Fera Immunity

On June 19, your paper published different views regarding immunity from the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (Fera) for those who make disclosure of income under the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme (VDIS), two from the CBDT and one from a tax consultant. On June 20, you have published a full page advertisement issued by the government's promising immunity under Fera.

Actually there is no provision in law at all granting immunity. There are two sections in the scheme which are creating a totally wrong impression that immunity has been granted. One is Section 71, which merely promises that the contents of the declaration under the scheme shall not be used as evidence for penalty or prosecution under Fera etc. The second is Section 72, which makes the promises, namely (i) that the declaration shall be treated as confidential, (ii) no court or authority shall call for it and (iii) no public servant shall disclose its contents.

Because of these two sections the Enforcement Directorate (ED) cannot have access to the