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March 25, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Agencies assessing seized documents
Acer laptop costs 60,000
Oceanic Consul opens office in Amritsar |
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Smuggled cigarettes hit tobacco growers Alto adjudged ‘car of the year’ Daewoo to hike car prices Ortem fans for Europe Steps to boost exports
Small business owners meet Bush
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Agencies assessing seized documents
Mumbai, March 24 Hard-discs of computers and important files had been taken away by the investigators comprising officials from the Income-Tax, the Enforcement Directorate, the Department of Revenue Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, and the Economic Intelligence Bureau during the day-long raids at the offices and residences of top six brokers here yesterday. “Several documents were seized during these raids and we are assessing them,” an investigating officer said. The help of the local police was also taken when the raids were conducted on as many as 20 premises belonging to the six brokers. “The investigations are in full swing,” the senior official said, but refused to comment on whether the raids and searches were still continuing. The brokers whose premises were raided yesterday include former BSE President Anand Rathi (Rathi Securities), Ketan Parekh (NH Securities and Triumph), Nirmal Bang (Nirmal Bang Securities), Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Shankar Sharma and Radhashayam Damani (Damani Securities). Among these, Shankar Sharma, who owns first global securities, a broking and investment firm, has also a stake of 14.5 per cent in tehelka.Com, the portal which exposed corruption in defence deals. Mr Yashwant Sinha is making a two-day visit to this commercial capital of the country to get a first hand report of the entire operation. Mr Sinha is scheduled to address as many as five functions. He will take part in the inauguration of India’s first world-class gold refinery at Sirpur in Maharashtra, the launch of LIC’s wide area network in mumbai and the presentation of the nationa award for excellence in corporate governance sponsored by the UTI. The raids are said to be a part of a nationwide exercise by the Centre to identify the broking houses and their owners who allegedly indulged in speculative activities, causing sharp volatility in the market — rigging down the share prices. Sources said the investigators also visited the branches of some of the banks where these brokers are said to be having accounts. As part of the overall investigations in the capital market, the RBI is already looking into the exposure limits of various commercial banks in the stock market. According to RBI officials no bank has so far exceeded the stipulated norms in their exposure to the capital market. SEBI has also initiated investigations under its Senior Executive Director L.K.Sanghvi. The investigation seeks to unearth the nexus between the stock exchange officials and the market operators. Investigators from New Delhi and Mumbai are said to be co-ordinating the entire exercise with SEBI officials, who have a large pool of data on the leading brokers of both the BSE as well as the NSE. The raids were conducted by 150 officers and men from the investigative agencies. Reports said the investigators had identified 80 individuals and companies for a probe into the bear hammering of the markets and to unearth the nexus between the stock market operators, corporates and the film industry elements for the share price crash. Several investors burnt their fingers in the post-Budget crash and incurred heavy losses due to the unusual movement of prices. There is apprehension over the next trading day of Monday, when markets open after the raids. Market sources indicate that there could be a substantial fall in business volumes, as the premises of leading brokers, including Ketan Parekh and Nirmal Bang, who usually control 40 per cent of the market transaction in BSE and NSE, have been raided. Traders expect that there won’t be much volatility in scrip but the BSE sensitive index would seek lower levels due to the lack of support from the operators who would prefer to remain sidelined in view of the raids.
