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| Sunday, January 7, 2001, Chandigarh, India    |
India on the doorstep of tech revolution: PM Jalan for vibrant banking system ONGC to buy stake in Rosneft |
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| PSEB needs to improve image IT is a good that the Punjab Government has declared year 2001 as the development year. Otherwise also a year before the election is a significant year. In the arena of development the industry comes off the top notch of the priority list. With the W.T.O. regime getting sharper teeth attention towards the industry is otherwise a top priority. Fortunately enough the industry does not want any fiscal concessions. Removal of hurdles means smooth development path. Bank staff asked not to oppose VRS
Visualsoft sticks to product developments |
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Haul up educational institutes with poor services
Q: We are engaged in the business of transportation in Haryana State. It was in the month of November, 2000 that a consignment of goods was received by us for transportation on behalf of a Delhi based party. Necessary documents such as bill of sale, challan form ST-38 and goods receipt were duly handed over to the driver of the vehicle at the time of despatch of the material. While the goods were en route these were intercepted and subsequently detained by an Excise and Taxation Officer on the footing that the transaction needed verification.
Consequential benefits
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| India on the doorstep of tech revolution: PM NEW DELHI, Jan 6— India will seek to become a “Knowledge Superpower” by 2010, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee said here today. Inaugurating the sixth convention of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), Mr Vajpayee said India is today standing on the doorstep of a technological revolution, which encompassed information technology, biotechnology, agriculture, space and energy. Pointing out that people of Indian origin had contributed significantly in all these field in their respective countries, the Prime Minister said the time had come for all Indians to contribute their mite to help make India a Knowledge Superpower by the year 2010. Reminding overseas Indians of the contribution made by government-run education institutions in their success, Mr Vajpayee said it was their duty to associate themselves with their motherland and help usher in economic and social progress. India did not require just the investments or asset transfers from overseas Indians but a strong partnership with them. The two-day convention is being attended by nearly 300 delegates from 25 countries. They are discussing the problems faced by people of Indian origin and how they can help their motherland. The Prime Minister said a high-level committee on Indian diaspora, headed by eminent jurist L.M.Singhvi, was looking into the problems faced by Indians abroad and added that it would recommend measures to resolve the difficulties faced by them. The committee has been asked to study the role that overseas Indians can play in the economic, social and technological progress of India. It has also been asked to examine the current regime that governs their travel and stay in India as well as their investment in its economy. Mr Vajpayee said Indians abroad were unofficial ambassadors of India and they had a significant role in bridging the gap between the country and the world. He referred to the Fiji crisis and said that New Delhi had watched with distress the overthrow of a democratically elected Government there under Mahendra Chowdhury and a series of subsequent actions that have hit at the people of Indian origin in that country, particularly the poor. The Indian Government would provide all help to overseas Indians in maintaining cultural identity even while encouraging their political commitment to their adopted countries. Earlier, the office bearers of GOPIO lamented the high fees charged by the government to issue PIO card. They said the rate of $1000 was very steep and it should be reduced. Another point raised was the ceiling of four generations put on people applying for the People of Indian Origin card. The Secretary General of GOPIO asked did it mean that people of older origin would forfeit their right to their motherland. “Will the Indians forfeit their right over the Mahabharata and Ramayana just because it is several generations old?”, the speaker asked. The Foreign Minister of Mauritius, Mr Anil Kumar Singh Gyan said his country would support the candidature of India in an expanded UN Security Council. This would help India play a more important role in global affairs and help the people of Indian origin. |
