CBDT sheds more light on PAN to clear
confusion
NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — The government today said that transactions like opening bank accounts, property sales and car purchase would not be hampered on account of its order on the mandatory quoting of income tax permanent account number. There is no confusion on this score, Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes Ravi Kant said.

Concor sell-off first in domestic market
NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — The government stake in the Container Corporation (Concor) will be divested in the domestic market initially.

Moderate gains on short-covering MUMBAI, Oct 22 — Equities reacted sharply during midsession trading on heavy selling pressure by FIIs but recovered on short-covering to close with moderate gains at the NSE.

When doctor is not ready

‘Subsidies don’t benefit poor’
NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — Experts today called upon the government to come up with clear policies for ensuring commercial viability of private sector projects.

TVS-Suzuki net jumps 27 pc
CHENNAI, Oct 22 — Two-wheeler giant TVS-Suzuki recorded a 27 per cent increase in its net profit during the first six months of the current fiscal compared to the same period in the previous year.

CMC posts record turnover of 148 cr
NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — India’s premier computer company CMC Ltd has posted a record turnover of Rs 148.6 crore for the first half of the current fiscal with a 72.34 per cent growth in net profits over the same period last year.

Haryana to get WB loan for power
CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The Haryana Government will receive the second instalment of Rs 1100 crore of the World Bank loan for the power sector reform project by June, 1999.

Anubhav defaults, MD booked
CHENNAI, Oct 22 — The police is on the look out for the chief executive of the high profile Anubhav group of companies engaged in construction, plantation and finance, following complaints of cheating by depositors.

Onida Finance told to repay deposits
NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — The Company Law Board has directed defaulting non-banking finance company Onida Finance Ltd to repay the fixed deposits amount to the depositors in the next four years.

CBDT sheds more light on
PAN to clear confusion

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (PTI) — The government today said that transactions like opening bank accounts, property sales and car purchase would not be hampered on account of its order on the mandatory quoting of income tax permanent account number (PAN).

There is no confusion on this score, Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes Ravi Kant told PTI while spelling out a detailed clarification on the recent notification on PAN.

Farmers having only agricultural income do not have to pay income tax and hence would not have a PAN. Such persons would only have to declare the fact in a one page simple form before entering into any business transactions.

‘‘In no case transactions would be prevented if one did not have a PAN number nor would there be any harassment,’’ he said.

The Income Tax Department was expediting the issuance of PAN to those who have already applied and such persons would only have to approach their income tax circle, which would issue PAN numbers.

The department also proposed to open special counters for the issue of PAN. As major transactions were usually planned in advance, new income tax assessees should take steps to get the PAN numbers in time.

Mr Kant said all old income tax assessees had been issued either PAN or GIR (general income registration) number. Such persons would have to quote PAN or GIR number while entering into business transactions specified in the notification.

The notification says that eight types of business transactions qualify for mandatory quoting of PAN or GIR numbers.

They are: sale and purchase of immovable property beyond Rs 5 lakh, motor vehicles, securities above Rs 10 lakh, time deposits exceeding Rs 50,000 with banks and post offices, opening of new bank accounts, new telephone connections and hotel bills beyond Rs 25,000.

This decision was to ensure that major economic deals and transactions came to notice of the Income Tax department and certainly not an to attempt bar such transactions, Mr Kant said.

The CBDT Chairman said there was ‘‘no logic’’ in reports that the Finance Ministry was planning to introduce a separate Budget head for the collections from the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme.

FM: insurance Bill in winter session
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — The Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Bill will be presented in the winter session of Parliament, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said today.

The IRA Bill, once put in place, is expected to facilitate private sector participation in the insurance sector.

There are a few loose ends to be tightened and the legislation will be ready by the next session of Parliament.

Admitting that there has been a crunch of long-term resources in the country for infrastructure development, Mr Sinha said that it is the insurance sector which will provide long-term funds for this purpose. "Unfortunately we had not looked at the insurance sector in that light", he said.

Besides the institutional framework for infrastructure finance has also been strengthened to facilitate the flow of long-term funds into the infrastructure sector.

"With these steps, in the next few years, the resource crunch for infrastructure will become a thing of the past and there will be enough money in the system for pushing ahead reforms", he said.

Pricing is another major issue which needed to be resolved . At the moment there is no clear-cut picture of the losses and benefits due to subsidies, he said adding that it was time that politicians stopped indulging in competitive populism.

Conceding that some projects would have to be subsidised, Mr Sinha said that the state has to take a conscious decision on this and subsidies have to be made upfront so that people can decide whether these are needed.

"We have to now think of two levels — existing services to continue to be free or subsidised and provision of new services at market prices," the Finance Minister said. To open the infrastructure sector to private players, the pricing issue must be resolved and the State cannot step in to fix prices.