UNI
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Acer laptop costs 60,000 Chandigarh, March 24 Acer India's Business Manager-Notebboks Samdani Basha who was here on a promotional tour, while talking to The Tribune, said PC prices are not expected to be reduced at least for the coming few months. Acer has tied up with Microsoft to provide software solutions and the two companies are jointly participating in nationwide roadshows 'Microsoft Overdrive'(in 10 cities). Ludhiana was the ninth city which was covered yesterday. "The roadshow is targeted at the small and medium business; one of the main target segments of Acer.We are the hardware vendors for this event. Acer’s latest innovations and cutting-edge technology will be showcased during the month-long road show", said Mr. Basha. The products showcased at the roadshow include servers like Acer Altos 600 and Acer Altos 350 equipped with Small Business Server 2000 (SBS2000) and integrated LAN for prices as low as Rs. 1,86,000 and Rs. 1,49,000, respectively. The company claims that these are easily upgradeable. Acer’s desktops— Veriton 7100 and Veriton 5100— targeted specifically at SMBs are priced below Rs. 50,000, and can be upgraded from Intel Celeron Processors to Intel Pentium III . The company which earned approx US $ 8.5 billion during 1999 offers a broad section of industry-leading high-end servers, multimedia PCs, notebooks, computer peripherals, components, semi conductors. At present laptops form around 4 per cent of the total business of the company while 96 per cent of the share being captured by desktops. The share of laptops is likely to increase. "PC penetration in the country is very low and the reason for the low share of laptops can be attributed to the cost factor and more important that people here prefer getting laptops from abroad", Mr. Basha said. "Awareness regarding the value additions by the companies here is essential ". Regarding the prices which he thinks will not reduce at least for next few months, he said that post-Budget has witnessed a meagre of around 1.5 per cent reduction in the prices of laptops. The remaining prices are the same, in some cases in fact they have increased. "However, our aim is to make our products affordable", Mr. Basha stated. The Acer group employs more than 33,000 people spanning in 193 enterprises spanning 42 countries worldwide, supporting dealers and distributors in over 100 countries. The company started its journey in India in 1998 through a partnership with Wipro India.
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Oceanic Consul opens office in Amritsar Chandigarh, March 24 Managing Director of Oceanic Consultants, Naresh Gulati, who is a registered migration agent with Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) in Australia, said the company decided to open the Amritsar office in view of an increasing number of Australian education aspirants and the increasing number of immigrants to Australia over the last few years. He said of the total students and immigrants to Australia from the North, almost 40 to 50 per cent hailed from Punjab. Mr Gulati said “Managers, IT professionals, chefs, Indo-Swiss Institute graduates, ITI trained professionals, teachers, etc. are in great demand in Australia. There are over one lakh international students on the rolls of different Australian Institutions. The RMIT University and Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, both Melbourne-based institutions, and Regency institute of TAFE, Adelaide, are emerging as the favourite destinations for students from Punjab. All these three institutions have already set up their first helpdesk in India at Oceanic Complex in Chandigarh. Students coming through the Amritsar office of Oceanic Consultants will have their cases processed through the only helpdesks of India. Mr Gulati said Oceanic’s Amritsar office would provide complete services like career counselling, financial planning, admission and visa assistance, settlement services, etc. to the students going to Australia through Oceanic Consultants without any charges. Free seminars and interview sessions also be organized time to time to assist the students and prospective immigrants. Mr Gulati also said that aspiring immigrants and students can also visit Oceanic Consultants’ website
www.Oceanic Consultants.com for details on the visa requirements and other important information.
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Smuggled cigarettes hit tobacco growers New Delhi, March 24 In a memorandum to the Union Minister for Industries and Commerce, Mr Murasoli Maran, the tobacco growers have said that contraband trade of cigarettes was growing at the rate of 20 per cent per annum leading to stagnation in the growth of domestically produced cigarette. Since majority of the contraband cigarette sales are in the premium segment it hits the tobacco growers the most as it is the premium quality cigarette tobacco which fetches the farmers the highest returns. The Karnataka Tobacco Growers’ Forum said the Southern State was one of the major producers of Flue Cured Virginia tobacco, around 55 million kg annually, which was roughly half of the total premium tobacco produced in India. The memorandum said that the cultivation of cigarette tohbacco was more remunerative than the raising of tobacco for bidis and chewing. Rearing a crop of cigarette tobacco on a hectare fetches the farmer Rs 13,600. The tobacco growers aid the devaluation of currencies in other tobacco growing countries like Zimbabwe, Brazil, Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia had aggravated their problem. According to World Health Organisation estimates, a third of all cigarettes that get pushed into international trade end up being smuggled across national borders.
