Sunday, July 18, 1999
today's calendar
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B U S I N E S S | Sunday, July 18, 1999 |
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‘India has belied
predictions’ |
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Part-time jobs for students in
Cyprus Kuber director remanded Colgate-Palmolive net jumps 42 per
cent Industrialists seek probe Ensure quality of products: banker CAs organise conference Stop harassment to sick industrial
units Fall in occupancy worries
hoteliers Jobs for martyrs’ wards |
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Colgate-Palmolive net jumps 42 pc MUMBAI, July 17 (PTI) — Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited has reported a 42 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 12.1 crore in the first quarter ended on June 30, 1999.The company posted higher net sales at Rs 288 crore (Rs 236.2 crore the previous year) and other income of Rs 4 crore (Rs 1.9 crore) for the same period. It incurred a total expenditure of Rs 264.6 crore (Rs 219.1 crore) and a 45 per cent increase in gross profit after interest but before depreciation, amortisation and taxation of Rs 27.4 crore, a company release said here today. Bajaj Auto Limited has recorded a 7.5 per cent drop in net profit during the first quarter of 1999-2000 fiscal to touch Rs 111 crore as against Rs 120 crore a year earlier. The company had received some tax refunds and other exceptional income because of which it was able to report profits of Rs 133 crore for the quarter. Bajaj Auto’s income was Rs 876 crore in the three month period, down 0.56 per cent from Rs 881 crore in the previous year. Net sales stood at Rs 800 crore, up 1.35 per cent from Rs 811 crore in the previous year. The company’s other income stood at Rs 75.72 crore in the quarter while total expenditure was Rs 681.90 crore. Vintron Industries Ltd,
a player in the personal computer systems and
peripherals, has recommended maiden dividend of 10 per
cent in their recently concluded board meeting. Vintron
has posted a growth of 84 per cent in its turnover and a
profit of 28 per cent after taxes during the financial
year ended on March 31, 1999. |
‘India has belied predictions’ CHENNAI, July 17 (PTI) — India has earned respect in the international community by “not going to the developed world with a begging bowl, unlike Pakistan,” Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha said today. The country had belied the predictions of “Prophets of doom’ by withstanding several “trials and tribulations”, he said at a school function here. For the first time since 1948 the world community had stood by India in the Kargil conflict and the credit for this went to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, he said. Referring to the Kargil conflict, Sinha accused Pakistan of betraying the trust reposed in it by India “forgetting that the hand of friendship which New Delhi had extended can also reach their neck and break all its designs to commit aggression against our country.” He said while Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his own rushed to Washington to meet US President Bill Clinton, Vajpayee had declined even the invitation extended by Clinton. “This is the
difference between Pakistan and India. We are confident
than our neighbour that no nation could break our
determination,” he added. |
Mount
Shivalik ties up with Stroh CHANDIGARH, July 17 — The Mount Shivalik group, the brewers of the strong beer segment in India has entered into a technical collaboration and trade mark agreement with Stroh Brewery Co., the largest brewers in the USA to manufacture and market Stroh’s beer brands in India. The Stroh Brewery Co., which began brewing 200 years ago, has won top honours at many international competitions. Mount Shivalik having over 30 years of experience brewing recently set up the latest brewery in the country, at Behror in Rajasthan. It is equipped with state-of-the-art brewing facility. Keeping the international image of the brand in mind, the bottles will be available in 650 ml and 330 ml. packaging. According to Mr Rajiv Bali, Deputy Managing Director, the company has finalised a State-wise marketing plan for launch of beer in the Indian Market. Mount Shivalik is already marketing its products in more than 18 States across the country. In the first phase,
Stroh’s premium and Stroh’s super strong beer
is being launched in the States of Chandigarh, Punjab,
Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and West
Bengal. |
Part-time
jobs for students in Cyprus CHANDIGARH, July 17 — Study Abroad Foundation, a subsidiary of Canam Consultants is an educational and professional unit, which is attached to Cyprus College, the largest college in Cyprus and accredited by the Ministry of Education, Cyprus. Mr Sukhmeet Grewal, Director, Canam, said in Cyprus the unemployment rate is almost zero and plenty of part-time jobs are available. Students studying at Cyprus College get the job placement at the campus. The college has affiliation with American, European and Canadian colleges and universities, he added. Cost effective
comprehensive package of services to students are
provided said Mr Grewal at a seminar here today. Canam
has opened branches for its network at Ludhiana and
Amritsar. |
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NEW DELHI, July 17 (PTI) — A city court today remanded Roweena Sharma, a director of the Kuber group of the companies to 14 days judicial custody. The Delhi police yesterday arrested Ms Sharma, for allegedly misappropriating crores of rupees collected from the investors through its various schemes. Rovina Sharma, wife of Kuber group (CMD) Pradyumna Kumar Sharma, was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Crime Branch this evening from the Indira Gandhi International Airport minutes after she arrived here from Nepal, police said. Earlier, the Crime
