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Sunday,
February 9, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Flight of industry from Punjab to Himachal
Capt blames Centre for sugar arrears
Implementation of ST laws |
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Drive against fake auto parts
Business confidence up: NCAER survey
Seminar on biotech
BSNL customers pay 10 times more in Sirsa
Permanent structure
Changes in A-I on the cards
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Flight of industry from Punjab to Himachal Chandigarh, February 8 He has asked the Chief Minister to outline steps that the state government has taken or proposed to take against such flight of industry as well as on designs of “ultra right-wing Hindu forces” that are out to create communal wedge in the state. Mr Mann expects ‘Maharaja Sahib’, as he has addressed him, to take concrete steps in this direction because he (Capt.) has the mandate of the people to run the government and the “responsibility falls squarely on you and your government”. In fact, Capt has already drawn the attention of the Prime Minister and requested that “special economic package” be given to Punjab on the same lines as applicable to Himachal Pradesh, J and K and Uttranchal to arrest the flight of industry as well as to promote economic development in Punjab. Mr Mann told TNS from New Delhi today that yet another factor that will add to industry taking to wings is the Friday raids by the enforcement wing of the Punjab State Electricity Board on the factories and residence of the relatives of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mr P.K. Dhumal, whose family is a business-partner in them in Jalandhar. Condemning such “political vendetta”, Mr Mann has said such poll-eve gimmicks would send wrong signals to other industrial entrepreneurs, as well, and also give a deadly blow to efforts of the state to attract industry to Punjab. When MPs meet here on February 10 to receive “agenda brief” on Punjab’s pending issues with the Centre that they will be required to raise in the Parliament in the ensuing session, delay in release of the Punjab industrial policy and also conducting of such raids at the the instance of the ruling Congress would also find a mention.
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Capt blames Centre for sugar arrears New Delhi, February 8 “We are not in the position to clear the arrears of sugarcane farmers estimated at Rs 70 crore, but the Central Government is doing politics at our cost,” he told newspersons here on Friday. More than 3 lakh tonne of sugar stocks, worth Rs 383 crore, are now lying with the sugar mills in Punjab. By the end of the ongoing sugar year (September-October) the stock is likely to touch the four lakh tonne mark, valued at Rs 500 crore. The Chief Minister said he had already taken up this issue with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee at the recent National Development Council and also met Union Food Minister Sharad Yadav in this connection. The Punjab Government should be permitted to supply sugar in Punjab and adjoining States as the restrictions ultimately hit the resource-poor farmers. As the country is saddled with surplus sugar production with slim prospects of exports in the wake of surplus stocks in the world, the millers and sugar industry lobbies are jostling to get rid of accumulated stocks posing liquidity problem to them. With a carryover of stock of 103 lakh tonnes, India will have production of around 180 lakh tonnes with consumption estimated at 160 lakh tonne and export expected at 15 lakh tonnes during the year.
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Implementation of ST laws Can the sales tax authorities compel the units to opt for lump sum composition in lieu of sales tax payable by them under the provisions of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973? This precisely appears to constitute one of the important questions that now-a-days form subject matter of discussion amongst the trade, industry and the tax experts in the context of the recent decision of the state government introducing system of lump sum composition in relation to plywood units. It is true the state government is competent to accept from any class of dealers, in lieu of the tax payable under the Act, for any period, by way of composition, a lump sum determined under section 26 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973. A plain reading of the provisions of section 26 governing the procedure for lump, sum however, shows they do not make it mandatory for every dealer constituting specified class liable to pay tax to give option for lump sum. Having regard to the scheme of the Act envisaged in aforesaid provisions a dealer may or may not exercise the option of making payment in the form of lump sum composition. However, the sales tax authorities do not possess with any powers to compel them to switch over to lump sum composition. Obviously, therefore, the exercise being undertaken by the sales tax authorities in the State calling upon the plywood units to opt lump sum composition in lieu of sales tax they already have been paying on the sale or purchase of goods under the general laws entirely is inconsistent with the statutory provisions. Another significant aspect of the matter is that in consequent upon the directions the taxing authorities issued on January 08, 2003, the plywood units immediately had to deposit the amount of lump sum composition despite even when the decision of the state government of introducing lump sum composition was yet to be given a shape of a legislation in the form of a notification in terms of section 26 of the Act, 1973. The question is how the taxing authorities could proceed ahead of the legislation in this context having been passed? This procedure adopted is also violative of Article 265 of the Constitution of India, which says, no tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law. What more is of interest to note is that the lump sum composition has been realized by the instrumentalities of the State even before the amount had become due for payment? There is no denying the fact that the quarter for which the payments have been charged as per the existing provisions come to an end on March 31, 2003. The approach, therefore, in recovering the payments proceed contrary to what expressly is provided in the provisions of sub-rule (4) of rule 29 of the Haryana General Sales Tax Rules, 1975 that lays down in unambiguous terms “Every dealer liable to pay lump sum by way of composition under section 26 shall pay it in four equal quarterly instalments within one month from the end of the quarter and shall furnish the proof of payment viz treasury receipt to the appropriate assessing authority within ten days after the close of the specified period. |