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Alto adjudged ‘car of the year’ New Delhi, March 24 Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha presented the award, instituted by Business Standard Motoring magazine, to MUL Managing Director Jagdish Khattar here last night. The two Alto models, 796 cc LX and 1061 cc VX 1.1, were rated on five parameters-performance, subjective, features, fuel efficiency and price. No other car could compete with Alto on fuel efficiency and price factors.
UNI
Daewoo to hike car prices New Delhi, March 24 The prices of all four variants of the premium small car Matiz would be hiked by Rs 5,000-Rs 7,000, company officials told PTI here. Also, the prices of all four versions of the mid-size “Cielo” car would be increased by Rs 10,000-Rs 11,000. Daewoo India would also hike prices by Rs 12,000-Rs 14,000 of the two variants of the premium mid-size car ‘Nexia’. “Increasing costs pressure is the reason for the price hike,” the officials said. PTI
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Ortem fans for Europe New Delhi, March 24 After
successfully launching cycle tyres in Europe, the USA and Canada in association with German tyre major, Continental, the Ludhiana-based industrial house is giving strict competition to Chinese electric fans in Europe. “We have already despatched eight containers of fans, totalling 10,000 fans under the Ortem brand to coastal belt of Spain and Portugal”, Managing Director of Metro Appliances, Rummy Chhabra told The Tribune. The company has created separate line of facility involving an investment of nearly Rs 1 crore for designing and manufacturing cieling fans to conform to European norms and specifications. In terms of price, the fans had to be matched with those produced by Chinese manufacturers. While the prices of Chinese fans in European market ranges between $ 7 and $ 10, Ortem fans have been priced at $ 9.
Steps to boost exports New Delhi, March 24 In a memorandum to the Parliamentray Standing Committee on Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Textiles, the chamber said, “The Budget does not mention anything about the exports, not even a pat on the back of exporters who have done so well to achieve 20 per cent growth this year”. On the contrary, the government in the Budget has introduced a policy wherein exporters would have to pay 20 per cent tax on their export income, it said. Urging for conducive policies to promote exports, the chamber mooted an eight point strategy which includes increasing market development assistance, reducing credit costs, strengthening of anti-dumping measures and 100 per cent exporting firms to be treated at par with 100 per cent
EoUs. PTI |
sti
by A.K. Sachdeva Imposition of penalty Q. We are registered as a dealer both under the provisions of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. Last year a penalty of Rs. 55,000-00 under sub-section (7) of section 14-B of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 had been charged on the spot against case receipt by the Asstt Excise and Taxation Commissioner-cum-Officer Incharge, Information Collection Centre, Shambhu, District Patiala allegedly for evasion of sales tax. We immediately submitted an application in writing for the issue of a certified copy of the order passed upon our firm which has not been supplied so far. Kindly advise as to whether an appeal can be preferred before the Joint Director (Enforcement)-cum-Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner challenging the validity of the imposition of penalty until and unless a copy of the order is received? — R.K. Gupta, Ludhiana It may be noted that the Officer levying the penalty under sub-section (7) of section 14-B of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 is bound to immediately issue a copy of the order to the person proceeded against more especially when an application stands submitted in his office and failure to supply the same gives rise to a serious matter. A person charged with a penalty under the provisions of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 has a right to be aware of the grounds on which the order has been passed against him. However even if a certified copy of the order has not been supplied to him, it is open to the aggrieved party to approach the appellate authority by way of an appeal under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 20 read with rule 57 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Rules, 1949. The omission to produce the authenticated copy of the order appealed against is capable of being explained in terms of sub-rule (2) of rule 57 and there is no statutory restriction in entertaining the appeal by the appellate authority. A request in writing can also be made before the appellate authority for appropriate directions to the officer imposing the penalty for the supply of a copy of the order for the purpose of disposal of appeal. Q: We are engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of non-taxable goods in Haryana being a dealer registered under the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973 