| Jalan for vibrant banking system PUNE, Jan 6 (UNI) — The RBI Governor, Dr Bimal Jalan, today appealed to the banking community and institutions to deliberate and come up with a blueprint for the future of the banking system that is vibrant and globally accepted, in India in the next 10-15 years. Addressing Chief Executives of commercial banks on the occasion of the annual day function of the National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) held here, Dr Jalan said: “This is possible because we have the comparative advantage, we have the resources, the manpower and also have the respect of the world to achieve this goal.” “However the task is not not easy”, he added. The Governor further pointed out that it is possible to make the Indian banking system the best even if it retained its public sector character. Citing the examples of other central banks, such as Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of England, Dr Jalan said though these were publicly owned, they were able to deliver their mandate, as the instrumentalities through which they would achieve their objectives are completely left to them once their choice of objectives are made. Autonomy and independence along with clearly stated objectives were very important in this regard. Dr Jalan further said the public sector character of the banking system had certain advantages. “It has made banking system less vulnerable, has given it a wide reach and also an established institutional structure.” It has, however, also brought along rigidity, inability to respond quickly to changing environment and constraints on the human resources front, he added and urged that the Indian banking system must strive to reduce the disadvantages and maximise the benefits. The RBI Governor pointed out that issues such as meeting international standards on capital adequacy, transparency, disclosures and technology were no longer a matter of choice if the Indian banking system wanted to be globally competitive. “The RBI had taken several initiatives on introducing greater transparency in the Indian financial system”, he informed and said it was equally important for the banks to put in strong internal controls and asset-liability management systems in place. In a more competitive, cost efficient and transparent environment, the Indian banking system might lose out if it was not able to withstand the scrutiny of international analysts who evaluated the banking systems globally on internationally prescribed standards, Dr Jalan added. |
| ONGC to buy stake in Rosneft NEW DELHI, Jan 6 — The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the Indian proposals on Agriculture for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and cleared the investment plans of ONGC in Sakhalin-I of Russia. While approving Indian proposals for the mandated negotiations under the Agreement on Agriculture of WTO, the Cabinet Committee on WTO chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee decided to protect food security and livelihood concerns through sufficient flexibility for domestic policies. While providing enough protection for domestic producers from increase in imports or a significant decline in import prices, the proposals also seek opportunities for a meaningful expansion of agriculture exports from the country, a government statement said. “This is sought to be achieved by securing effective market access in developed country markets through substantial reduction in their tariffs and trade distorting domestic support,” it said. The proposals also seek elimination of export subsidies extended by developed countries members. The government also cleared the $ 1.7 billion (Rs 7,500 crore) investment proposal of ONGC for taking 20 per cent stake in Russian oil and gas fields at Akhalin-I, which is likely to be developed by 2005. The proposal of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), ONGC’s overseas subsidiary, was cleared for taking half of Russian oil company Rosneft’s 40 per cent stake in the project, Petroleum Minister Mr Ram Naik told newspersons after the CCEA meeting. “OVL has signed a Protocol of Agreement with Rosneft for taking its 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-I project,” the Minister said adding the investment proposal would help in acquiring equity oil of about 2-4 million tonnes besides 5-8 million cubic meter per day of gas. Mr Naik said oil production from the field would begin by 2005 while gas would start flowing from the discovered oil fields by 2006. |
| PSEB needs to improve image IT is a good that the Punjab Government has declared year 2001 as the development year. Otherwise also a year before the election is a significant year. In the arena of development the industry comes off the top notch of the priority list. With the W.T.O. regime getting sharper teeth attention towards the industry is otherwise a top priority. Fortunately enough the industry does not want any fiscal concessions. Removal of hurdles means smooth development path. Main hurdle in the healthy growth of the industry is from the Sales Tax Department. Making technical centres of sorts efficient is essential for technological upgradation. It is a good beginning so far as the Sales Tax Department is concerned. The Minister of Excise & Taxation has on his own initiative invited industry & trade to express their problems. He has thrown a promise to sort out these problems. This way the rapport between the department & business community is fully established. The PSEB is a cash-strapped organisation. The only good feature is that its present Chairman has taken bold initiatives to mitigate pilferage. Too much of commercial emphasis has given a wrong message downwards. On minor grounds consumers are given hefty bills and nobody is ready to listen. Requests for even easy instalments of the unbearable burden is straightway turned down. The PSEB boosts of garnering Rs 600 crore extra revenue and this “extra” is going to be Rs 1,000 crore this year. It is good