Branch had arrested another Director of the company
Mukesh Mohan Sharma on July 7. Mukesh is the brother of
the company’s CMD. |
Cotton
production to rise: survey BATHINDA, July 17 — Even as the area under cotton crop has reduced considerably this year as compared to the area under same crop last year, the the production of cotton for the current financial year (1999-2000) have been estimated as 172.55 lakh bales in the country. According to a joint survey conducted by Directorate of Cotton Development and a private concern, the cotton production in the country in 1999-2000 will be 172.55 lakh bales as compared to 162.5 lakh bales produced last year. The survey revealed that in the current season, the higher production of the cotton crop was being expected as the cotton traders were expecting per acre high yield of crop due to fact that water level had gone down considerably in many pockets and weather conditions so far were conducive to the crop in the country. The survey disclosed that in North zone the production of cotton would be 32.6 lakh bales as compared to 23.75 lakh bales produced last year, in Central zone, the production was estimated around 95.5 as compared to 91.75 lakh bales of last year. In South zone the production had been shown as 36.70 lakh bales in 1999-2000 as compared to 39.5 lakh bales last year. The area under cotton crop in the country had come down to 88.85 lakh hectare as compared to 93.03 lakh hectare area which was covered with cotton crop last year. However, certain traders who talked to TNS said that production might not increase as much as predicted in the survey. They added that some of the production figures of the survey were inflated and production in certain cases was much less as shown in the survey. The traders said that months of July and August were very crucial for the crop and if the weather remained conducive to the crop, then bumper cotton crop could be expected. Otherwise a fresh estimate had to be prepared after two months. Mr Fateh Chand Sharma,
Director, Northern Cotton Association Limited said that
so far the crop was best. The State governments should
ensure the supply of original and pure pesticides when
the time of spray of these items came to have a bumper
crop of cotton. He added that State governments should
check the flooding of markets with spurious insecticides
during spray season so that cotton growers can be saved
from multiple losses. |
Industrialists
seek probe LUDHIANA, July 17 — The Ludhiana Electroplaters Association has demanded a high level probe into the function of the engineering wing of the Punjab State Industrial Export Corporation. Addressing a press conference, its President, Mr Joginder Kumar and other office-bearers alleged that there were large number of scandals in the corporation pertaining to development of various industrial sites in the different parts of the state including here the industrial capital of Punjab. Association leaders said that the government should find out that on what rates certain contracts were given to contractors to lay infrastructure and on what rates payments were made. They alleged that the Central Government had given a grant of Rs 10 crore for setting up export development industrial park but no such park had been setup. Only matter was being discussed in Punjab Government’s files. They said that CBI inquiry should be held into this aspect. The association has strongly opposed the enhancement in price of plots allotted to industrialists especially falling in the small-scale category. Association leaders said
that while Punjab Government had allotted in Phase VIII
to big industrial houses at a rate of Rs 126 per yard,
Small Scale industrialists are being asked to pay Rs 600
per yard. |
Ensure
quality of products: banker CHANDIGARH, July 17 — Get together and be sure of the quality of products. This was the message of Mrs Ranjana Kumar, Executive Director of Canara Bank, to women entrepreneurs who met her at the bank here today. Mrs Kumar was of the opinion that since there are many aspects to be looked into for a business to succeed, like-minded women should unite and divide jobs. This was significant in the light of the fact that they had to look after their homes too. Mrs Kumar said the business of export of Indian garments was in the doldrums. And we could learn to be particular about maintaining quality because that is what gave one repeated clientele, she informed the young businesswomen. Canara Bank had organised an interaction of the women it had helped through its Centre for Entrepreneur Development for Women with Mrs Kumar who took over as the ED of the bank on April 1, this year. She was on a visit to the Head Office here for a customer relations meeting en route to Jammu. Mr H.D. Pai, General Manager, said that the bank had been organising training workshops for women in such fields as pottery making and fabric painting and also holding exhibitions-cum-sale of their products in the city and even in rural areas of Punjab and Haryana. The women, from such diverse fields as jewellery designing and marketing, information technology and handicrafts, were thankful to the bank for providing them with a platform for retailing their products and guiding them in furthering their businesses. They suggested that
Canara Bank could help them in some sort of a North-South
