Glodyne Technoserve Ltd. Vs. State of M.P. & Ors. (Supreme Court) – The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of Glodyne Technoserve Ltd, which had bid for a project for issuing identity cards for the public distribution system in Madhya Pradesh. The government rejected it offer as it did not produce the latest ‘quality certificate’ with the bid document. The firm argued that it did have the latest certificate and therefore it was eligible to be considered. It also contended that the requirement for producing the latest certificate was added later by the government in a corrigendum to the bidder check list. Rejecting these arguments, the Supreme Court stated that in such circumstances, the authority inviting bids has the discretionary power to accept the bid or not. The decision can be quashed only if it was proved to be arbitrary or perverse. In this case, it was neither, the court declared.
The Supreme Court last week directed Glaxo India Ltd to deposit Rs 71.21 crore in the Drug Prices Equilisation Account, asking it to comply with the demand of the government. The central government had issued drug price control orders under the Essential Commodities Act fixing the maximum selling price of bulk drugs. Those notifications were challenged by the pharma company as arbitrary and illegal. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal of the government and stated that several drug companies were overcharging the consumers and the notifications were meant to control prices to benefit consumers.
The Supreme Court has stated that the debt recovery appellate tribunal has no power to exempt a defaulter from making a pre-deposit before entertaining his appeal under the Securitisation & Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act. In this case, Narayan Chandra vs UCO Bank, the tribunal granted exemption. The Calcutta high court set aside the order. He appealed to the Supreme Court which upheld the high court ruling.
Commissioner of Commercial Taxes & Ors. Vs. Chitrahar Traders- The buyer of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a central government undertaking which was sold as scrap, was entitled to pay a lower sales tax, the Supreme Court ruled. It dismissed the appeal of the Commissioner of Commercial Taxes against the ruling of the Madras high court which stated that the levy should take into account that the machinery was total scrap. Since the plant and machinery had outlived its utility, the government appointed Metal Scrap and Trading Corporation Ltd, a government enterprise, to sell them as scrap. It arranged an e-auction in which Chitrahar Traders bid the highest amount. The revenue department then demanded 12 per cent and surcharge as sales tax stating that what was sold was plant and machinery; not scrap. The buyer contended that only 4 per cent could be levied at the rate stipulated for scrap. In fact, it had to use explosives to remove machinery embedded in earth since 1961 and which became utterly useless by 2001. The high court and the Supreme Court accepted the contention of the scrap buyer.
The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of New India Assurance Company which had rejected the claim of a ship-breaking firm for compensation. The firm bought a Belgian vessel and was bringing it from Singapore on its ‘funeral voyage’ to Alang port in Gujarat for demolition. It wrecked on way in high seas due to bad weather. The ship was covered by marine insurance and the ship-breaker invoked the policy. The insurer rejected the claim leading to litigation in the consumer forum. The National Consumer Commission asked the insurance company to pay Rs 14 crore with 9 per cent interest to Priya Blue Industries, the scrap dealer in ships. However, the insurer appealed to the Supreme Court. It ruled that the loss suffered due to the ship wreck was properly assessed by the surveyors and the commission order was correct.
From the desk of Chairman,CBDT- CIT wise details of AY10-11 paper refund Returns entered into the system but not processed is given herein below. These lists, however, do not give the true and complete picture of pending refunds, as the Systems does not have any visibility of paper refund Returns not entered onto the system. On the basis of the statistics available for earlier years, CBDT estimates the said paper refund Returns not entered onto the system so far at around 8 lacs, a large number of which pertain to Mumbai & Delhi. Today April 03 morning, CCITs (CCA) of Mumbai & Delhi have been sensitized by the Chairman personally about the need to issue all refunds by April 10 2011. All officers, especially those posted at Delhi & Mumbai, are once again advised to rise to the occasion & issue all refunds by this date.
Finance Ministry will soon come out with a discussion paper on service tax to increase its contribution to the overall tax kitty and align it with the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST). “The Finance Ministry is working on a discussion paper on taxation of services to get opinion and feedback before moving to GST,” a source told PTI.
Industry chamber Assocham today said the government’s decision to revise taxes on currency conversion would increase transaction cost and hit the country’s exports. This charge, on the differential between RBI reference rate and the rate at which transaction is booked, will significantly increase transaction costs and decrease India’s competitiveness in global markets, the apex chamber said.
M/s. Tradex Polymers Pvt. Ltd. is a registered service provider and is a Del credere consignment agent and during the course of advertising and publicizing the product the assessee enlisted the services of a mandap keeper which is an input service. This confirms to the definition of input service as defined under Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004. I find the ratio of the decision in the case of M/s. Coca Cola India Pvt. Ltd. Vs. CCE Pune-3 reported in 2009 (15) STR 657 (Banglore)
No NBFC shall contribute to the capital of a partnership firm or become a partner of such firm. A NBFC, which has already contributed to the capital of a partnership firm or was a partner of a partnership firm, shall seek early retirement from the partnership firm.
