The parliament passed the Customs Bill of Bhutan 2017 in the joint session, today. It was passed after 69 parliamentarians present in the house voted in the favour of the bill to be endorsed.
Prior to the enactment, members re-deliberated on the five clauses of bill where they could not come to the consensus during the discussion in the last winter sitting. The re-deliberation was held upon the Royal Kasho.
The five clauses are: Customs duty rates and revisions thereof on goods shall be approved by the Parliament; customs duty shall not be levied on goods of Indian origin imported in Bhutan in accordance with the free trade agreement between Bhutan and India, the bilateral or multilateral agreements signed by the Royal Government of Bhutan, or if the appeal is unsuccessful, the appellant shall be liable to pay the disputed amount with penal interest of 24 percent per annum or fraction thereof and on allowances, benefits and other emoluments, the customs personnel working in the field shall be entitled to salary based lump-sum allowances, benefits and other emoluments on the approval of the government upon the recommendation by the Pay Commission.
However, of the five provisions, the house retained two and amended one. Another two clauses were repealed which were about signing of bilateral or multilateral agreements by Bhutan and on allowances, benefits, and other emoluments for customs officials.
The Chairperson of Joint Committee, MP Khandu Wangchuk said, “We discussed that the government will definitely look into, if any department or agency requires allowances and benefits. We already have Pay Commission which puts up proposal and then government approves it. So we decided to rescind the clause”.
MP Dorji Wangdi of Pangbang Constituency in Zhemgang echoed similar viewpoints. “All the customs staff are civil servants. Since the entitlement of allowances and benefits for every civil and public servant is clearly mentioned in the article 30 and section 2 of the constitution, it is not necessary to be mentioned in separate law,” added MP Dorji Wangdi.
The parliament session will resume on Monday and the two houses: National Assembly and the National Council will have separate sessions. In the National Assembly, the finance minister, Namgay Dorji will present the annual budget for the financial year 2017-18 along with the budget report of the previous fiscal year. In the National Council, councilors will deliberate on follow up report on resolutions of the previous session.