exchange programme wherein craftspersons from the two
areas could benefit one another in business. |
CAs
organise conference CHANDIGARH, July 17 — The Chandigarh branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, organised a conference here. Mr S.P. Chhajed, President of the institute explained the members about the changed role of chartered accountants in view of the new format of tax audit under the Income Tax Act, which requires more careful analysis of the books of accounts of the assessee and thereby reducing the workload of Income Tax Department. He also explained the new emerging fields for the Chartered Accountants, in view of the increase in avenues of Central Excise and Sales Tax of the State Governments. Mr G. Sitharaman,
Vice-President explained the regulatory measures
initiated by the institute. |
Stop harassment to sick
industrial units RUNNING an industry is the most hazardous task. Although the Supreme Court has given clear ruling on various aspects affecting industry but still ground realities are very disturbing. In case an industrial unit goes sick the Supreme Court has given ruling that income of an insolvent party would not be available to creditors unless the court concerned allows the official assignee to distribute it among them. Till such an order is passed by the court the business income would continue to vest in the insolvent party. Justice S.B. Majmuddar and Justice M. Jaganadha Rao of the Supreme Court have stated in their order that, “modern concept appears to be rehabilitation of an honest insolvent and a more humane treatment to be meted out to the insolvent”. The Supreme Court has given another ruling relating to bank transactions. It has ruled that goods in respect of which floating charge was created in favour of bank and are disposed of by the debtor company-offence of criminal breach of trust cannot be held to have been committed and it rejected the complaint. The Supreme Court further ruled that offence of cheating cannot be said to have been made out because the property in respect of which criminal breach of trust can be committed must necessarily be the property of some person other than the accused. As such all such cases are basically a matter of civil dispute. In the case of sick company registered with the BIFR, the Supreme Court has given clear cut ruling on protection available to such companies under Section 22 (1) of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special provisions) Act, 1985. Earlier there used to be a controversy about the point of times with effect from which an enquiry under Section 16 can be said to be pending. This controversy has also been set at rest by the judgement of the Supreme Court. Now a sick company enjoys the protection with effect from the date of its registration with the BIFR. A large number of industrial units are becoming sick. The entire steel sector of the country is in doldrums. But ruling of the SC are being thrown in the wind. To hide their own weaknesses banks are resorting to methods contrary to SC’s rulings only to harass the borrowers of sick units. Instead of resorting to rehabilitation processing they are converting the tangible workable assets into dust. Unfortunately the police is also interfering in matters which fall under courts as civil suits. Every business entity is a debtor as well as a creditor at the same time. Volume of either category vary according to the health of the business environs. All such business matters fall within the civil litigation with no element of criminality. Still some persons with an aim of vengeance of sorts are taking the police help in such matters. Strong voices from
industry have been raised, that the police should not
interfere in such routine business matters. A former DGP
(Punjab) had announced that the police would not
interfere in such matters. The message seems to have
faded. The DGP is urged to lay stress on this as
otherwise the entire business community will be working
in an environ of great terror. |
Fall in
occupancy worries hoteliers CHANDIGARH, July 17 — The executive body of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI) met in New Delhi yesterday and decided to contribute additional amount equivalent to the annual membership charges towards the Indian Soldiers Relief Fund. Mr V.K. Garg of Jammu and Kashmir expressed dismay caused in his State because of the Kargil situation. He said after almost a decade, Jammu and Kashmir had witnessed nearly “all full situation”. In Jammu, hotels witnessed 85 per cent occupancy in May and about 30,000 foreigners had visited the State. But in June 1,400 rooms nights were vacant in a single unit. Mr Manbeer Chaudhary of Haryana said since a number of Haryana cities cater to highway tourists, the flow of traffic was below normal. He also felt that the business traveller in recent past has gone low. Mr N.S. Nanda who represents Punjab at HRANI stated that Punjab enjoyed good visitor in-puts during the Khalsa Tercentenary Celebrations but after that, the tempo of visitors waned. He also lamented that Punjab is directly concerned with the businesses of agro-industry and limited specific industries. Mr Rajender Kumar, honorary secretary of HRANI, said in Delhi average occupancy ranges from 33-45 per cent. Some sparse unit, due to typical locational advantages may be doing well. Most of the hotels are now operating under different tariff of package, he added. Mr Man Mohan Singh of
Chandigarh listed a number of factors such as recession,
unauthorised accommodation, poor in-flow of tourists to
Himachal Pradesh and the Kargil factor as reasons for the
