years, this exemption will be 4 times the normal exemption.

  5. Widows will also have double the normal exemption. However, for widows above 60 years, it will be doubled, not four times. For widows above 80 years, it will be four times, not eight times.

  6. The general exemption for all non-individual entities such as any type of firm, company, religious and all other trusts, all associations or committees, undivided Hindu families, etc. will be nil. The general exemption will also be zero for foreign nationals and foreign entities. The general exemption will apply only to the living Indian citizens.

(4.2) List of Category A cities:

  1. Mumbai 02. Delhi 03. Kolkata 04. Chennai 05. Bengaluru 06. Hyderabad 07. Ahmedabad 08. Pune 09. Surat 10. Jaipur

The National Empty Land Tax Officer (NELTO) may classify the exemptions according to land prices and population density in Category A cities to further justify categorization based on the inflation index or population of cities.

05 Transfer of ELT Credits (ELTC)

(5.1) ELT Credits (ELTC) can be transferred only once. Once transferred, they can neither be retransferred, nor can be further transferred to any person / entity etc. The ELTC transferred can be used only in the financial year in which they were received by transfer.

(5.2) The ELTC of individuals will be non-transferable, and cannot be transferred to any person or to family members or any trust, public company, etc.

(5.3) If a person has been a founding member of a partnership firm or company, or has held more than 10% of the shares of a partnership firm or company for more than 2 years, then the person shall be able to transfer his ELTC to such partnership firm or company. But if such partnership firm or company is acquired / merged / sold, or such firm / company is dissolved, then these ELTC will be void.

(5.4) ELTC of a trust or public limited company cannot be transferred to its share holders or trustees or any other person. But a public limited company can transfer ELTC to its wholly owned subsidiary, and can also receive ELTC from it. Any company can transfer its ELTC to its wholly owned subsidiary or can also receive, provided the parent company had been associated with the subsidiary since inception. If the company was acquired later, only those ELTC that were transferred after the acquisition are valid.

(5.5) In the event of a merger or acquisition, only the ELTC of the company holding the maximum tax credit will be valid, but the ELTC of the two companies will not be added.

(5.6) The tax credits of a partnership firm or private limited company can be transferred to their owners in proportion to their ownership.

(5.7) The tenant may transfer the ELTC of the electricity tax paid to the landlord if the tenant has not shown it as business expenses in his income tax return. The final decision regarding transfer of ELTC will be with the tenant only. The landlord can use this tax credit only for deduction of tax on the specific house in that particular year.

06 Eligibility to become a Family Member and Transfer ELTC

(6.1) For the purpose of exemption in ELT, a person can register himself as a single member, i.e., alone or as part of the family, as he/she wish.

(6.2) A person in the family shall be the head(mukhiya) of the family who may be a man or woman above the age of 18 years. To make a person a member of the family, the head and that person who want to become a member of the family, both must agree. If the person is a minor then his / her mother will decide whether the child should be a member of the family or not.

(6.3) If the value of the land of an adult is above Rs. 25 crores, after deducting any 500 sq. ft. plot and 1000 sq. ft. of construction, then such person can neither take any exemption from someone nor he/she can give exemption to anyone. Then for the purpose of ELT, he would have to file the return as a single person only.

(6.4) The following persons can be family members:

  1. Children of any age of the head(mukhiya) of the family or his wife and children from premarriages can also become members of the family. For the purpose of ELT, at most 4 children can be family members.

  2. Parents and in-laws can become family members but in-laws can become family members only when/if the wife is alive and also a family member. Only 2 of the parents and in-laws will be able to become members of the family.

  3. Children of son / daughter can become family members, provided the son / daughter is also a member of such family.

  4. Children of grandchildren will not be able to become family members.

  5. The unmarried or divorced sister of the head (mukhiya) may become a member of the family. A brother of any age can become a member of the family. The children of a brother or sister may be members of the family, provided the brother or sister is also a member of such family.

  6. The children of a brother or sister may become members of the family, if the brother or sister is a member of such family or is not alive.

  7. Apart from the points given above, no person will be able to become a member of the

family.