Underlining the need for a regulatory authority in the infrastructure sector on the line of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Mr Sinha said that there was the need for an "umpire" between the consumer and the provider.

"There must be a system where the service provider, the consumer and even the State can approach the regulatory authority with complaints", he said.

Concor sell-off first in domestic market
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — The government stake in the Container Corporation (Concor) will be divested in the domestic market initially, the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha, said here today.

Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of an international conference on infrastructutre development organised by the CII here today, Mr Sinha said that the core group on divestment has been asked out to work out the details.

Expressing confidence that the government will be able to meet the Rs 5,000 crore target fixed in the Union Budget this year, Mr Sinha said that the price for disinvestment has been finalised.

“We have thought of some price but it will be announced only at the right time,” Mr Sinha said. The Concor disinvestment will be followed by that of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) within the current fiscal.

When doctor is not ready

By Pushpa Girimaji

A RECENT order of the National Commission holding two doctors guilty of negligence for operating on a patient without adequate preparedness for emergencies should make all hospitals and nursing homes in the country sit up and pay more attention to this aspect of medical care.

In this case Mrs Pilankar was operated upon at Sukhanda Maternity and Nursing home, following a complaint of excess discharge during menstruation. The surgery took seven hours and at the end of it, Mrs Pilankar died on the operating table.

The Mumbai Grahak Panchayat (MGP), which filed a complaint before the consumer court on behalf of her husband, blamed the death of Mrs Pilankar on the negligence of the doctors and sought a compensation of over Rs 9 lakh. The patient had died because of extensive blood loss and the inability of the doctors to foresee this and keep units of blood ready in the operation theatre for timely transfusion, the complaint said. The consumer group also pointed to several inadequacies in the nursing home which led to Mrs Pilankar’s death. The doctor, on the other hand, argued that the patient was fully investigated before surgery and monitored throughout the operation. Immediate post-operative cardiac arrest could occur as an accident.

The Commission, after hearing both the parties, concluded that the doctors had not anticipated likely complications that might arise in a major surgery on an obese patient weighing 124 kg and with a rare blood group. The commission said: "Not withstanding the inconclusive position on the cause of death, there are obvious deficiencies in the service of the appellants which have contributed to the death of the patient on the operation table. The appellants failed to take even the minimum care by not keeping the blood in adequate quantity before they started the operation, knowing that the patient was having a rare blood group. They failed to take normal care and diligence by not providing for a mechanically operated artificial respirator and an adequately long needle for an intra-cardiac injection as the patient was obese. While these are essential steps which should be taken in any major surgery, these should have been particularly essential in the instance case of a patient of potential risk. That the appellants (doctors) totally failed in these respects finally resulting in the death of the patient on the operating table establishes their negligence and deficiency of their service."

The commission referred to the contention of the doctors that "morbid obesity" itself posed a set of problems and pointed out that despite being aware of the inherent risks, the doctors did not make the requisite essential arrangements in the operation theatre. "Although the appellants had got done pre-operative tests on the patient, the material on record points to conspicuous absence of pre-planning for the operation per se having regard to the specific physical and pathological condition of the patient", the Commission said.

The National Commission pointed to the doctors’ statement that their last attempt to save the patient through intra-cardiac adrenaline injection was unsuccessful because the needle failed to penetrate the heart due to extreme obesity. This, the commission said, also exposed the state of unpreparedness as a longer needle was not kept in readiness. On the absence of a machine-operated artificial respirator at the nursing home, the commission said it found force in the argument of the complainant that with an obese patient with thick chest walls, a manually operated respirator as used by the appellants might not guarantee adequate ventilation.

The National Commission, in its order dated September 4, 1998, thus upheld this order of the Maharashtra State Commission, holding the doctors guilty of negligent service. The state commission had directed the doctors to pay jointly Rs 2,55,355 as compensation to Mr Pilankar.

This case is important from another point of view too. In an appeal filed by the Grahak Panchayat against the order of the state commission (First Appeal No 468 of 1993) earlier, the National Commission had clarified that privity of contract was not needed for a claim to be made under the Consumer Protection Act so long as there was hiring or availing of services for a consideration. The consumer group had appealed against the order of the state commission holding that the anaesthetist was not liable under the Consumer Protection Act as there was no privity of contract between the patient and the anaesthetist.

The National Commission had held such a view to be erroneous. Besides, under the Consumer Protection Act, even a beneficiary of a service was a consumer and in this case, as the beneficiary of the medical service rendered by the anaesthetist, the patient was a consumer, the Commission had said.