low occupancy in the city. He stated that the occupancy
rate, at present, is almost touching a situation
prevailing at the time of Punjab problem and with the
forthcoming elections the situation is bound to worsen
further. |
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The Delhi Exporters Association (DEA) has offered one job to each families of those soldiers who were killed in the Kargil conflict. Nearly 400 exporters of handicrafts, fashion jewellery and readymade garments across the country have committed to employ these people in their units, said DEA President S.P. Agarwal. He said the exporters will also provide on-the-job training to students who are in need of financial support. The management and employees of Cheema Spintex Ltd have contributed Rs one lakh towards Army Central Welfare Fund. The cheque was given by Mr P.S. Minhas, president of the company. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) donated a sum of Rs 5 crore for the soldiers fighting in Kargil. The amount was donated to the National Defence Fund for the welfare of soldiers and their families. Brig H. M. Pant, VSM
& Bar (retd) and Mr G. S. Dhiman, both
Vice-Presidents in Nahar group, presented a draft of Rs
21 lakh to Lt-Gen S. S. Grewal, in New Delhi, towards
Army Central Welfare Fund as the groups contribution. Out
of Rs 21 lakh, Rs 15 lakh has been contributed by the
management of Nahar group and Rs 6 lakh has been
contributed by the employees. |
Q: I am a citizen of India and also an NRI and have money in my NRI account with the bank at Chandigarh. My wife is also a citizen of India and she is a state government employee. She has land in her name. My question is this that can I/she utilise money from my NRI account to construct a house on the land in her name? If we do so, can there be any tax problem for my wife in future? Please advise if my wife, being a government servant, can utilise money from my NRI account for such other purposes without attracting any tax liabilities as well as departmental restrictions concerning income tax. — Rajinder Singh, Chandigarh Ans: Your wife should not utilise even a single rupee from your NRI A/c to construct a house on the land which is in her name. If you do so in future years you will be hit by provision of Section 64 which speaks of clubbing of income to direct or indirect transfer. If at all your wife requires money for construction of the house she can take loan from you i.e. the husband. However, she must pay reasonable rate of interest. Q: I am a government employee. My annual salary is Rs 1,50,000 and I have taken Rs 3800 from Department for house building loan. My monthly loan instalment is Rs 3000 (Rs 36000 yearly) as the rate of 12 per cent annually. So please what is the calculation for Income Tax purpose for the assessment year 1999-2000. — R.S. Kumar Jaiswal, Kangra Ans: From your annual salary of Rs 1,50,000 you will be eligible to standard deduction to the extent of Rs 20,000. In respect of Rs 36,000 from this amount maximum of Rs 30,000 will be allowed as a deduction from your total income as per Section 24 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 for the A.Y. 1999-2000. Q: I am a Central Government employee. I have shifted to my own house in Panchkula. Consequently, I am getting house rent allowance as per Central Government rules. The house was built by taking loan from my department. Kindly let me know: (i) How much income tax rebate and in what way, I can claim for self-occupied house. (ii) I have paid the principal amount of the loan and now I am paying the interest in instalments. Can I get tax rebate on the instalments of interest being paid. — S.P. Mittal, Panchkula Ans: In respect of house built by you in your own name you will not get any tax benefit in respect of house rent allowance received by you. In respect of the instalment of interest paid by you, you are eligible to get deduction to a maximum of extent of Rs 10,000 in one financial year. In respect of repayment of the monthly instalment you will be eligible to claim tax rebate U/s 88 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on Rs 10,000 per annum @ 20 per cent. Q: My two minor children got gift in “CGGS” of UTI in year 1991. I am an assessee since 1980 and filed my returns regularly till 1990. I changed my business in the year 1991 and did not filed my return till 1994 as there was no income. In the year 1994-95 I filed my return under Rs 1400 scheme and continued till 1996-97, when the scheme ended in the year 1997-98 I filed return of income. My one son become major in financial year 1998-99. The other one will become major in 1999-2000. No where all these years I have shown income from CGGS, units presuming that to be tax free income. Please advise me: If I have done the right thing, if not then what is the remedy. 2. If the accrued interest is to be shown this year then same is to be counted from year 1994-95 or 1991-92. If the income is tax free then if it is not required to be shown. — Jagat Singh Salaria Ans:
Please ascertain the actual amount of accrued interest
for different years. It is possible that such interest
might be exempted U/s 80L of the Income-Tax Act, 1961
because you might not have had other items of income
which were exempted U/s 80L. If you have already
exhausted the tax benefit U/s 80L, when you may file the
current year’s Income Tax return and declare the
entire income in the income tax return. |