  1. A family cannot have more than 12 members.

(6.5) A person cannot become a member in two families. Even a person registered as a single person will not be able to become a member of a family. Non-person units or foreigners also will not be able to be members of any family for the purpose of ELT.

(6.6) If a person wants to form a family for the purpose of ELT, then he/she will have to personally register his/her family members by going to the Patwari office, and the family members should also approve by going to any Patwari office located in India. Mother's permission will be required for minors and the minor does not have to appear in the office.

07 Filing of ELT Return

(7.1) Every person, all foreign entities, all companies, all trusts and all units which own land, except those Indian citizens who have less land than the normal exemptions mentioned in section (02), will have to be necessarily file ELT return each year. The units having taxable land valuing more than Rs. 100 crore will have to file an interim return every month, and pay the tax monthly. They will also have to file an annual return for the final.

(7.2) The annual return should be filed within 210 days of the end of the financial year or within 60 days of filing the income tax return, whichever is earlier. Monthly returns have to be filed within 60 days of the end of the month.

(7.3) A taxpayer may use PAN or Aadhaar to file return. If he/she does not have any of them, then within 3 months of the publication of this law in the Gazette, he/she should have to get any one of the above IDs.

(7.4) For a Hindu undivided family, the head(mukhiya) must fill an annual return separately. Members of the Hindu undivided family can transfer their normal exemptions on land and construction amongst them.

08 Making all the Land Ownership Data Public

(8.1) Within 90 days of the publication of advertisement of the necessary instructions in this regard all persons, partners, other companies, public undertakings, government units, trusts, co-operatives, foreign persons, units and all other citizens who have partial or full ownership in some land or construction, will register their ownership information. This registration can be done in the District ELT Officer(DELTO) office. All citizens will also register notice of claims related to the ownership of land, flat, buildings etc., whether or not the claims related to such claims have been filed in the court.

(8.2) The NELTO will create such a system that citizens can enter details related to their ownership and claims via internet or by appearing in the Tehsil ELT Officer(TELTO) office. NELTO can apply penalty of 0.03% of the value of the land concerned on weekly basis on delayed registration of any ownership/claim. The status of claims will remain unaffected on the basis of late filing of claims.

(8.3) NELTO will public details of all land ownership and claims records with owner's name, parent's name, photograph, pan card number, adhaar card number, and voter identification number transparently on the Internet. In the event of the owner being a woman, a photograph of the woman will not be published, but a photograph of any male member of her family, or other male or her lawyer approved by the woman will be placed on the website. All the records and details of all

types of land, flat, boundary wall used by government offices such as District Office, City Council, etc. will also be made public.

(8.4) All government employees shall declare all their property held including land, buildings, flats, gold, precious metals, shares, debentures, trusts in which they are involved. All the details of salaries and land ownership of all government employees, including judges, administrative officers, etc., will be kept in public in such a way that any citizen can see them in a transparent manner. These details of government employees will be classified on the basis of their departments and ministries and placed on the Internet. Along with the profile of every government employee, information of all his nearest blood relatives and relatives will also be linked.

09 Mechanism to reduce the difference between the market price and the circle rate of the land

(9.1) This clause shall not apply to the sale of land which has been sold through a fair and open auction process. The determination of whether any such auction process is fair and open will be done by a jury constituted in accordance with the jury provisions described in this act. This section will also not apply to government units. Government unit means any entity with 51% or more of its ownership in the possession of the Central, State Government, Public Sector Undertakings, Local Bodies, Municipal Council etc.

(9.2) Whenever a seller sells a property, it will be registered at the TELTO office. This details have to be submitted separately to the buyer and seller at the TELTO office. Both parties will file the number, location, size, size of construction, name of both parties, identity card number and details of the amount paid in the TELTO office or on its website within 7 days of the sale of the property. If such details are submitted late, a penalty @ 0.01% per day of the value of the plot will be payable.

(9.3) Whenever TELTO gets information about the sale of such a plot, it will file all the details related to such plot on the website for public disclosure. If the buyer is a trust or company, TELTO will place the name and identity card number of all the trustees on the website. In such a situation when the buyer is a public limited company, the name of the company, details of the board of directors and key shareholders will be recorded, not all the shareholders. TELTO will register the buyer purchasing the property as a potential owner of such property.

