New Delhi: The Rajnath Singh Committee on Kelkar panel recommendations on direct and indirect taxes on January 20 submitted its report to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president M Venkaiah Naidu in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

"The party president will go through the 8-page report and finalise it on January 23 before giving it to Finance Minister Jaswant Singh for suitable incorporation in the general Budget 2003-2004," party general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters.

The report given by Singh, who headed a 7-member committee, had rejected Kelkar recommendations on doing away with exemptions on personal income tax and small saving interest rates and strongly favoured retention of tax benefits for housing loans and pensioners. It, however, favoured most of the proposals on indirect taxes.

On another sensitive issue of taxing agricultural income, the committee felt it was not totally averse to the idea but a political consensus was needed as it was a complex and controversial issue. Besides, it also required amendments to the Constitution as agriculture is a state subject.

BJP sources felt that as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government wanted to encourage housing sector and as part of this exercise it had disbursed Rs 17,000 crore last year and Rs 37,000 crore for 2002-2003, it was not proper to implement the recommendations of the Kelkar panel.

PTI