IMAGINE this scenario. You buy a washing machine from a neighbourhood dealer. He delivers the machine and says an engineer from the manufacturing company will install it. You are anxious to use the machine and wait for the engineer, who, however, turns out to be highly elusive. You call up the dealer and he says he is not responsible for the delay in installation. Well, complaints such as this are not rare. Only recently a consumer complained about a defective inverter that had been sold to him. While the manufacturer never bothered to respond to his complaints, the dealer said it was up to the consumer to sort out the matter with the manufacturer. “I have wasted Rs 22,000 on a non-functional inverter” said the consumer. Similarly even with packaged food products and other items of daily use, consumers complain that whenever they come across a defective product and take it back to the shopkeeper, they never get a replacement immediately. The shopkeeper invariably says that he would refer it to the company representative and ‘if he gives a replacement; he would pass it on to the consumer. And then consumer is asked to write a complaint and wait. Enquiries after that will always bring forth the response that the company’s representative has not visited the shop or that the complaint is under the ‘active consideration’ of the company. Eventually, the consumer may get a replacement, but only after several reminders and several visits to the shop. This is also an indictor of the way manufacturers respond to consumer complaints, but that’s another story I will deal with some other time. This week, I am only on the subject of dealers and their liability vis-a-vis defective goods. First and foremost, consumers should remember that it is as much the responsibility of the dealer to sell defect-free goods. And if the goods turn out to be sub-standard, he cannot escape liability saying that he is not a manufacturer. In fact if one were to look at the cases filed before consumer courts against defective products, both the dealer and the manufacturer are named as opposite parties and depending on the facts of the case, both are asked to pay damages to the consumer for any loss or injury caused. There are also cases where only the dealer is proceeded against. In the case of Kailash Kumari vs Narendra Electronic, decided first by the District Forum in Kota, Rajasthan and subsequently upheld by the consumer courts at the state and the national level, the dealer was asked to replace the defective colour television set sold to the consumer and also pay Rs 2500 as compensation. Similarly, a refrigerator dealer in Rajamundry in Andhra Pradesh was asked to refund the cost of the refrigerator and also pay Rs 2500 for selling a defective piece. In another case (Anjaleem Enterprises and another vs Laksmanan) where an Intellitrac STD/PCO programming and software booth display turned out to be defective, the consumer courts asked the manufacturer as well as the dealer to pay the cost of the product, which was Rs 22,408, besides compensation of Rs 30,438. The consumer court held that both the manufacturer, who had fabricated the product as well as the dealer, who had claimed it to be of a certain quality, were liable to pay compensation to the consumer. More recently, the State
Commission rejected the plea of a dealer that he was not
responsible for the sealed compressor unit that he had
used in the airconditioner assembled by him, because he
was not the manufacturer of the compressor. Said the
State Commission: “A dealer cannot avoid his
liability simply on the ground that he was not a
manufacturer. It is his responsibility to carry out the
terms of the warranty and in turn he may involve the
manufacturer in fulfilling his obligations under the
warranty ”. This was upheld by the National
Commission (Harmohinder Singh vs Anil Sahgal) in March
this year. However, while the State Commission had
awarded the consumer Rs 10,000 as compensation, the
National Commission reduced it to Rs 6,500. |
Q: Whether the finding that the employee was guilty of gross misconduct is proper? Ans: The SC in Union of India V B. Dev (1999-I-LLJ-1118) was considering this point. The respondent was sent on deputation to the High Commissioner’s Office in London. After the expiry of the deputation period, he was posted back to Delhi. However, he did not join Delhi till the date of his superannuation. As a result of the departmental enquiry his pension was withheld in consultation with the Service Commission. This order was challenged by the respondent before the Central Administrative Tribunal which allowed the appeal. Aggrieved by this order, the matter was taken to the SC. The SC held that no legitimate reason had been found for the respondent absenting himself or refusing to join at Delhi. The Inquiry Officer had come to a conclusion that the respondent wilfully disobeyed Government orders and only gave untenable excuses. It also found that his conduct was premeditated and that he had no intention at any time of returning to Delhi since he had purchased a house at London. In these circumstances the Inquiry Officer found him guilty of grave misconduct. Looking to the facts of the case, the SC held that the charge of grave misconduct had been correctly held to have been proved. The order of withholding pension was also proper. Rule 9 of the C.C.S. (P)
Rules gives the President right of withholding or
withdrawing pension either permanently or for a specified
period and ordering recovery from pension pecuniary loss
caused to Government. This power can be exercised if in
any departmental or judicial proceedings, the pensioner
is found guilty of grave misconduct or negligence during
service. One of the powers of the President is to recover
from pension any pecuniary loss caused to Government.