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Drive against fake auto parts New Delhi, February 8 While Mico has established an 'Anti-spurious' cell to tackle the problem of fake products, companies like Fenner India are conducting road shows etc whereas many others are also educating the dealers to campaign against fake automotive parts available in the market. "Spurious parts are today capturing even more than half of the total market. It is the products of the market leaders that are imitated, and are thus sold to the consumer at the same price as that of an original product", said Mr Deepak Bhagat, Senior Sales and Service Engineer of Lucas Indian Service. The damage done to the vehicle when one uses a fake product is not only in terms of paying the same price for an inferior product, the wear and tear of the vehicle is much more, which also reduces the vehicle's life. To distinguish between the original and the spurious product, packaging, company's stamp, aesthetics of the product have to be focussed upon. In case of shockers (Gabriel) , for instance, while the original shocker will have a smooth finish, current date code and stamping on inner tube with name and part number, the fake product, will lack consistency in shades, have a date code that is three - four years old or sometimes absent and bear stamping sometimes on both the tubes. Despite such differences, it is very difficult for a consumer to make out if the product is original or not because the consumer is not supplied both fake and original parts at a given point of time, said a TVS official. To create awareness , Lucas TVS is conducting campaigns at dealer points and also issues instruction notes to the dealers, Mr Bhagat said.
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Business confidence up: NCAER survey New Delhi, February 8 According to the latest Business Expectation Survey of the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the upswing in the current round is a reflection of business sentiments finally overcoming the adverse impact of macro factors, particularly the delayed monsoon and a confusing outlook due to the government’s disinvestment process. The survey said the Business Confidence Index (BCI) recorded an impressive gain of 12.4 per cent over its level of 102.4 in the previous round, the rise more palpable with the index jumping 36 per cent over last year’s level. These factors, among others, had pegged the BCI at 102.4 in the last round in October 2002 and almost similar (102.3) in June 2002. “The major components contributing towards this upward revision of expectation are increased capacity utilisation and improvement in investment climate,” it said.
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Seminar on biotech Chandigarh, February 8 The seminar was a joint effort of CII Northern Region and the Canadian High Commission, Chandigarh. He said the Punjab Government was setting up a centre of excellence for growth of biotechnology, where thrust areas would be agriculture, healthcare and environment. The Punjab Government is also keen on setting up R&D facilities. For commercialisation of activities, setting up of a biotech part is also being proposed,” he said.
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BSNL customers pay 10 times more in Sirsa Sirsa, February 8 Sources in BSNL revealed that landline customers here will have to pay Rs 1.26 for a call of 18 seconds on a mobile even if mobile holder is in Sirsa, whereas if a landline customer of Sirsa contacts a person at Faridabad by using 95 facility will have to pay Rs 1.26 for 30 seconds. In any other district headquarter there is no such disparity and landline customers can have access to any mobile holder at the local rates — 180 seconds for Rs 1.26. A senior officer of BSNL admitted this disparity and said this a technical matter due to which customers will have to pay 10 times more for contacting a mobile holder.
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by Praful R. Desai Permanent structure Q: Whether it can be said that the permanent construction raised by the tenant was with consent of the landlord in writing, as the law requires? Ans: In Vithal N. Shetti v Prakash N. Rudrakar [2002 (2) RCJ 213] The S.C. expressed the views thus: The plaint makes a positive averment of a negative fact, that is, the absence of consent in writing of the landlord to raising the permanent structure by the tenant over the tenancy premises. In the wake of such averment in the plaint, it was necessary for the tenant to have raised specific pleading in the written statement, setting out the particulars of the consent in writing. Not only the particulars are not pleaded but even the factum of the landlord having given consent in writing to the permanent construction is not stated. There is not even a whisper in the written statement of such consent, on which the tenant relies, having ever given by the landlord and forming part of the record of Municipal Corporation. If the Municipal Corporation had expressed its inability to make available certified copies of relevant records to the appellants the appelate should have taken steps before the trial court for summoning theoriginal records from the custody of the Municipal Authorities, which could have shown the bonafides of the plea raised by the tenant appellant. Nothing such was done. In this background the H.C. rightly declined to show its indulgence to a belated prayer for summoning the record from the custody of the Municipal Corporation. No fault can be found with the view taken by the H.C., said the S.C. in the opinion of the S.C. thus, the appeals are held avoid of any merit and liable to be dismissed. They are dismissed accordingly. However, in view of the fact that the tenant has remained in occupation in the suit premises for a long time and is running his commercial activities therefrom, the appellant is allowed 12 months time for vacating the suit premises subject to his filing usual undertaking within a period of four weeks from today. That way this appeal came to be dismissed. 
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