as far as the realisation is fair. The PSEB, therefore needs to improve its image in the eyes of the public along with its revenue boosting exercise. Unattended excesses prove counter productive in a democratic set up. It should evolve some instant mechanism for grievance redressal before the matter finally goes to the Dispute Settlement Committees. There are many instances where heavy penalty bills on wrong notions have been issued and the consumers are not able to deposit required one third amount of this. The PSIEC allotted industrial plots in various focal points. The regulatory regime was at its peak at the time of allotment. Even when the reform process is at peak most of the regulatory strings are in place. For instance, PSIEC has provision for conversion of plots from lease hold basis to free hold basis. When plot becomes free hold it is as good as any other land purchased from private source. Why should the PSIEC keep its thumb on plots where the industry is running? To avoid haphazard growth is the probable answer from the PSIEC. But this is not tenable. For technological upgradation the Punjab Government has managed to have many technical centres. Only a few are working as per the expectation while other are behaving like a typical government department. Centre for automobiles is the latest to set up in Ludhiana with very good equipment. See its working. An industrial unit has some problem in its job execution. He approaches one of the members of the Governing Council of the centre. Letter is written. No reply. Matter is referred to higher authorities. No effective reply. Matter hangs for months. Is it developmental approach? At least the matter should be sorted out in the development year. |
| Bank staff asked not to oppose VRS mumbai, Jan 6 (pti) — Union Minister of State for Finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil today appealed to public sector bank employees not to oppose vrs but instead help the Centre in its reform process in the banking sector. “We are not privatising nationalised banks by divesting our stake to 33 per cent, but are expanding the capital base by adding more investment in the sector,” Patil said in his address at “India Calling” second overseas Indians conference held by the Indian Merchants’ Chamber here. He said such steps were necessary as the financial sector was the heart of the economy and “it would be eminent to make it vibrant and competitive if the Indian economy has to leap forward”. |
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Bajaj Electricals Mangalore Ref Gujarat Amb |
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Visualsoft sticks to product developments HAVING watched a FII analyst recommending a ‘sell’ at the counter on the CNBC show, I was quite certain that Visualsoft would do well. But jokes aside, this is a company that I have felt has borne a disproportionate proportion of the tech downslide and whose position has been further aggravated by its having been moved into the rolling settlement mode. Given the fact that its share price has been battered so sharply coupled with its immense growth potential, it does appear to be a fairly attractive proposition at the current price level of around Rs 655. Visualsoft is one of the few Indian companies, which has a mix of service and product revenue. The company has a focus on services and products related to the area of Internet. It is one of the fastest on services and products related to the area of Internet. It is one of the fastest growing software companies in the Indian software sector. The company has a right mix of products and components along with service offering in the latest technologies. The marketing of its products and components is taken care of by tying up with large overseas companies. The company, being relatively a smaller one, does not want to dissipate its management time in marketing and instead concentrates on product development. The company has a unique mix of services and products business. It has also focussed on the latest technologies in both services and products. The company’s revenues are equally spread between components, products and services. The company offers solutions in the areas of Internet, Intranet applications and e-commerce application. It is primarily targeting the B2B e-commerce market. The financials of the company have been satisfactory and if our reading is anything to go by, it is quite likely that the same would improve significantly with the passage of time. During the financial year that ended in March 2000, its sales stood at Rs 68 crore, its OPM per cent was 45.8, net profit was Rs 28.2 crore and the EPS was Rs 14.2. During the quarter ending September 2000, its sales were Rs 29.8 crore, OPM per cent was 54.2 and net profit was Rs 15.1 crore. Now if the result for a quarter can be that, I need not spell out what the annual results may be like. Profit warnings are the order of the day in the US, but Indian fund managers did not like the taste of it when an Indian tech major, Mastek put out a profit warning on its popular website. The share price, of course, received a battering, but now there is a school of thought that the company’s management took a bold decision to make such an announcement and in this time and age when transparency is a key issue on the corporate governance front, Mastek has scored even while losing at the bourses. Now, I believe that in the case of Mastek, things can only get better herefrom and the best part is, even if it does not, one can rest assured that the company’s highly transparent approach will ensure that the same is conveyed to investors well in advance. I approve, do you? |
