Meghalaya Assembly introduces Bill seeking to levy cess on 14 new minerals

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaNovember 5, 2020

The state Assembly on Thursday introduced the Meghalaya Minerals Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to augment revenue resources of the state.

Tabling the Bill on the first day of the autumn session, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said the Meghalaya Minerals Cess Act, 1988 was enacted to provide levy and collection of cess on some minerals for development of primary education and development and improvement of mining areas.

“In order to augment revenue resources of the state, it is decided to amend section 3 of the Meghalaya Minerals Cess Act, 1988 to levy cess on 14 new minerals viz, iron ore, building stone, granite, boulder, ordinary sand, ordinary clay, ordinary earth, gravel, slate, shale, brick earth, quartz, quartzite and sandstone and also fix the rate of cess for each mineral,” he said.

Sangma said it was also decided to include improvement of public health, drinking water supply and physical infrastructure development in addition to the purpose mentioned under clause (a) and (b) of section 5 of the Act.

“To achieve the primary objectives of the Meghalaya Mineral Cess Act, 1988, it is proposed to utilize not less than 25% of the amount collected for the purpose of development of primary education,” he said.

Meanwhile, the state Assembly also introduced the Meghalaya Settlement of Arrears (Under the State Taxation Acts) Bill, 2020, the St Xavier’s University Shillong Bill, 2020 and the Meghalaya Farmers’ (Empowerment) Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2020.

Minister in-charge Taxation, James K Sangma said to mobilize tax resources that have become due for years but have remained unrecoverable due to burden of such dues, this Bill provides for applicant an opportunity of remission on dues on account of tax, interest, surcharge and penalty, on condition of payment of 70 percent of total outstanding dues within a stipulated time period and for other matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

“Therefore, it is expedient to effect recovery of the arrear dues on account of unrecovered tax, surcharge, interest and penalty that has accumulated over a number of years, it is necessary to enact a legislation to notify a scheme for waive off a certain percentage of the arrear dues if a tax defaulter comes forward to avail the benefit of the scheme and pays the remainder of the amount in full, hence the Bill,” Sangma said.

Presenting the University Bill, Education Minister, Lahkmen Rymbui said, “…it has become essential to establish a university of excellence in the state of Meghalaya through the St Xavier’s University Shillong to impart quality education in the emerging fields.”

He said the university will provide instruction, teaching, training, encouraging and providing for instruction and research in various branches of learning and courses of study, promoting advancement and wider dissemination of knowledge and learning, and extending higher education, to meet the growing needs of the society, to create higher levels of intellectual abilities to achieve higher order cognitive skills and professional development.