However, it agreed with the finding of the State Commission that there was no evidence of deficiency in the service rendered by the anaesthetist.

Moderate gains on short-covering

MUMBAI, Oct 22 (PTI) — Equities reacted sharply during midsession trading on heavy selling pressure by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) but recovered on short-covering to close with moderate gains at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) here today. Activity was restricted due to the closure of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on account of "Bhau Bij".

The total turnover was Rs 1168.94 crore from 446.06 lakh shares and in 1,48,904 trades. Debentures traded value was Rs 30.14 lakhs.

The exchange witnessed 548 scrips advance, 292 scrips decline and 91 scrips remain unchanged.; while 53 securities hit their price bands.

Among the top five prominent scrips were ITC with a turnover of Rs 283.46 crore, Zee Tele Rs 139.40 crore, Satyam Comp Rs 130.43 crore, Reliance Rs 78.90 crore and SBI Rs 72.15 crore.

Among the other top 25 securities traded during the day were Pentafour Software (Rs 56.45 cr), Castrol (Rs 53.94 cr), Hind Lever (Rs 51.28 cr), HCL-HP (Rs 25.32 cr), ACC (Rs 22.27 cr), Dr Reddy (Rs 21.40 cr), Infosys Tech (Rs 18.09 cr), Telco (Rs 18.05 cr), Digital Equip (Rs 15.63 cr), Tata Tea (Rs 14.42 cr), MTNL (Rs 12.71 cr), L&T (Rs 10.74 cr), BFL Software (Rs 9.95 cr), Tisco (Rs 9.11 cr), Wipro (Rs 7.25 cr), BHEL (Rs 7.20 cr), Nestle (Rs 5.79 cr), ICICI (Rs 5.74 cr), Amarajabat (Rs 5.71 cr) and Silverline (Rs 4.44 cr).

The top five S&P CNX Nifty gainers were GE Shipping Rs 19.20 (Rs 18.15), Telco Rs 98.20 (Rs 93.35), Reliance Rs 106.00 (Rs 101.30), HDFC Bank Rs 53.75 (Rs 51.40) and Bank of India Rs 23.20 (Rs 22.25).

The top five losers were ACC Rs 816.00 (Rs 871.70), Hind Lever Rs 1597.50 (Rs 1661.00), M&M Rs 146.55 (Rs 152.05), Tisco Rs 70.00 (Rs 72.10) and Colgate Rs 165.80 (Rs 170.25).

‘Subsidies don’t benefit poor’
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 — Experts today called upon the government to come up with clear policies for ensuring commercial viability of private sector projects.

Institutional and foreign investors were perturbed by the delay in decision-making on the part of the government, the Chairman and Managing Director of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd, Mr Ravi Parthasarathy said while speaking at "Infranet" organised by the CII here today.

Urging that subsidies should be eliminated and the private sector should be allowed to bill user charges, Mr Parthasarathy said that there was a need to dispel the misconception that the poor would be hurt if user charges were levied in sensitive sectors like power and water.

Echoing a similar view, the Director General of National Council for Applied Economic Research, Dr Rakesh Mohan, said that subsidies never worked for the benefit of the poor.

About 65 per cent of the rural population lives without power connections, thus the hidden subsidies were lapped up the by the rich, he said.

Dr Mohan said that there should be further opening up of the capital market to facilitate better movement of funds." The increasing competition in telecommunication, power and civil aviation is good for infrastructure development in the country", he said.

The Chairman of Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC), Mr Deepak Parekh, said the Indian government had a lesson to learn from the South Asian economic crisis. The region’s economy lacked a liquid debt market.

The pursuit of revenue maximisation was likely to be detrimental to the development of the infrastructural sector. A more desirable objective, he said, would be to enhance overall economic efficiency of the sector.

TVS-Suzuki net jumps 27 pc

CHENNAI, Oct 22 (PTI) — Two-wheeler giant TVS-Suzuki recorded a 27 per cent increase in its net profit during the first six months of the current fiscal compared to the same period in the previous year.

A company press note said here that its profit went up to Rs 43.49 crore as against Rs 34.25 crore in the first six months of 1997-98.

The turnover also increased to Rs 617.04 crore during the six months as against Rs 484.91 crore in 1997-98.

In terms of volume the company sold over 3.34 lakh vehicles during the period under review as against over 2.76 lakh vehicles the previous year.

The company claimed that it maintained its leadership in the moped segment with a market share of 51 per cent. It sold 1,65,177 vehicles during the six months as against 1,47,692 vehicles during the same period the previous year.

CMC posts record turnover of 148 cr

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (PTI) — India’s premier computer company CMC Ltd has posted a record turnover of Rs 148.6 crore for the first half of the current fiscal with a 72.34 per cent growth in net profits over the same period last year.

