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Sunday,
June 30, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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PSUs in
Punjab oppose disinvestment Foreign
tour fruitful, says Chautala
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Companies
Act may have more teeth India
second largest rice bran oil producer Soccer
World Cup boon for TV firms
Chandigarh
airport to be upgraded
Q. Ours
is a private limited company engaged in the business of manufacture
and sale machinery parts, equipments and other accessories at
Ludhiana. For the assessment year 1999-2000 we filed our returns with
the assessing authority as per the statutory rules.
Bona
fide need
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PSUs in Punjab oppose disinvestment
Chandigarh, June 29 In one of these representations, the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) countered the Commission’s viewpoint that the Corporation be closed down for performing poorly in comparison to the Punjab Roadways and the Haryana Roadways. In his calculated argument, PRTC chairman J S Chahal revealed in his representation that the losses incurred by PRTC were far less than that of the state-owned Punjab Roadways and the Haryana Roadways. The PRTC suffered a net loss of Rs 30.90 crore in 2001-02 as compared to Rs 96.54 crore of the Punjab Roadways, while the Haryana Roadways suffered loss of Rs 80.54 crore in the last fiscal. The PRTC chairman cited withdrawal of capital contribution by both central and state governments since 1987 and 1994 respectively, non-reimbursement for concessional and free travels and low bus fare not proportionate to the increasing inputs costs and diesel prices as the reasons for the losses by PRTC. The Disinvestment Commission had proposed to the state government to close down the PRTC operations by divesting its fleet of buses along with routes to three or four groups of employees in lieu of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) or retrenchment compensation and selling out its workshops. Besides the PRTC, the representations were made by 12 other PSUs from agriculture, infrastructure and industrial and utility and services sectors. The Punjab Cooperative Spinning and Cotton Mills Federation (Spinfed) submitted that talks with the Centre were already on to revive the closed units. Contradicting the Disinvestment Commission’s assessment that Rs 6.25 crore would be needed to wind up Spinfed, the Spinfed employees Union and Officers Association claimed that the exercise would require at least Rs 21 crore as the Disinvestment Commission did not account for the compensation to be paid to about 2500 workers of the defunct mills in case of liquidation. The maximum number of 38 representations were made by individuals and employees’ bodies of the Punjab State Tubewell Corporation (PSTC). Punjab Communications Ltd (Puncom), Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), Sugarfed, Punjab Financial Corporation, Punjab State Industrial Electronics Corporation (PSIEC) and Punjab Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) are a few other PSUs which represented against disinvestment. The Disinvestment Commission had recently submitted its report with the state government for disinvestment in 29 PSUs and four PSU subsidiary units at a cost of Rs 692 crore.
UNI
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CPI condemns disinvestment of PSUs
Chandigarh, June 29 State CPI Secretary Joginder Dayal, addressing a news conference here, said his party strongly opposed the disinvestment as it would throw two lakh employees of the state-owned passenger transport and other PSUs on the roads. He said the meeting of all the trade unions, including of the Punjab Roadways and the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation, would decide on waging a joint relentless war against the anti-workers policies of the state government.
UNI
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Foreign tour fruitful, says Chautala
Hong Kong, June 29 The high-level official and business delegation accompanying the Chief Minister also had a meeting with the entrepreneurs interested in setting up manufacturing plants for LPG cylinders. The Chief Minister, before leaving for India, described his tour to the USA, Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, France, China and Honk Kong as “very fruitful” for inviting direct foreign investment and transfer of technology. He said his interactive sessions with foreign investors and meetings with entrepreneurs, especially those of Haryana. He said the investment which the foreigners would make in Haryana to set up their units would not only provide employment opportunities to the youth, but also play a vital role in boosting the economy of the state. During his visit to the USA, a group of doctors in Chicago had offered to set up a super-speciality hospital in the “Medicity” being developed at Gurgaon. The Global Telecom Company of Los Angeles had offered to work in close association with the Haryana Government in the IT sector, besides setting up a 1,000-seat call centre at Gurgaon. He said the visit to the UK and Canada led to the offers of setting up of two projects by reputed companies, one each in mass cheap housing and IT-enabled services. An MoU was also signed between the world’s second-largest company in the field of broadcast system, Finline Technologies Limited and Dayang Nagakawa Motors Limited at Waterloo in Canada to set up exchanges at all major cities in India. He said that in UK, JCB had offered an investment of Rs 1,500 million in expansion of their projects in Faridabad, which would generate an additional employment for 800 persons. Mr Chautala said he had received a tremendous response during his visit to France.
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Companies Act may have more teeth New Delhi, June 29 Among the changes that may be considered are random scrutiny of accounts, change in norms of preferential allotment of shares, inspection of accounts by professional bodies and sizeable increase in penalties to check accounting malpractices and incipient signs of fraud. Speaking at a convention organised by Assocham here today, DCA Secretary
V.K. Dhall said: “We have decided to bring about a qualitative change in the Companies Act to ensure that liberalisation does not become a licence and therefore we are moving towards greater regulations in a transparent and non-biased matter”. Mr Dhall said the government had specific information on malpractices and falsification of accounts by Indian companies and warned that if our accounting systems were not strengthened and compliance ensured in letter and spirit, “we will be in for a big shock”.