and the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956. We buy goods taxable at first stage from within the State on payment of tax at concessional rate against form STD-4. Some are of the view that the concessional rate of tax does not become available to the unit engaged in the manufacture of tax-free goods. Kindly advise. — Verma Enterprises, Bhiwani A registered dealer, as a matter of right, can claim the benefit of concessional rate of tax at the time of buying inputs that attract tax at first stage even if the manufactured goods do not attract any tax liability. The view that a unit engaged in the non-taxable items cannot claim concessional rate of tax against form STD-4 is contrary to the express provisions of law contained in the statutory notification issued by the State Government under section 15 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973. |
co
by Pushpa Girimaji Under 18 not qualified for driving licence IF
you look at a vehicle insurance policy, one of the main conditions governing the policy contract is that the insured vehicle should be driven by a person holding an effective driving licence to drive that type of vehicle and he or she should not have been disqualified from holding or obtaining such a licence. Under the Motor Vehicles Act, a person below the age of 18 is disqualified from obtaining a driving licence or driving in a public place. The licensing authority thus cannot grant a licence to drive a motor vehicle to a person below the age of 18. Similarly, the licensing authority is vested with the power to disqualify a person from holding a driving licence, after giving that person an opportunity of being heard, if the person is found guilty of certain offences including fraud or misrepresentation at the time of obtaining the licence. Now let’s look at the case of Crown Gasket Limited filed before the Insurance Ombudsman (Delhi and Rajasthan). Here, the driver hired by Crown Gasket, who was at the wheel at the time of the accident, had a valid driving licence, had not been disqualified from holding such a licence, he was 24 years of age and in fact he was not at fault in so far as the accident was concerned. The surveyor had assessed at Rs 1,29,000. Yet, New India Assurance repudiated the claim on the ground that the driver was not 18 when he got the licence 8 years ago. Its reasoning was that the claim form mentioned the age of the driver as 24 years and the licence was issued to him in December 1991, in which case he must have obtained the licence at the age of 16. His licence therefore was invalid. Besides, the driving license authorised the driver to drive a motor car while he was driving a Mahindra Voyager, classified as a light motor vehicle. In his complaint before the Ombudsman, the policy holder argued that as an employer, he had checked the driving licence of the driver and made sure that it was genuine. When the licensing authority had issued the licence, it was not for him or the insurance company to question their decision or declare it as invalid or go into whether the driver had misrepresented facts at the time of obtaining the licence. Besides, even if he wanted to, he would not have access to such information. As far as the insurance company was concerned, he, as a policy holder, had not breached any of the policy conditions. He also pointed out that the insurer had not been able to prove that the driver had got the licence by misrepresentin his age. Besides, the licensing authority had not responded to the insurer’s request to cancel his licence. After a detailed hearing, the Ombudsman, Mr Nirmal Kumar Verma, held that repudiation of the claim by the insurer was arbitrary and totally unjustified. He pointed out that the RTO, through the licence issued to the driver of the vehicle, had authorised him to drive a motor car for a period of 20 years. For all purposes, this licence was valid up to that date unless the licensing authority suo motu or otherwise cancelled the licence, or a superior authority quashed that licence on the ground that the licence was obtained irregularly by misrepresenting his age. However, it would not be open to a third party to call that licence in quetion and repudiate the claim of the insured on the ground that the licence had been obtained irregularly or even in a deceitful manner.... If the insurance company has a moral indignation that somebody has obtained a licence for driving a motor car by misrepresenting his age, it can proceed with the matter in the court of appropriate jurisdiction and get the licence cancelled or revoked. So long as that licence has not been revoked or cancelled, the Ombudsman would accept the submission of the complainant that the driver was in possession of a valid lincence at the time of accident. The Ombudsman said the other argument that the driver was not authorised to drive a light motor vehicle would also fall flat in the face of the letter issued by the RTO, Delhi, saying that a person holding a licence for a motor car can also drive all four wheelers which fall in the category of light motor vehicles (non-transport), that is private vehicles. In the end, the Ombudsman directed the insurer to make good the loss and also pay a penal interest of 18 per cent on it. In order to inculcate a sense of responsibility, the interest amount should be recovered from the officers of the insurance company responsible for unnecessarily dragging on a simple motor insurance claim for nearly two years, the Ombudsman said it. He also awarded cost of proceedings amounting to Rs 5000 to the complainant. |