Half-yearly turnover of the state-owned company went up from Rs 123.64 crore the same period last year to Rs 148.6 crore, even as the net profit crossed Rs 2.72 crore over Rs 1.57 crore during the first half of last year, Chairman and Managing Director of the company SS Ghosh told reporters here today.

The company expects turnover for the current financial year to cross Rs 350 crore and revenue from its American subsidiary to reach Rs 100 crore during the calendar year up from last year’s Rs 55 crore, he said.

CMC is a state-owned enterprises in which 84 per cent of the stake is being held by the government with the rest held by public.

Haryana to get WB loan for power
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, Oct 22 — The Haryana Government will receive the second instalment of Rs 1100 crore of the World Bank loan for the power sector reform project by June, 1999.

This was revealed by Mr Djamal Mostefai, a senior energy specialist of the World Bank, who called on the Haryana Minister of State for Power, Mr Attar Singh Saini, here today.

Mr Mostefai was accompanied by Mr Harvey Salog, a technical consultant and Mr Peter Meier, an economic consultant of the bank.

Mr Mostefai hoped Haryana’s reform measures would improve the availability and quality of power, besides enhancing the efficiency of the staff.

The minister said that a separate office for Genco would be set up.

Mr Mostefai told Mr Saini that a team of Sri Lanka would visit Haryana soon to study its power reform project. Several other countries are evincing keen interest in Haryana’s initiatives.

Mr S.Y. Quraishi, Commissioner and Secretary, Power, and Mr Ranjit Issar Chairman, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, were also present at the meeting.

Anubhav defaults, MD booked

CHENNAI, Oct 22 (UNI) — The police is on the look out for the chief executive of the high profile Anubhav group of companies engaged in construction, plantation and finance, following complaints of cheating by depositors.

The police has registered a case against its Managing Director C Natesan, following a complaint from Mr Mandhigan that he had deposited Rs 2 lakh and the company had failed to pay back the money on maturity.

The group had already opened branches all over the country and accepted deposits to the tune of Rs 50 crore, mostly from upper middle class people. By 2004, when most of the deposits get matured, the company would have to pay a whopping Rs 600 crores to the depositors.

In all, the city police received complaints from 37 persons who had deposited a sum of Rs 17.5 lakh but they were yet to mature. Anubhav’s case comes close on the heels of the closing down of the city-based Balu jewellers and the arrest of its owner Balu Ayappan.

The police had proceeded against 52 private finance companies and seized properties worth Rs 190 crore belonging to them. A special court is trying these cases.

Onida Finance told to repay deposits

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (PTI) — The Company Law Board (CLB) has directed defaulting non-banking finance company (NBFC) Onida Finance Ltd (OFL) to repay the fixed deposits amount to the depositors in the next four years.

The board member Dr A.K. Doshi in a suo motu order directed the company to repay all remaining deposits after taking into consideration the inflow and outflow of funds of the company.

CLB has directed the company to repay the money in four years as the OFL has been facing severe liquidity crisis and was not able to discharge its fixed deposits liability immediately.

OFL had also stated to the CLB that it was financially sound and stable, liquidity was the major problem which resulted in default in payments of deposits.

The company has total liability of Rs 5.39 crore towards deposits and interest up to August 31. While its assets are worth Rs 23.16 crore up to March 31, 1998.

As a part of the repayment scheme, amount upped Rs 5,000 has to be paid within one year from the date of maturity along with due interest.

While deposits between Rs 5,000-10,000 has to be repaid within two years from the date of maturity with 40 per cent during the first year and balance 60 per cent in the second year.

As part of the CLB order, amount between Rs 10,000-25,000 should be repaid by OFL in three years from the date of maturity with 30 per cent each in the first and second year and balance 40 per cent in the third year.

All deposits between Rs 25,000-1,00,000 will be paid in four years from the matured date at the rate of 25 per cent each year and the interest for both pre and post maturity periods will be paid along with the last instalment. While deposits of over Rs 1 lakh will be paid in four years with 15 per cent of the amount to be paid in the first and second year 30 per cent in third year and balance 40 per cent in fourth year.

Gold

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (PTI) — Gold prices tumbled further on the bullion market today on reduced offtake. There was no trading in silver as shops remained closed on account of "Bhaidooj". Today’s quotations: silver and its coins - no trading. Standard gold 4315, ornaments 4165 and sovereign 3700.

BHEL chief

NEW DELHI, Oct 22 (UNI) — Mr K. G. Ramachandran has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) with effect from October 20. Mr Ramachandran, Director (Finance), was holding additional charge of CMD in BHEL from June 1 following the retirement of Mr R. K. D. Shah.