H. MISCELLANEOUS

Several amendments to the Act have been proposed with a view to rationalising the provisions. These amendments have been explained in the following paragraphs.

Exemption to specified income of class of body, authority, Board, Trust or Commission in certain cases

Clause 46 of section 10 of the Act empowers the Central Government to exempt, by notification, specified income arising to a body or authority or Board or Trust or Commission, if-

(a) they are not engaged in any commercial activity;

(b) they are established or constituted by or under a Central, State or Provincial Act or constituted by the Central Government or a State Government, with the object of regulating or administering any activity for the benefit of the general public.

Under the existing provisions, the Central Government is required to notify each case separately even if they belong to the same class of cases. Consequently, the whole process of approval is considerably delayed. Accordingly, it is proposed to amend the said clause so as to enable the Central Government to also exempt, by notification, a class of such body or authority or Board or Trust or Commission (by whatever name called).

This amendment will take effect from 1st April, 2018.

[Clause 5]

Exemption power expanded to allow notifications for a class of public bodies, reducing case-by-case approval delays. The amendment authorises the Central Government to exempt, by notification, a class of bodies, authorities, Boards, Trusts or Commissions whose income arises from non-commercial activities and which are constituted by or under statute or by government for public regulatory or administrative purposes, replacing the requirement for separate notifications for each case and thereby streamlining approvals.