The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	2G Licence DoT moves SC against Delhi HC order New Delhi, December 6 Stung by the Delhi High Court's verdict that slammed the Department of Telecom for 'arbitrarily' advancing the cut-off date for release of 2G spectrum to new telecom operators, the government has challenged the order before the Supreme Court. The DoT filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the apex court last week saying all the rules and regulations were followed while allocating licences for 2G spectrum to new mobile operators. One of the new telecom operator S Tel had approached the Delhi Court challenging DoT's decision to advance the cut-off date due to which Chennai-based C Sivasankaram-led S Tel was denied licences in 16 circles. Telecom Minister A Raja has come under severe criticism for his decision to advance the cut-off date with some quarter alleging that it was done to favour only a handful of companies. Companies, including Unitech, Swan Telecom, Loop, Datacom,Shyam-Sistema and S Tel among others were given licences in January 2008 followed by 2G spectrum at a cost of Rs 1,658 crore for pan-India operations. The DoT has stood its ground that no wrong has been done and keeping in mind the availability of spectrum the decision was taken. A division Bench headed by Chief Justice AP Shah had said there was no "rational" in DoT's decision to advance the deadline from October 1, 2007, to September 25, 2007. "Appellant (DoT) has been unable to show that its decision to revise the cut-off date after receiving the application of respondent (S Tel) was based on some rational criteria. It is vulnerable to being labelled arbitrary and irrational," the court said directing the Department of Telecom to pay Rs 20,000 within four weeks. The bench further said after receiving applications DoT can not change the criteria. "The government would have to justify its decision to revise the cut-off date already fixed, after the applications have been received from persons acting on the basis of earlier cut-off date," the court said. Over allotment of spectrum to S Tel, the court had said that there was no guarantee of allocation of radio frequencies to the licence holder. It further observed that DoT has to still allot spectrum to 110 applicants who have applied up to September 25, 2007. — PTI
	RIL bonus shares to trade from today Tribune News Service Mumbai, December 6 Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said here today that trading in the bonus shares alloted by it would be available from Monday. The shares were listed in the stock exchange over the weekend. "The bonus shares have been listed with the National Stock Exchange of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange and have been admitted for dealing with effect from December 7, 2009," RIL said. RIL had allotted bonus shares to its shareholders on a 1:1 basis with a record date of November 27. The shares carry a face value of Rs 10.
	Market Update Cautious optimism prevails by Lalit Batra After being beaten down on the back of news of the Dubai debacle during the previous week, stock markets worldwide recorded weekly gains last week. India’s benchmark index, the BSE-Sensex, ended the week higher by 2.8 per cent. Gains during the week were on the back of the strong GDP numbers that were announced during the week. In addition, fears surrounding the Dubai debt issue also seemed to have worn down by the market participants last week. A surprisingly strong GDP growth rate for the quarter ended September 2009 pushed the key benchmark indices to their highest level in one and a half months. However, the market retraced from higher level later on profit-taking. The latest data showed the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.9 per cent in second quarter ended September 2009, from 7.1 per cent in the previous year, shattering forecasts as stimulus measures boosted demand and manufacturing activity surged. The economy had registered a 6.1 per cent growth in the first quarter. Going forward, the mood in the market is that of cautious optimism. Therefore, the market may remain range-bound for a while till a fresh upward trigger appears, post which the market may enter a new bullish orbit. JSW Energy JSW Energy (JSWE), a part of JSW Group, is coming with a public issue of shares of Rs 10 each. The company will be raising a maximum amount of Rs 2,700 crore, including Rs 492 crore from anchor investors in the process. The company also proposes to offer retail applicants a discount of up to Rs 5 to the issue price, which will be determined after the book-building process. JSW Group has presence in steel, power, cement, software and infrastructure sectors with revenue in excess of Rs 168,00 crore for the year ended March 31, 2009. The company has been in the business of power generation since 2000 and its consolidated revenue increased from Rs 1,326 crore in financial year (FY) 2008 to Rs 1,852 crore in FY 2009. The company is also involved in power transmission and plans to foray into power distribution space. JSWE scores above the recent deluge of power IPOs on account of its operational 995 MW capacity. Moreover, the company has also reached financial closures for most of its projects (worth 2,145 MW). Its ambitious plan to take its total power generation capacity to 11,390 MW by 2015 also looks attainable, looking at its arrangements in place. While comparing with other power utilities, JSWE (post-issue) looks fairly priced both in terms of price/book (P/B) as well as market cap/MW basis. However, JSWE is having clear revenue visibility at least from the 995-MW operational capacity. Also, another 2,280 MW capacity coming up within 18 months would provide further boost to its near future revenue stream. We believe, although listing gains may not be huge looking at reasonably priced offer price, the expected commissioning of power plants within two years provides JSWE a better revenue visibility vis-a-vis its peers.