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Haul up educational institutes with poor services The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has finally given the green signal for hauling up educational institutions for negligent service rendered. In a recent order, the apex consumer court has resolved the basic question of whether educational institutions come under the ambit of consumer courts and held that they too are liable for deficient services rendered. The significance of this recent order of the National Commission can be understood from the fact that for 14 long years, the issue of applicability of the CP Act to educational institutions remained uncertain, thereby putting a big question mark on whether students and parents could use the provisions of the CP Act for redress against deficient services rendered by educational institutions and universities. Now the order of the National Commission in the case of Bhupesh Khurana vs Vishwa Buddha Parishad should at last set at rest this basic doubt. Of course in the first place, the confusion over the issue arose from the order of the National Commission itself, delivered in 1996 in the case of Chairman, Board of Examinations, Madras vs Mohideen Abdul Kader. There the Commission clarified that it had not considered in any of the cases pertaining to education , the general question of whether imparting of education for consideration would come under the definition of ‘service’ in the Act. “Whether a university or an institution affiliated to it imparting education is within the arena of consumer jurisdiction is a question which this Commission will consider and decide when it directly arises before it”, the Commission had said. Viewed in that context, what the National Commission has now said in the case of Bhupesh Khurana becomes highly relevant. The importance of this order in fact lies in just one paragraph, where the National Commission states clearly and unambiguously: “Imparting of education by an educational institution for consideration falls within the ambit of ‘service’ as defined in the Consumer Protection Act. Fees are paid for services to be rendered by way of imparting education by the educational institutions. If there is no rendering of service, question of payment of fee would not arise. The complainants (the students in this case) had hired the service of the respondents (the college) for consideration and so they are consumers as defined in the Consumer Protection Act”. This order (OP no 168 of 1994) came in response to a class action suit filed by twelve students, who had joined the BDS course offered by the Buddhist Mission Dental College run by Vishwa Buddha Parishad. The students’ complaint was that the college, in its advertisement calling for applications for admission to the course, had given the impression that it was affiliated to Magadh University, Bodh Gaya and recognised by the Dental Council of India and was fully equipped and qualified to give the Bachelor of Dental Science degree to the students. However, after joining the college and attending classes, the students found to their dismay that the annual examinations were not being held because the college was neither affiliated to Magadh University nor the course, recognised by Dental Council. As a result, they not only lost two valuable academic years, but also the money spent on fees, hostel charges, etc. Holding the service rendered by the college to be deficient, the National Commission directed it to refund the admission expenses of all the twelve students along with 12 per cent interest calculated from the date of receipt of the amount till the date of payment. In addition, it also directed the institution to pay Rs 20,000 to each of them by way of compensation for the expenses defrayed on purchase of books, hostel, etc and for the loss of two academic years. It also awarded Rs 10,000 as costs of the petition. The students had also sought refund of donation and capitation fee paid by them, but this was not granted in the absence of any proof of such payment. The National Commission had in fact awarded compensation in at least two somewhat similar cases against private educational institutions earlier, but what makes this order unique is that one paragraph on the basic issue. And in the circumstances, this order is very positive, even though it has dealt with the primary issue very briefly. There is of course another question to be tackled in future. If educational institutions come under the purview of consumer courts, how can examination-related issues be kept out? After all, boards and universities collect fee for conducting examinations! I say this in the context of earlier National commission judgements where it has categorically held that students do not have a redress before consumer courts in matters pertaining to examinations conducted by a university or a board. Considering that consumer courts can offer victims of negligent examination-related services, quick and inexpensive redress, one hopes that the apex consumer court would re-examine this issue in the right perspective. |
