GST Council makes headway on bills, stuck on taxpayer control

New Delhi, Dec 23 (PTI) The all-powerful GST Council today made a 'reasonable headway' on supporting legislations for the new indirect tax regime but its rollout from April 1 looked virtually impossible as it postponed discussion on the critical issue of administration and control of tax payers.

The panel, which met for the seventh time since the Constitutional Amendment to replace central and state taxes with a Goods and Service Tax was approved in mid-September, tweaked the periodicity of payment of compensation for loss of revenue to states for implementation of GST to bi-monthly instead of previously decided quarterly payment.

Also, the Council decided to create the kitty for the compensation 'from any other tax' besides the cess on luxury and sin goods it had previously approved, as states saw revenues being dented by slowdown in economic activity and resultant tax collections following demonetisation.

The GST Council will meet again on January 3-4 and take up the issue of which part of tax payers should be controlled by the Centre and who should be governed by the states after a single tax will replace levies like central excise, service tax and VAT.

The dual control is also part of the Integrated-GST legislation that Parliament needs to pass before the new regime is rolled out.

But for this stumbling block, mirror legislations of Central-GST and State-GST, that have to be approved by Parliament and state assemblies respectively, neared finality with most clauses agreed upon.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the law to provide for compensation to the states for loss of revenue was also approved by the GST Council at its two-day meeting which ended today but a final draft with legal language would be approved at the next meeting.

"I am trying my best," he said, when asked about the April 1 rollout schedule. "I am not going to bind myself with anything. Our effort is to do it as quickly as possible and I think we are making a reasonable headway."

Three consecutive meetings of the GST Council have not been able to take up the issue of dual control. Some states like West Bengal and Kerala want a minimum turnover criteria be fixed to decide who control which assessee, a proposal the Centre is not agreeable to because states lack expertise on levies like service tax.

"If you ask me what are the principle residuary items left, the main item of course is the IGST and dual empowerment issue. The second is the legally vetted language which will be placed in the next meeting on January 3-4," Jaitley said, adding that the Council will take up items in each tax bracket after that. .

Airtel, Aircel to appear before Parliament panel on call drops

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology has called telecom operators Airtel and Aircel to appear before it to brief on the issue of call drops on January 5.

A notice of the panel said meeting will be held on January 5, 2017 to "to hear the views of the representatives of Bharti Airtel Limited and Aircel Limited on the subject 'issues related to quality of services and reported call drops'".

The panel, chaired by BJP MP and BCCI President Anurag Thakur, had earlier met officials industry lobby Cellular Operators Association of India and Reliance Jio to discuss call drop issue.

COAI urged the committee to also hear out incumbent operators, including Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, and Vodafone, for a fairer assessment of the situation.

The members of the panel in November meeting, among various issues, sought to know about service quality challenges arising out of free calls being offered by the newcomer RJio, and how these issues are being sorted, as per sources.

As per telecom regulator Trai report for April-June quarter, maximum call drop was reported on Aircel network across most telecom circles in the country. Call drops were also noticed on the networks of RCom, Telenor, BSNL and Vodafone in April-June period.

Delhi LG resigns in surprise move

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) In a sudden move, Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung today resigned amid a protracted bitter confrontation with the AAP government.

Without citing reasons, Jung's office said he has submitted his resignation to the Centre. 65-year-old Jung, a former IAS officer, had assumed charge of Lt Governor of Delhi on July 9, 2013.

"Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has submitted his resignation to the Government of India. He thanks the Prime Minister for all the help and cooperation he received during his tenure," the LG's office said in a statement.

The reason behind his surprise decision is not immediately known.

"Jung also thanked the people of Delhi for all their support and affection, especially during the one year of President's Rule in Delhi, when he got unstinted support from them and which in turn helped run the administration in Delhi smoothly and effortlessly," the statement said.

Jung also thanked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his association in the last two years.

"Jung would be returning back to his first love, which is, academics," said his office. 

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Kerry, Doval discuss regional security and counter-terrorism

Washington, Dec 21 (PTI) National Security Advisor Ajit K Doval has met US Secretary of State John Kerry here and discussed regional security, counter-terrorism and deepening of India-US strategic partnership.

"Secretary Kerry met today (December 20) with Indian National Security Advisor Doval to discuss regional security, counter-terrorism, and the deepening strategic partnership between the United States and India," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told PTI.

