It is common knowledge that public information officers often do not furnish the information sought by the applicant under Right to Information Act (RTI). Is an appeal to the appellate authority of the Information Commission the only remedy? Or would failure to furnish information without valid reason constitute a deficiency in service for which compensation can be sought by filing a consumer complaint? This issue has been decided by the National Commission in a trendsetting judgment.
In a path-breaking judgment, the Bombay high court has held that even a single dissenting member of a cooperative housing society cannot be thrown out by a builder based on a mere development agreement with the society and a majority of the flat owners in it for redevelopment of the building.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is going to observe an ‘India Corporate Week’ from tomorrow. The theme for ‘India Corporate Week’, 2009, is ‘Corporate Sector and Inclusive Growth’, under which the Ministry expects the corporate sector to reaffirm its commitment to the concept of ‘Inclusive Growth’.
In case any foreign commission is paid at the time of exports or subsequently then MEP shall be higher than US $ 900 per ton, to the extent of foreign commission paid / payable and MEP of US $ 900 per ton shall be maintained, exclusive of the foreign commission.
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For the first time the state government has candidly admitted that there is corruption at commercial tax department VAT checkposts. Industries minister Saurabh Dalal in an interaction with Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association (GSTBA) has appealed to traders to come forward to lodge complaints against errant officers.
A senior revenue department official told , There are three issues on which a political call is required. These are: the exempt-exempt- tax regime for retirement savings, the 2 per cent minimum alternate tax on gross tax assets of companies and the proposal to tax charitable organisations at 15 per cent. Hectic lobbying by interest groups is still on for dilution or an altogether elimination of these proposals from the final draft.
The Centre has turned down the proposal of the empowered group of state finance ministers to keep alcohol out of goods and services tax. The government has in fact suggested that both alcohol and tobacco, which are demerit goods and considered harmful for health, should be kept under GST, with the states getting the power to levy excise duty over and above GST on alcohol. The Centre would have the same power in case of tobacco.
India will not tax foreign funds at their point of entry as the government believes the economy is resilient enough to absorb the dollar deluge. Such a tax on foreign inflows — called the Tobin tax, after its proponent, 1981 Economics Nobel winner James Tobin of the US — is being fiercely advocated by the EU and the UK, while Brazil has already imposed a 2 per cent levy. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, does not favour a tax on finances entering India. He told Parliament today that “the market mechanisms have sufficient resilience and have been functioning normally”.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday indicated the government could rewrite the new direct tax code to make it acceptable to all stakeholders. On the tax code, he said, the government would attempt to build consensus on the proposals. “I have laid a certain proposal in the form of a direct tax code. But it is not the Bhagwad Gita and it cannot be said that it cannot be changed,” he added.
