Amendment to VAT act by ordinance is Legal

In a significant development, Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly Mr Dilip Walse Patil allowed the government to table an ordinance seeking to amend the Value Added Tax Bill. On March 18, when the bill was first presented, the Opposition protested the move saying that the government did not have a right as the proviso, which empowered the government to change the law by the way of an ordinance was between 2005-07 only, hence promulgation of an ordinance was illegal.
Mr Patil said, he had gone through the legal and constitutional aspects and found that the amendment sought by the government was legal.