"The Secretary expressed confidence that the US-India partnership would continue to move forward in the new administration and thanked Doval for his leadership and hard work on our shared agenda," Toner said.

Doval, who arrived in the US on Monday, yesterday met President-elect Donald Trump's NSA-designate Gen (rtd) Michael Flynn and the two leaders are believed to have discussed a wide range of regional and global strategic issues while exploring ways to further Indo-US ties.

It is understood that Flynn spoke to Doval over phone a few days ago, during which he invited Doval to come to the US for a meeting.

EC to ask I-T authorities to look into finances of 200 parties

New Delhi, Dec 21 (PTI) The Election Commission is set to write to the Income Tax authorities asking it to look into the finances of over 200 political parties it has 'delisted' over a period of time for not contesting elections.

The Commission has, over a period of time, identified various parties which have not contested polls since 2005 and has 'delisted' over 200 of them.

The poll panel believes that most of them exist on papers to help people convert their back money into white by accepting donations.

In the next few days, the Commission will send the list of the delisted parties to the income tax authorities seeking action against relevant laws if they are found to be involved in money laundering.

While the poll watchdog has the mandate to register a political party, it lacks power under electoral laws to deregister any party.

As its demand to get power to deregister a party is pending with the Law Ministry, the Commission used its powers under Article 324 of the Constitution to delist parties for being dormant and not contesting elections for a long time.

There are over 1780 registered, but unrecognised political parties in the country. Besides, there are seven national parties -- BJP, Congress, BSP, TMC, CPI, CMI-M and NCP -- and 58 state parties.

Seeking to stem flow of black money in elections, the Commission has proposed a slew of electoral reforms but most are pending with the government.

RBI rolls back norms for deposit of old notes by KYC customers

Mumbai, Dec 21 (PTI) Under all-round attack, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday did a U-turn on customers depositing demonetised notes over Rs 5,000 till December 30 by making it clear that there will be no questions asked either in case of one-time or repeat deposits if the accounts are KYC-compliant.

Such customers will also not be questioned by bank officials on why they had failed to deposit the old notes earlier.

The RBI turnaround came as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's assurance on Monday night and yesterday that there will be no questions asked to customers who would make one-time deposit above Rs 5,000 failed to persuade bank officials who insisted that there should be fresh circular from RBI so that customers will not be harassed.

However, customers with non-KYC accounts will be subject to stiff conditions imposed by RBI on December 19 for deposit of junked notes.

The decision follows widespread criticism of the guidelines, with people saying the Prime Minister as well as the finance minister have asked people not to throng the banks as they have time till December 30 to deposit invalid notes in their accounts.

On review of the guidelines, RBI decided to modify the old currency deposit rules for fully-KYC compliant customers, an RBI notification said Wednesday.

The December 19 notification of RBI had said tenders of old currency in excess of Rs 5,000 into a bank account will be received for credit only once during the remaining period till December 30, 2016.

"The credit in such cases shall be afforded only after questioning tenderer, on record, in presence of at least two officials of the bank, as to why this could not be deposited earlier and receiving a satisfactory explanation. The explanation should be kept on record to facilitate an audit trail at a later stage," it had said.

Replying to queries on curbs on deposit of old currency notes by RBI, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday had said people should go and deposit the now-defunct notes at one go as repeat deposits raise doubt.

"Today, there are no exemptions... Now, there is no further scope of earning old currency. So, those who have got old currency must go and deposit at one go," he had said.

"Therefore, if somebody goes everyday and deposit old currency, it raises suspicion. How is he getting everyday? As long as exemptions existed, there was scope for getting old currency. But once the exemptions have been lifted, if you have old currency, go and deposit at one go.

Govt plans threshold for parties to enjoy tax exemption: FM

New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) Government plans to set a threshold criteria for political parties to enjoy tax exemptions to check money laundering by outfits that do not contest elections, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

He said the Revenue Secretary has been asked to look into the issue in the wake of Election Commission's recommendations in this regard.

Jaitley's remarks at a Times Now event assume significance in the context of the Election Commission's recommendations to the Government to amend laws to bar tax exemption to parties that do not contest elections and win seats in Lok Sabha and Assembly polls and to ban anonymous donations above Rs 2,000 to political parties.