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India second
largest rice bran
oil producer Chandigarh, June 29 This was stated by Mr Bipin Patel, President, Solvent Extractors Association of India here today. Addressing a press conference, he said,‘‘ Till recently, the rice bran oil was considered as non-edible oil used mostly in soaps. However, it is now world-wide considered as the best edible oil. It is extensively used in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand as a premium edible oil.’’ Mr D.P. Khandelia, Vice- President of the association and Mr Sanjeev Nagpal, president, Solvent Extractors Association of Punjab, also spoke.
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Soccer World Cup boon for TV firms Chandigarh, June 29 The final match tickets are priced around Rs 2.50 lakh each and about one lakh people are likely to witness the grand final to be played between Brazil and Germany at Yokohama. With the Indian market now being targeted by the leading brands, such sporting events serve as a big opportunity for multinational companies displaying their product range. The companies which have benefited most include those manufacturing consumer durables which accounted for 6.1 per cent jump in overall growth in a single month. The sale of television sets also registered an upward trend. Sources in this industry revealed that all big players in this field, including Videocon, Samsung, Kalyani Sharp, BPL, and the like made good profits. The companies expect a further rise in sales during the next year Cricket World Cup. The Regional Manager of a television company said, for upper middle class families, two to three television sets in a household had become commonplace. Many companies have, during the past few months, announced various schemes for their customers. Even the coverage of quarter-final, semi-final and final matches has given various commercial ventures like restaurants, hotels, dance clubs and cinema houses an opportunity to gain publicity by showing the live telecast of these ties.
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by K.R. Wadhwaney Chandigarh airport to be upgraded
All segments at state and central levels seems to be working in harmony to provide much-needed thrust to two vital industries, aviation and tourism, in Northern India, a nerve-centre of the country. Renewed efforts are being made to make Amritsar Fully functional international airport so that Punjabis can travel to their homes and back without wasting their time in transit. Chandigarh airport will also be upgraded with ultra-modern facilities to make it a pucca hub and also improve connectivity. New avenues in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana have been located and publicised so that there is marked improvement in tourist traffic and improvement in aviation sector. All this and more emerged at the one-day ‘Look North’ convention of the Northern India forum for Aviation and sustainable Tourism, a brain-child of Chandigarh-based Ms (Dr) Gulsham Sharma. All officials-politicians, bureaucrats, defence personnels and aviation/tourism experts appear to be sold to the idea that upgradation of these two vital industries in Northern India will mean providing fillip to these sectors in the country. The speakers from different walks of life were unanimous that the country was blessed with immense natural resources and plenty of tourist spots. “What we lack is will to exploit them and promote them in systematic and scientific manner”, said experts, adding: “Efforts should be made to exploit
cultural and heritage areas for the advancement of aviation tourism segments”. The conclusion was that India was no inferior to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and several other places but the authorities had not tried to reap harvests of fruits through aviation/tourism. “It is a pity that India, with one-sixth of population, should have a share of only 0.038 per cent in tourism”, said one observer. According to noted film producer and director Deepak Shivdasani, many film makers would not venture to shoot abroad if the facilities in this country were provided at reasonable rates. “Upgrade facilities and most of us will prefer to shoot here instead of going abroad”, said Shivdasani. Malti Sinha from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggested that spreading the gospel of yoga and health packages could provide additional incentive to
tourists. “Use Ayurveda for promoting tourism”, advocated Malti. According to Maj-Gen V.S. Badhwar, Director-General (Resettlement), Ministry of Defence, the retired services personnel should be gainfully associated with tourism industry. “They are disciplined and dedicated soldiers and they will be able to help India march ahead in the rewarding industry of tourism. The former Tourism Secretary B.K.Goswami was of the view that there was an urgent need to package our products, particularly handicrafts, to attract tourists. The Union Tourism and Cultural Minister Jagmohan lamented India’s insignificant share of global tourist traffic despite abundance of natural resources and man-power. Emphasising that India was one of the most ancient civilisations in the world. He said with a lot of anguish that “we had not utilised mountains, beaches and wildlife to our great advantage.” Pointing out that there ‘is poor culture of governance existing in this country’, Mr Jagmohan said: “We will have to make concerted efforts to attract tourists by providing them clean and healthy surroundings. According to Mr Jagmohan there are many spots that have not been tapped. “There are in Northern India several spots which are as rich in heritage as any in this country”, he said. “The need of the hour is to provide warmth to the tourist so that he/she enjoys staying here”, he advocated. Mr Jagmohan’s latest theme-song is that Red Fort can be a wonderful tourist spot. “Hand it over to me and I will render this area to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. His dream can come true only when defence forces vacate the premises. Dr S.S. Sidhu, president of the Foundation for Aviation and sustainable Tourism, spoke of air transportation, air traffic growth and trends, airlines, airports and air traffic management. |
rc
