Govt won’t sing Zubin’s song

The government may believe that gifts to sportspersons merit customs duty exemption, but the Finance Ministry has refused to waive the duty on a Yamaha Concert Grand Piano gifted to the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation. The piano was gifted to the foundation under the aegis of the Suntory Hall-Mehta Scholarship Scheme, initiated after a Zubin Mehta concert in Tokyo in 1997.
After conducting the benefit concert, Mehta was asked by the Suntory Foundation where he’d like the proceeds to go.Mehta opted for the foundation named after his father and the piano was shipped to Mumbai by January 2000. But with its arrival, the issue of payment of Rs 5.02 lakh as duty arose. Says a trustee of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, “The piano was a gift and the duty is a lot of money for a registered charity like ours.�
Hoping to get the fee waived, the foundation furnished a customs bond (which enabled it to get possession of the piano), and sent an application to the Finance Ministry. Mehta, too, wrote a letter urging the waiver. However, in June, the foundation received a letter from the Finance Ministry stating that “Section 25(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, empowers the Central Government to grant ad-hoc exemption from payment of customs duty on import of only such goods which are of secret or strategic nature or are meant for charitable purpose.� The letter further stated that since the foundation was not covered under policy guidelines for grant of exemption, the application was rejected.
Says the spokesperson, “Why should the government waive the duty for some individuals and not others?�
The piano is currently at the National Centre for Performing Arts.
So what next? Says the spokesperson, “We can’t appeal and if the Finance Ministry doesn’t reconsider our application, we’d have no choice but to pay. Though we don’t want litigation, we may be forced to do it.