"I can point out one is invisible donation which Election Commission says is anonymous and the second is when political parties got exemptions. There are about 40/50/60 political parties which effectively contest elections in Centre and the states, (but) you have a large number of political parties which got registered not for contesting election but for availing tax exemption.

"Now this part is easier to tackle. I have already asked the Revenue Secretary to look into this and therefore we will have to put a threshold criteria so that we are able to eliminate those which are not real political parties but only for money conversion which have come in," Jaitley said.

He said many political parties do not contest elections but only accept donations and convert money.

"I have already told the Revenue Department to look at them and therefore some threshold criteria could be fixed and number of these could be eliminated," Jaitley added.

India seal 4-0 win over England as Jadeja takes 7/48

Chennai, Dec 20 (PTI) India pulled the curtains down on England's winter of discontent in the manner befitting their dominance as the hosts clinched the five-match series 4-0 with an innings and 75-run victory in the fifth and final cricket Test here today.

Spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the hero of the day as he returned exceptional figures of 7/48 to spell doom for England.

Jadeja's effort deserves special mention as he shone on a pitch where there were no demons. However, triple-centurion Karun Nair walked away with the Man of the Match award for his unbeaten 303-run knock that set the tone for the victory.

In the process of winning their ninth match of the year to stretch an unbeaten run to 18, the hosts wrote and rewrote a plethora of records, including notching up their biggest-ever series victory over England.

Their previous best was the 3-0 verdict under Mohammed Azharuddin's captaincy in 1992-93.

Having made a sedate start to the day, England made a hash of it after tea as they lost their last six wickets for a mere 15 runs.

England were staring down the barrel at 200 for eight, with Jadeja doing the bulk of damage in an exceptional display of slow bowling on a pitch that was one of the flattest in recent times.

The left-arm spinner, who also pulled off a brilliant catch earlier in the day, triggered the English slide when he lured Moeen Ali into playing a casual shot after the tea break.

From 192 for four, the scoreline suddenly read 200 for eight, with plenty of overs left for Indian bowlers to wrap up the tail.

It soon became 207 for nine as the inevitable dawned on England and the end came when the last line of defence, Jake Ball, was foxed by Jadeja for a three-ball duck.

Celebration erupted in the stands at the M A Chidambaram Stadium, and the Indian players also broke into wild celebrations following the team's fifth successive Test series win since September last year. The win also made it India's longest unbeaten run in Test cricket, surpassing the previous best of 17 wins between 198-87.

In front of the plenty of heads totting the stands, the Indian players went on a lap of honour.

A pall of gloom, however, descended on the English camp, while the Indians' joy knew no bounds.

Daman & Diu becomes India's 1st cashless region

New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) The tiny Union Territory along the Arabian Sea coast, Daman and Diu, has become the first cashless region of the country.

Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir has commended the UT administration for taking the initiative to make Daman and Diu as the first cashless region of the country.

During a recent visit to the Union Territory, Ahir lauded the painstaking efforts of the UT administration in successfully making Daman and Diu a cashless region.

At least 190 teams of trained volunteers visited over 25,000 households spread across the UT to educate their members about the benefits of cashless transactions, an official statement said.

The administration has introduced free Wi-fi services in the Union Territory recently and 3,500 GB Data was used by over 32,000 tourists and local people during the last 45 days.

This initiative was appreciated by Ahir as it will help in promoting the government's initiative of Digital India and e-transactions.

Ahir reviewed the developmental projects in Daman and Diu and also inaugurated the coastal police station at Kadaiya.

He directed the officials to expedite work on setting up the coastal police station at Diu.

Ahir called upon the UT administration to fill up the vacancies immediately so that the coastal police station can operate at its full capacity at the earliest.

The Minister also inaugurated a function to commemorate the 56th Liberation Day of Daman and Diu on December 17, 2016.

Speaking on the occasion, Ahir said the UT has an immense tourist potential and hoped the tourism sector will emerge as a major revenue source with the slew of initiatives undertaken by the UT administration, the release said.

A Staff Recruitment Board has also been constituted recently for bringing transparency in the Administration and to check corrupt practices.

In the social development sector, infrastructure in all primary schools is being upgraded under the 'Jan Bhagidari' scheme of the UT administration.