According to the amended rules, an income tax raid may be authorised if there is a "reason to believe" or "reason to suspect" that a person is hiding his wealth.

The law will allows taxmen to not reveal to the person raided or any appellate tribunal the "reason to believe" or "reason to suspect" a violation.

The amendment to the law will be effective from April 1, 1962.

One of the changes made in the law says an Income Tax authority can ask another authority to "requisition from some other officer or authority to deliver books of account, documents or assets of the assessee to the income tax authority so authorised."

The amendment effectively makes taxman unaccountable to any court or appellate tribunal to explain whether he or she had any credible information before ordering the raid.

The amendment is being attributed to the Vodafone tax case that erupted during the Congress-led UPA government.

In the Vodafone case, the retrospective tax changes were made from 1962 to undermine a Supreme Court verdict that went in favour of the UK company.

In his Budget speech in 2014, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had assured the government there will not be any retrospective amendment to a law.

"The sovereign right of the government to undertake retrospective legislation is unquestionable. However, this power has to be exercised with extreme caution and judiciousness keeping in mind the impact of each such measure on the economy and the overall investment climate. This government will not ordinarily bring about any change retrospectively which creates a fresh liability," Jaitley had said.