Addressing a meeting organised by the ladies' wing of the Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) here on Wednesday, he categorically stated that no extension would be granted to the scheme.

"The assessees get enough time to make payments after making an application under the scheme," he said, adding that the government wants the collections from the scheme to be accounted this fiscal rather than streching it to the next financial year.

According to him, the scheme will pick up momentum as the government has also decided to accept a Delhi high court judgment, which seeks to extend the scope of the scheme by widening the term `tax arrear'. The judgement also makes appeals filed by the revenue department eligible to come under the scheme.

"There are various ways of looking at the success of the scheme. If we go by the numbers, the figures arenot very impressive, but still whatever number of assessees who have availed themselves of the scheme got rid of the litigation," he said.

Misra said the collection figures have been encouraging this year, especially from the corporate sector. Till November 30, 1998, the gross corporate tax and income tax collections stood at Rs 8,044 crore and Rs 2,728 crore.

The refunds to the corporate sector was Rs 3,023 crore, while refunds for income-tax was Rs 231 crore.

Chief commisioner of central excise (and in-charge of Samadhan scheme) KV Vaidyanathan disclosed that a notification has been issued by the government on Wednesday which waives any penalty on the director of a company.

Earlier, the directors of the company were also held reponsible for any penalty levied on the company. And if the company availed itself of the scheme, it was mandatory for the directors too to file a separate declaration and pay 50 per cent of the penalty levied by the revenue department.