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Q: We are engaged in the business of transportation in Haryana State. It was in the month of November, 2000 that a consignment of goods was received by us for transportation on behalf of a Delhi based party. Necessary documents such as bill of sale, challan form ST-38 and goods receipt were duly handed over to the driver of the vehicle at the time of despatch of the material. While the goods were en route these were intercepted and subsequently detained by an Excise and Taxation Officer on the footing that the transaction needed verification. It may be stated here that the documents being carried alongwith the consignment were immediately produced before the checking officer by the driver incharge of the vehicle. After examination of the papers relating to the consignment, the checking officer has levied a penalty of Rs 25,000 under sub-section (6) of section 37 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 upon our transport company holding that there was evasion of sales tax. We have deposited the amount of penalty under protest. The party in whose account the penalty was levied has refused to re-imburse the amount on the ground that since complete documents were there no penalty could be imposed. Kindly advise. — N.K. Bhardwaj Ans: Sub-section (6) of section 37 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 authorises a checking officer to levy penalty upon a transporter only when the identity of the real owner of the goods under transport is not made available to him. Production of relevant documents such as bill of sale, challan in form ST-38 and the goods receipt in respect of the goods being carried in the vehicle makes it clear that the checking officer was fully aware of the particulars regarding the consignment and its owner. Under these circumstances the checking officer could not assume jurisdiction under these provisions of law in levying the penalty against the person who was barely acting as a bailee or the transporter on behalf of the real owner of the goods. It would, therefore, be appropriate if the queriest calls in question the legality of the penalty order by way of a statutory appeal before the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Appeals) within sixty days of the receipt of the copy of the order from the checking officer. Q: We set up a new unit in the state of Haryana and were issued with a certificate of eligibility for a period of seven years. This was followed by exemption certificate which came to be issued by the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner. We have been told that after availing of the benefit of tax exemption we will have to continue with the production activities for another five years and in the event of failure the benefit of exemption can be recovered back by the department. Kindly advise if this view is legally supportable? — Amit Mehta, Hissar Ans: According to sub-rule (11) of rule 28-A of the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975 a unit after availing of the benefit of tax exemption is supposed to remain in production for another five years. In case of violation of this statutory requirement the beneficiary unit becomes liable to pay back the benefit of exemption availed of alongwith interest as if no tax exemption was available to it. Obviously therefore the view expressed to the queriest regarding this legal position is fully justified and legal. |
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Consequential benefits Q: Was the question of consequential benefits in issue or was the legality of the award an issue? Ans: The S.C. of India took the view thus in Rhone-Poulene (India) Ltd v State of U.P. (2000-II-LLJ-1402). The question whether Respondent No 3 is entitled to or not to the benefits of settlement dated 25.6.88 was not the subject matter of the award which directed the reinstatement of workman in service along with consequential benefits. What consequential benefits Respondent No 3 would be entitled to was not the subject matter of writ petitions before the H.C. According to the appellant, Respondent No 3 is not entitled to the benefits under the settlement whereas Respondent No 3 claims such benefits. This question may have to be adjudicated by a competent authority at an appropriate stage when the question of grant of consequential relief is raised or it is contended that full consequential reliefs in terms of the award have been denied to Respondent No 3. The stay of the implementation of the award had not come when the matter was pending before the H.C. The only question before the H.C. was with regard to the legality of the award and the other dated 22.9.93, whereby the two preliminary issues were decided by the Labour Court. In this view, the Supreme Court set aside the impugned judgement to the extent it directed Respondent No 3 entitled to some amount of salary/arrears of salary which his counterparts were receiving under the settlement dated 25.6.88. It would be open to the appellant and Respondent No 3 to raise such plea as may be available to him in law at appropriate stage to be decided on merits in accordance with law. For the aforesaid reasons, SC partly allowed the appeals to the limited extent as above and in all other aspects, it maintained the impugned judgement of the H.C. |
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