The government has put its act together to see that the Company Law Board (CLB), the quasi-judicial body that gives verdicts on litigation and complaints that come under the purview of the Companies Act, gets a fresh set of members soon. This is in the backdrop of the arrest of R Vasudevan, the senior most CLB member, on November 24. This has left the board with just two members to hear the pending cases that run into thousands.
The model legislation for the introduction of goods and services tax (GST) will have a provision for registration of individuals and companies which pay the tax.The registration will be done through a uniform PAN-linked business identification number. The Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance had recently sent a proposal to state governments for making the 10-digit permanent account number (PAN) the starting point for registering GST payees.
The Constitutional amendment will be the basis for the new tax regime and will be followed by adoption of separate state and Central GST laws. The last amendment to the Constitution dealing with a financial matter was in 2000, when the Centre was given the power to tax services. The Ministry of Finance was in consultation with the law ministry on drafting of the amendment Bill.
It has directed them to create a “suitable mechanism” to hold periodic scrutiny against violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The move comes after it was found that some foreign retail companies or joint ventures, which had permission to undertake only “cash & carry wholesale trading” were violating the rules. They were apparently selling directly for personal consumption, which is prohibited. It was also noticed that companies that were allowed to operate single-brand retail outlets sold multiple brands in violation of permission.
“Besides the hefty fine, jail sentences were awarded to companies found violating the clauses of the competition law in Europe. While in India the maximum penalty ends with a fine, it might not be surprising that an imprisionment provision will be incorporated to add more teeth to the present CCA”, he said.
With just three months left for the Union Budget 2010-11, the Ministry of Finance has started the process of pre-Budget consultations. A first round of pre-Budget meetings with the various ministries has already taken place.The ministry has also written to industry bodies to send in their proposals for the Budget. It will hold discussions with the industry beginning next month.
Vasudevan, who was director investigation and inspection ministry of corporate affairs before joining the CLB three months ago, was looking into high profile cases like the Satyam and the Sesa Goa fraud. “No we don’t need to relook, it is the SFIO that has done the investigation, in the beginning it was done at the level of Regional Director and Registrar of Companies and then it was taken over by the SFIO, so I don’t think we need to worry at all…,” Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.
Hon’ble Shri R.V. Easwar, Judicial Member, has been elevated as Senior Vice President and posted to the Mumbai Bench of the Tribunal with effect from 25th November 2009. Shri. Easwar has qualified as LLM and ACA and practised as a lawyer from 1975 to 1991 in Chennai. After his elevation to the Bench in 1991, he has served the Kolkota, Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore Benches. He has been a party to several landmark judgements such as Mid East Portfolio 87 ITD 537 (Mum) (SB), Lalsons Enterprises 89 ITD 26 (Del) (SB) and Kanel Oil (Ahd) (TM).
The assessee’s income was computed u/s 115JB as it had no income under the normal provisions of the Act. The assessee claimed that despite the absence of normal profits, it was eligible for deduction u/s 80HHC in computing the book profits under Expl. (iv) of s. 115JB in accordance with the judgement of the Special Bench in Syncome Formulations 106 ITD 193 (Mum) (SB) and that the judgement of the Bombay High Court in Ajanta Pharma 223 CTR 441 (Bom) (which held that Syncome Formulations was overruled) was not applicable. HELD upholding the assessee’s plea:
Speaking on the occasion, Dinesh Kanabar, PwC tax leader, India said, It is a tremendous achievement and we are delighted to receive this award. The award is in recognition of our commitment towards partnering with our clients in one of the most difficult years of our time. He added, Our global experience of working with a diverse client base spread across economies has helped us gain new perspectives and develop inventive solutions.