This is an independent power in addition to power of
withdrawing or withholding pension. The SC held that the
argument this Rule 9 cannot be invoked in cases of grave
misconduct unless pecuniary loss is caused to Government
is unsustainable. |
Q: We intend to commence business in the state of Punjab for which an application for the grant of registration certificate has been submitted to the appropriate assessing authority in terms of sub-section (2) of Section 7 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 read with Rule 3 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules, 1949 with the first purchase of goods effected from a place situated outside the state. The assessing authority has directed us to furnish a security as a condition precedent to the grant of registration certificate. The question therefore is whether the assessing authority can insist upon security without assigning any reasons? Kindly advise. — Surinder Malhotra, Ludhiana A: Sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 provides a complete answer to the question raised by the queriest. The Commissioner or any other person appointed to assist him under sub-section (1) of Section 3 i.e. the assessing authority may, if feels necessary for the grant of registration certificate, require the dealer making the application under Section 7 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 to furnish security in the prescribed manner. For the purpose of invoking this jurisdiction the assessing authority is obliged to record the relevant and valid reasons in an order to be passed on receipt of the application. It is not that in every case that the assessing authority is authorised to demand the security from the dealer but it is only when it appears to be necessary to do so for the proper realisation of tax due or leviable under the Act ibid that he can acquire jurisdiction to put such a condition for the grant of registration certificate. It may not be out of place to mention here in this context that before requiring a dealer for security, it is equally obligatory for the assessing authority to provide to him a reasonable and fair opportunity of being heard in the matter. Unless these two conditions (i) recording of valid reasons; and (ii) that the dealer concerned has been heard in the matter upon an opportunity granted to him, are satisfied and that the grounds as envisaged by sub-section (1) of Section 9 of the Act exist, a dealer applying for registration certificate cannot be called upon to give security. Q: We are registered as a dealer both under the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. Our sales turnover usually does not exceed Rs 25 lakh in a year. We are given to understand the Haryana Government has provided relief to the registered dealers with respect to the matter of assessments by dispensing with the requirement of producing account books before the assessing authority for purposes of assessment. Kindly explain in detail the relevant provisions recently introduced by the state. — Anurag Grover, Pehowa A: Section 28-C of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 which earlier provided for summary assessment in the cases where the sales turnover did not exceed Rs 5 lakh now stands substituted. Henceforth only 10 per cent of the assessments will be processed by way of scrutiny and the remaining assessees will not be called upon to produce the account books and other record for the purposes of assessment provided the sales turnover in those cases does not exceed Rs 25 lakh. The Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Haryana has been vested with the power to make corresponding rules in this context for the implementation of this scheme which are still awaited. Q: Ours is a private limited company engaged in the business of machinery spares and accessories in Punjab as a registered dealer under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. Customers from within the State as well as the places situated outside the Punjab come to us to make purchases. Our policy is to sell goods at our place of business on receipt of full payment of the goods which are purchased by the customers. What happens, customers from out of Punjab make the payment on the spot and take the goods at their own to their respective places of business. Invoice is made out giving their complete address. The question is what is the nature of this type of transaction and at what rate sales tax is required to be realised? — Mohan Lal Gupta, Batala A: If
payment is received at your place of business before
delivery of the goods and then the goods are taken
delivery of by the customers at their own, the
transaction will be regarded as a local sale within the
state of Punjab on which local rate of tax becomes
applicable. Even if the customers come from out of Punjab
and their complete address is specified in the invoice
issued by the queriest, it will not be termed as a sale
in the course of inter-state trade or commerce for the
simple reason that movement of goods from Punjab State to
their place of business is not a part of the agreement of
sale between the parties. |
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