NEW DELHI: The Central Association of Private Security Industry (CAPSI) has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying private security services should be exempted from paying service tax.
In a letter shot off to the Prime Minister on July 29, CAPSI Chairman Kunwar Vikram Singh said in order to "create goodwill among its citizens post-Covid, the private security services should be declared tax free as majority of such services are now being availed by lakhs of resident welfare associations (RWAs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs)".
If the private security industry is exempted from service tax payment, consumers of the private security services will be hugely benefitted as such services will become more affordable, he added.
Singh is of the view that it is the basic and fundamental duty of the government to ensure that every citizen of the country feels safe and secure by providing adequate internal security infrastructure.
The government created police and paramilitary forces to respond the security and safety situation for its citizen and does not send invoices to people for availing such services which are provided to ensure safe living for all, he pointed out, he wrote in the letter.
Due to very low ratio of public and police in India, there is huge gray areas where citizens are forced to protect themselves and their assets by retaining the paid services of private security agencies, he said.
This need is felt by them as they don't feel secure due to various prevailing factors that create a fear psychosis among them that force them to buy private security for a cost, according to the letter.
The circumstances arose out of the factor that government internal security infrastructure is not adequate to grant right to security to citizen, it said.
Such an inadequacy of government services must be compensated by the state by paying for the additional security services needed by its citizens, Singh said in the letter.
He further said that "this huge expense may not be possible for an already burdened government, but they should not levy a service tax to those who should have been protected by the government".
People pay for the security services, therefore, take away the financial burden off the government of raising more battalions of police and paramilitary forces.
Considering this huge saving, the government must not charge services tax for the services which they are duty bound to provide, it said.