	Tax Advice Investment in SCSS covered u/s 80 C by S.C. Vasudeva Q. Will you please let me know whether investment in SCSS in Post Office/SBI is covered in clause (xxiii) of Section 80C of the I.T. Act 1961? If yes, is the same effective for assessment years FY-9 & FY10. — R.P. Vig A. The investment made in an account under the Senior Citizen Saving Scheme Rules is covered in clause (xxiii) of sub section 2 of Section 80C of the Income-tax Act 1961 (the Act). The above deduction is applicable for assessment year 2008-09 and onwards. Medical reimbursement Q. My employer has deducted income tax from the amount of medical reimbursement exceeding Rs 15,000 p.a. The reimbursement by a state government is normally made on account of the following circumstances: i) Indoor treatment in Govt. hospitals ii) Indoor treatment in Pvt. hospitals subject to the rates applicable to any approved government hospital. iii) Treatment of chronic diseases as approved by the Govt. — Ashok Sharma A. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, any amount reimbursed by the employer towards any expenditure actually incurred by the employee on his medical treatment or treatment of any member of his family is not treated as a perquisite and is thus not taxable, in case such reimbursement is for the expenditure incurred: (a) in any hospital maintained by the government or any local authority or any other hospital approved by the government for the purposes of medical treatment of its employees; (b) in respect of the prescribed diseases or ailments, in any hospital approved by the Chief Commissioner having regard to the prescribed guidelines. In case of reimbursement covered at (b) above, the section requires that the employee shall attach with his return of income a certificate from the hospital specifying the disease or ailment for which medical treatment was required and the receipt for the amount paid to the hospital. The chronic diseases prescribed for the above purpose include cancer, tuberculosis and ailment of heart, ailment or disease of eye, nose or throat requiring surgical operations etc. etc. The list is provided in Rule 3A(2) of the Income-tax Rules 1962. The conditions for the approval by the Chief Commissioner are prescribed in Rule 3A(1) of the above Rules. Accordingly in case the medical reimbursement to you is covered within the above guidelines, the same will not be treated as a perquisite and would not be taxable. Medical allowance Q. Please clarify whether (i) Fixed Medical Allowance given to state government employees/pensioners is taxable or not? (ii) Similarly whether LTC given to state government pensioners once in block of 2 years, equivalent to one basic pension is taxable or not? — A.K. Sharma A. The answers to your queries are as under: (i) Fixed medical allowance would ordinarily be taxable. However, in case it can be proved that such allowance is to meet the actual expenditure incurred on medical expenses of yourself and your family and is in the nature of reimbursement of medical expenditure, the same would not be treated as a perquisite to the extent of Rs 15,000 per year provided the expenditure as incurred is duly supported. (ii) The amount of Leave Travel Concession would be exempt from tax provided the same has actually been incurred for travel of the former employee and his family in connection with his proceeding on leave to any place in India. Repatriation of funds Q. My son went to the USA in June 06 and is doing residency in medicine. His wife and two children went along with him. 1.Is it necessary to convert their saving a/c into NRO/NRI a/c. 2. How much money can he/she repatriate to the USA from their Saving / NRO / NRI a/c in a year. 3. How much money can we [parents/relatives] send to him to the USA form our a/c in a year. — D.K. Nagpal A. The replies to your queries are as under: (a) In accordance with the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999 (FEMA), a person is considered to be resident outside India, if he is not a resident in India. A person resident in India means a person who is residing in India for more than 182 days during the course of the preceding financial year but does not include a person who has gone out of India or who stays outside India in either case: (i) for or on taking up employment outside India, or (ii) for carrying on outside India a business or vacation outside India, or (iii) for any other purpose in such circumstances as would indicate his intention to stay outside India for an uncertain period. On the basis of facts in the query, your son, daughter-in-law and their children were not residing in India in the financial year 2006-07 for more than 182 days. Further, it is not possible to ascertain from the facts given in the query whether they have gone out of India with an intention to stay outside India for an uncertain period. Since the wife and children have also gone, it may be possible to conclude that your son has gone with an intention to stay out of India for an uncertain period. If that be the case, it would be necessary to convert his savings account into NRO i.e. Nonresident Ordinary Account. (b) As far as India is concerned there is no limit with regard to the receipt of amount from your son. (c) It is now permissible under FEMA to send a sum of $ 2,00,000 by resident individuals per financial year (April to March) for any permitted current or capital account transactions or a combination of both. This includes remittances towards gift and donation by resident individuals.