(9.4) After being publicly registered, the property will be available for public auction for 30 days. If a third party pays 25% more than the sale price of this property within 30 days, TELTO will pay 120% of the amount to the former buyer and register the third party as the next potential owner of the plot. After accepting this amount from the potential owner, TELTO will again wait for the next bid for the next 30 days. If any other party bids for this plot, the bid should be 25% higher than the amount paid by the potential owner in the previous purchase. If no other party makes a bid for such a plot within the next 30 days, the final purchaser will be declared the owner of the plot.

Example:

Suppose A sells a plot to B and B pays Rs. 1 crore for it. A reports to the local TELTO that he has sold the plot to B for Rs. 1 crore.

(1) Now if within 30 days C proposes to pay Rs. 1.25 crore to buy this plot. In such a situation, TELTO will deposit Rs. 1.20 crore in the bank account and remove the claim of B from the plot. The remaining amount of Rs. 5 lakh will be deposited in the central government account.

(2) If C1, C2, and C3 offer payments of Rs. 1.25 crore, 1.35 crore and 1.50 crore, respectively, within 30 days of A's plot being sold to B, TELTO will accept the offer of C3, the name of B will be removed

from the ownership and B will be paid Rs. 1.20 crore. TELTO will deposit the remaining Rs. 30 lakh in the central government account.

(3) Once C (or C3) claim is accepted on the plot, TELTO will again wait for the next 30 days for new claims. In this stage the bid amount will be more than 25% of the last sale price paid. If C had purchased the plot for 1.25 crores, then the amount for the bid would now be 1.25 × 125% = Rs. 1.56 crores.

(4) Now if D proposes to buy this plot then the bid will start from Rs. 1.56 crores. If D makes a bid of Rs.1.60 crore, TELTO will deposit Rs. 1.50 crore into C's account, enter D's name as the potential owner of the plot and wait for the next 30 days.

(5) If no other party comes for bidding for the next 30 days, TELTO will transfer the plot to the name of the last buyer, and the last buyer will become the permanent owner.

[ Note : In this way, the difference between the market price and the circle rate will gradually decrease and the circle rate will continue to be revised.]

10 Calculation of ELT to be Paid

(10.1) Price of land : The landowner can deduct the exemptions given to him and his family members from the intended plot of land, as stated in section (02), and it is not necessary that they are physically occupying those pieces of land. After deducting the exemptions, the circle rate of the remaining land blocks will be taken to calculate the taxable price of the land.

(10.2) Tax Credit : In the increasing order for the financial years i.e. the oldest tax credit will be deducted first. If the value of the final amount is positive, then that amount will have to be paid. If the value of the final amount is negative then the tax credits will be reduced and the actual tax to be paid will be zero. The remaining amount of the tax credit can be used to settle the ELT in the coming years.

(10.3) If a person owns a flat or office in a complex, the area of his own land of ownership shall be decided according to the share of ownership in the complex. In the event of a dispute, the officer appointed by the NELTO will decide on the basis of the agreement made for the given Society or Complex.

(10.4) Computation of actual ELT : Out of the total property in the ownership, the exemptions of self and family members mentioned in section (02) and the tax credit as indicated in section (03) will be deducted. After deducting these items, the land and construction which will be taxable will be taxed at the rate of 1% per annum according to the circle rate.

(10.5) The annual rate of 1% stated above can be changed by the Prime Minister, which (the percent) will depend upon expenses in essential government mechanisms like army, police, courts, roads, mathematics / science / weapon use education and also depend on other necessary expenses for nurturing of government departments and saving property from enemies and criminals.

(10.6) In case of non-payment of ELT, the landlord can request to lock his property, and in such case 12% per annum interest will be applicable. In this case, the price of the property should be at least twice the price of the outstanding tax. If the property price falls below double the tax demanded, the NELTO can order the auction of such property. But if the owner of such property is a woman or a male above the age of 60 years and the sole property that he/she owns is this only, then the

outstanding tax will continue to be added and disposed off during the sale or inheritance of such property.