by A.K. Sachdeva Q. Ours is a private limited company engaged in the business of manufacture and sale machinery parts, equipments and other accessories at Ludhiana. For the assessment year 1999-2000 we filed our returns with the assessing authority as per the statutory rules. During the course of the assessment proceedings, the assessing authority has pointed out that we are liable to pay penalty for the transactions that due to inadvertence could be declared in the returns. In fact we had duly recorded the transactions in books of accounts regularly maintained by us and that our stand before the assessing authority is that even if the turnover disclosed in the returns is to be enhanced for the purpose of assessment no case for imposition of penalty against us is made out. There is no dispute as to the correctness of our account books. Kindly advise if the assessing authority is justified in proposing penalty for what is described we have suppressed the turnover with a view to evading the payment of tax due under the sales tax laws. — Jaspal Singh, Ludhiana Ans: Suppression or concealment of turnover does not mean that a particular transaction of sale or purchase of goods simply gets omitted from being declared in the returns. An assessing authority can conclude suppression of turnover only if there is a complete omission of transaction both from the account books regularly maintained by a dealer and the periodical returns furnished by him with the appropriate assessing authority. If a particular transaction of sale or purchase of goods, as the case may be, does not find a mention in the statutory returns by a dealer, it cannot be said that he has suppressed his transactions with a view to avoiding payment of tax due as the fact of recording the same in the account books is not disputed. It can simply be a case of “omission of transactions from being disclosed in the returns.” In other words, the assessing authority in such a situation would naturally be making the assessment of tax on the basis of the books of account. No penalty, therefore, becomes leviable describing such a omission as a “suppression or concealment of turnover with a view to avoiding payment of tax.” At most, this is a case of technical error for which an assessee cannot be justifiably called upon to pay penalty under the provisions of law dealing with offence involving concealment or suppression of turnover.
Q. We are given to understand that it has become mandatory for the registered dealers effecting sales in the course of inter-State trade or commerce to produce before the assessing authority forms ‘C’ at the time of assessment in support of the claim of concessional rate of tax. Kindly advise if this requirement will apply in relation to even those transactions where the rate of tax by virtue some notification by the State Government on inter-state sales is lower than 4%? —S.K. Shridhar, Sonepat Ans.: Yes, it is true that the requirement relating to production of form ‘C’ in support of the claim of concessional rate of tax on inter-state sales regardless of the fact that rate of tax prescribed on a given transaction or class of goods is lower than the usual rate of 4% has become mandatory. Introducing amendments to the existing provisions of section 8 or the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 vide The Finance Act, 2002 (Act No. 20 of 2002) that received the assent of the President of India, it has been provided by the law-makers that every registered dealer effecting sales in the course of inter-state trade or commerce will have to furnish forms ‘C” with appropriate assessing authority where he claims the benefit of concessional rate of tax. |
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by Praful R. Desai Bona fide need Q.: Whether concurrent finding by all the three courts below can be interfered within appeal by special leave? Ans.: S.C. was dealing with this point in Smt. Padmavati Devadatta Kamat (2002 (1)RCJ209) as under: The S.C. noted that the three courts below have concurrently come to the conclusion that the accommodation acquired in the name of Sunil was for the benefit of the entire family and the said accommodation was a suitable alternative accommodation. Therefore, the respondent landlords were entitled for possession of the suit premises for their own use and occupation. In this regard, it may be of some relevance to refer to the finding of the trial court which held: “Admittedly deceased Devadatta was tenant in the suit premises prior to purchase, It is also not in dispute that he resided upto 1980 in the suit premises as tenant. Dinesh married in 1989 and his wife is serving in BMC. There is no evidence produced by the defendants like voter list or ration card etc. to show that Dinesh Kamat was residing in the suit premises during 1969. Dinesh Kumar is running the business of astrology and earning money thereby. He is also Union Leader of Organisation.” This plea of trial court has been accepted both by the appellate court as well as writ court and this being a finding of fact, the S.C. did not find any reason to interfere with the same, more so, when the appellant in person, who argued the case in the second round, was unable to point out with reference to records how the finding is either incorrect or perverse. Apart from making certain general observations as to his present status and hardship that he may suffer if eviction is ordered. The appellant was not able to print out how respondents were not entitled to the eviction sought for by them. As stated above, after the arguments concluded, the S.C. had given an opportunity to appellant who argued the appeal, to file written submission within four weeks from that date which, as stated above, he has filed and the S.C. did consider the same. In the said submissions, except stating that he has sufficient material to show that he continues to reside in the suit premises, he has not established, how the findings of the courts below are erroneous. The S.C. did not think that at this belated stage, he should be permitted to produce any fresh documents, that is even assuming he has some such documents and they are relevant. Having considered the arguments of the appellant, both oral as well as written, and having pursued the records, the S.C. held that it finds no merit in this case. For the reasons stated above, the S.C. dismissed the appeal.
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