cr
Compassionate appointment Q: Is appointment on compassionate ground, a vested right? J & K High Court was answering this question in Ab.Hamid Dar v State of J&K [2001-I.LLJ.555] as under. One Mohammad Maqbool Dar, a teacher died in harness on 16-1-87. Petitioner is the brother of this deceased. He is seeking appointment on compassionate grounds after 13 years of the deceased’s death. Negativing his plea, the H.C. pointed out that this is not a ground in the context of rules and within the concept of compassionate appointment. No grounds whatsoever are spelt out for seeking appointment on compassionate grounds. After all, claim to appointment on compassionate ground is not in the nature of seeking enforcement of any right under a statute. It is a concession given by the employer to obviate the hardship to the indigent family. The petitioner’s claim that “accrued right is being defeated”, is a misconception. In Farooq Ahmed Wani v State (1999 lab I c 1807), it is pointed out that the appointment on compassionate ground is not in the nature of an appointment as a matter of statutory right of appointee, but is a concession granted by the State Govt to a dependant of its employee who dies in harness with a view to tide over the extreme hardship of the indigent family in a fit case. Said Maqbool Dar has died on 16-1-87. Petitioner has come forth only on 4-5-2000, after over 13 years to seek compassionate appointment. No reason or explanation is forthcoming from record for sleeping over the matter and now seeking the appointment at such late stage. The
H.C. opined that under these circumstances, the appointment on compassionate grounds cannot be ordered after lapse of such a long long period. After all, the H.C. held that the right to such employment is not a ‘vested right’ which can be exercised at any time in future.
With the result, the H.C. dismissed the present petition in limine. |
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Small business owners meet Bush Washington, March 24 The rationale behind the meeting held in the East Room of the White House was not only an attempt by Bush to convince these small business owners, including nine Indian Americans, about the advantages that could accrue from his 10-year $1.6 trillion tax cut proposal, but to get the entrepreneurs to disseminate this information in their communities and create a critical mass that would pressure lawmakers to support the plan. He said “it seems to make common sense to me that when we’re planning what to do with the people’s money we not only pay debt at the national level, but we give people some of their own money back, or don’t take it in the first place, so they can manage their own debt; so that small businesses can manage their debt.” The Indian Americans invited to the meeting were: Joy
Cherian, former Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC); Sambhu N.Banik, president of Family Diagnostic & Therapeutic Center in Washington, D.C.; Piyush Aggarwal, chairman, American Medical Depot; Gopal Khanna, president International Technology Consultants, Inc.; Ram
Ganesan, president Ganesan & Associates; Sid Gautam, director, Center for Entrepreneurship at Methodist College; Verghese Robert George, president Westex Group in Washington, D.C.; Joseph
Melookaran, president, JMA Informational Technology; and George Thomas, president Bradenton Cardiology Center. Before beginning his remarks, Bush introduced his nominee to head the Small Business Administration, Hector
Barreto, to the participants. He said that “education is a priority, and we need to focus on education. But I also remember where I came from. It’s one thing to spend money at the federal level, it’s another thing to make sure that we understand how to achieve educational excellence for every child.” According to Bush, “while we’ll focus some federal resources, we need to trust the local people by passing power out of Washington, D.C. to run their public schools in America, and at the same time, we’ve got to insist upon results. You do that every single day with your businesses. And so we are going to say, there’s more money for you — but show us whether or not children are learning to read and write and add and subtract.” Bush also spoke of his priorities with regard to defense and healthcare and noted that “we’ve got a plan to take care of the working uninsured by refundable tax credits. We double the Medicare Budget over a 10-year period of time.” Bush urged the participants “to let your senator know, or senators know, what your opinion is. I believe you can have a big impact on how folks think up here.”
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