11 Calculaton of ELT on the Rented Land Plot

(11.1) If the rental agreement was made after the enactment of this law, then the entire tax will be levied only on the landlord. Landowners and tenants can fix ELT of their part before forming a rent agreement. The tenant will not be allowed the exemption of land or construction to keep the tax low.

(11.2) After the enactment of this law, within 6 months the tenant will be free to break the rent agreement without any penalty. In such a case, neither the owner nor the tenant will have to pay any tax on this property for these 6 months. Landlords and tenants will now be able to form a new agreement.

(11.3) If the rent agreement was made before the enactment of this law, and after the enactment of this law, the tenant wishes to continue this agreement for more than 6 months, the tenant shall pay all the taxes on the house or office, until he empties the property. The tenant will be able to use his and his family's exemptions to reduce the ELT. The family member whose exemption has been used will not necessarily be residing there. The tax return of the property given on such rental will be filed separately by the tenant and the owner will enter nil tax for this house, but he will have to show the name of the tenant, information related to the tenant and address of the property etc. in his return.

12 Appointment of National Empty Land Tax Officer (NELTO) and its Staff

(12.1) The Prime Minister will appoint an officer named NELTO = National Empty Land Tax Officer to collect empty land tax.

(12.2) NELTO shall recruit officers working in the Central Government or the State Government with the consent of their designated heads. NELTO will appoint a State Empty Land Tax Officer (SELTO) in each state, a District Empty Land Tax Officer (DELTO) in each district and a Tehsil Empty Land Tax Officer (TELTO) in each tehsil. All these officers will come under the Central Government and work under the direction of NELTO.

(12.3) For NELTO and National Jury Administrator : Any citizen of India who is more than 35 years of age can apply for the post of NELTO or National Jury Administrator.

(12.4) For Jury Administrator : Any citizen of India whose age is more than 30 years can apply for the post of District and State Jury Administrator.

(12.5) If any citizen possessing the qualifications given in Sections (12.3) and (12.4) presents an affidavit in the District Collector Office either himself or through a lawyer, then the district collector will have to accept the application for the post by taking an amount equal to the amount to be deposited in the election of the MP, and will scan the affidavit and put it on the PM's website.

13

Voter registering YES to support candidates

(13.1) Any citizen can go to the Patwari office with his VoteVapsi passbook on any day and register YES in support of the candidates of NELTO, District Jury Administrator, State and National Jury Administrator. Patwari will record the voter's YES in his computer and VoteVapsi passbook. Patwari

will put voters’ YES along with the candidates' name and voter ID number on the district's website. A voter can show opinion for a maximum of 5 persons of his choice from among candidates for a post.

(13.2) The voter will pay Rs. 3 fee for registering his opinion (YES). The fee for the BPL card holder will be Re. 1.

(13.3) If a voter comes to cancel his opinion, the patwari will cancel one or more names without any fee.

(13.4) On the 5th of each month, the Collector will publish a count of the YES received by each of the candidates received in the previous month. Patwari will perform this demonstration of the opinion (YES) of his area every Monday. The opinion for the NELTO and National Jury Administrator will also be demonstrated by the Cabinet Secretary on the 5th of each month.

[ Comment : Collectors can create such a system that voters can register their acceptance through SMS, ATM and mobile app.

Range Voting — The Prime Minister or the Chief Minister can create such a system that voters can score between -100 to 100 points to a candidate. If the voter only registers yes, it will be considered equal to 100. If the voter does not register his acceptance, it will be considered as zero. But if the voter gives points then only the marks given by him will be valid. This range voting process is superior to the acceptance system, and provides immunity from Arrow's Useless Impossibility Theorem.]

13 Appointment and removal of NELTO and Jury Administrator

(14.1) For NELTO and National Jury Administrator : If a candidate receives more than 35% of the YES of all the voters (all voters, not only those who have given opinion) in the voter list of the country. And if these YES are also 1% more than the incumbent officer, then the Prime Minister can remove the incumbent officer and appoint the candidate with the highest approval to the relevant post, or PM may resign from his/her post. The final decision on the appointment will be made by the Prime Minister.

(14.2) For the State and District Jury Administrator : If more than 35% of all the voters in the state's/ district’s voter list register YES in favor of a candidate and if this number of ‘opinions’ is also 1% more than the incumbent, then the NELTO may appoint that person to the post of State/District Jury Administrator.

15

Disposal of complaints regarding tax disputes by a jury

(15.1) The District Jury Administrator will appoint a 30-member Grand Jury board from the district's voter list. Out of these, 10 members will retire every 10th day and 10 new members will be selected from the voter list by lottery. The Grand Jury board will continuously be working. The Grand Jury member will get Rs. 500 per appearance and travel expenses.

(15.2) Regarding any matter related to officers and taxpayers, the plaintiff can write a complaint about his case to the members of the Grand Jury. If Grand Jury finds the case baseless, they can dismiss the complaint, or order the formation of a new jury board of citizens aged between 30 and 55 years to hear the case. The jury shall have voters aged between 30 and 55 years who have neither appeared in a jury in the last 10 years and have not previously been convicted of any crime.

(15.3) The order of priority of the district in which the dispute would be heard between the taxpayer and the tax officer shall be as follows: The taxpayer is a voter or resident in the district or has a

registered office or in the district the given land is situated. If the taxpayer or tax officer wishes to change the venue of the hearing to another district of the same state, they can obtain an order from the State Jury Administrator or the State High Court, and if either one of the parties wants the location of the hearing outside the state then they can get orders from the National Jury Administrator or the Supreme Court.

(15.4) For each tax dispute filed in the district, the Jury Administrator shall randomly select 3 to 10 Chartered Accountants from the list of Chartered Accountants who have agreed to assist in the cases. Selected Chartered Accountants should be between 30 years to 55 years of age and have 5 years of work experience as Chartered Accountants.

(15.5) The number of jurors shall be a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 1500. If the tax evasion claim is less than Rs. 10 lakh, then the number of jurors will be 12, and for every additional Rs. 10 lakh tax evasion claim will increase 1 additional juror. But the maximum size of the jury shall not exceed 1500 jury members.

(15.6) If 75% or more of the jurors decide to sack the accused employee or to pay a fine, NELTO may expel such employee or charge him rent, or NELTO is not required to do so. If the complainant feels that the NELTO has not adhered to the decision of the jurors properly, then he can demand from the voters of India that they agree to expel NELTO by using the VoteVapsi procedure given in Section (13).

(15.7) The decision of the jurors of the district court may be appealed before the higher jurors or High Court judges and later before the Supreme Jurors or the judges of the Supreme Court.

16

Citizen's Voice

(16.1) When the Prime Minister or Parliament or NELTO issues a notification or notice to make changes in this law, it will be sent to all the DELTO working all over India and DELTO will call 12 jurors randomly from the voter list. DELTO will put the details of this notice before the jurors and the jurors may ask a chartered accountant or other person to express their views on this notice. If most of the jury boards across India oppose this newsletter, then the Prime Minister or NELTO may resign their office or they do not need to do so, or they can cancel such newsletter or they do not need to do so. The Prime Minister's decision in this regard will be considered as final.

(16.2) If a voter wants any change in this law, he can submit an affidavit to the Collector Office. The District Collector will upload the affidavit by scanning on the Prime Minister's website along with voter ID number of the voter at the rate of Rs. 20 per page.

(16.3) If a voter wishes to register his opinion on an affidavit submitted under section 16.2, he can register his YES / NO at Patwari office by paying a fee of Rs. 3. Patwari will register it and will put YES / NO of the voter with his voter id number on the Prime Minister's website.

[ Comment : 4 years after the enactment of this law, if there is a positive and decisive change in the system, then any citizen can submit an affidavit under section 15 of this law, in which those activists will be given a reasonable reward as a consolation who have made efforts to implement this law. If an activist is not alive then the reward will be given to his / her nominee. This consideration may be in the form of a memento / citation etc. or some other form. If 51% of the citizens of the state register YES on this affidavit, then the Prime Minister / Chief Minister can, or may not, issue orders to implement it.]

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