Jat stir: HC pulls up railways for inaction

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday pulled up the railway authorities for not reacting in time to the Jat agitation that has crippled the rail traffic. It directed the Central and state governments to ensure that there was no recurrence of such blockades of rail tracks or highways.

The court also directed the authorities concerned to lay down guidelines in order to tackle the problem by use of force and by invoking the provisions of the National Security Act (NSA).

The order was issued by the division bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice V K Dixit while hearing a PIL on harassment of lakhs of people due to cancellation of around 760 trains following rail blockade at Kafurpur in J P Nagar for 15 days by Jat protesters demanding reservation in Central services under other backward class (OBC) category.

The HC had on March 18 taken sou motu cognizance of a TOI report on the problems of the people due to the Jat agitation. On the direction of the chief justice of the Allahabad High Court, the registrar of the court registered the matter as a PIL.

In the March 18 order, the rail route along which the protesters were squatting was vacated by the authorities. However, the agitation continued and the community leaders have now announced to block the highways leading to Delhi.

The Central and state governments as well as the chairman, Railway Board, submitted a status report in the High Court in pursuance to March 18 order to get the railway lines cleared. Taking on record the affidavits filed the authorities, the High Court also appreciated the effort to clear the railway tracks, but expressed displeasure over the initial inaction.

Meanwhile, the Jat protesters on Wednesday tried to enter Delhi through Ghaziabad and for an hour blocked the road at Anand Vihar when stopped by police to proceed further.

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Army probe faults 10 top officers in Adarsh building scam

NEW DELHI: An Army court of inquiry (CoI) has found two former Army chiefs, Gen Deepak Kapoor and Gen N C Vij, and several other senior Army officers responsible for the Adarsh housing society scam.

The CoI probing the scam, which was exposed by The Times of India, has said the conduct of several top Army officers—among them the two ex-Army chiefs, four lieutenant generals and three major generals—was "blame-worthy". This is the first time that so many top Army officers have been indicted by an Army court.

Apart from Gen Kapoor and Gen Vij, the other officers blackballed by the CoI include Lt Gen G S Sihota, Lt Gen P K Rampal, Lt Gen Shantanu Choudhry , Lt Gen Tejinder Singh, Maj Gen Ram Kanwar Hooda, Maj Gen A R Kumar, Major Gen V S Yadav and Maj Gen Tej Kishen Kaul.

The CoI report was recently submitted to the defence ministry. The Army has recommended that the CBI should be asked to look into specific evidences established by the CoI against the officers, most of whom are retired. Three serving officers found "blame-worthy'" would face Army punishment, most likely administrative action such as loss of seniority, sources said.

The possibility of a full-fledged court-martial is being ruled out for now. The Army had constituted a three-member CoI in December last year in Pune, the headquarters of Southern Army Command, in the wake of TOI's expose of senior Army officers who overlooked objections or played along with the lead players of the housing scam and received apartments in the upscale Mumbai complex.

The senior-most serving officer figuring in the list of those against whom prima facie evidence has been found by the CoI is Major Gen Ram Kanwar Hooda, who was the General Officer Commanding, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, until a few months ago.

Gen Hooda owns at least one flat in Adarsh complex. The Army headquarters has already taken him off the list of those to be considered for next rank. He is to retire this month-end. He could also be summoned for further Army disciplinary action, sources said.

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HDFC is Asian Banker's 'Best Retail Bank in India'

MUMBAI: Country's second largest private lender HDFC bank has won the Asian Banker's 'Best Retail Bank in India' award this year.

Beating a host of other competitors in Asia Pacific, Middle-East, Central Asia and Africa on a range of parameters, the bank has won the 'Best Retail Bank in India' award for the fifth year in a row, a release issued here said.

More than 150 retail financial institutions from 29 countries across the Asia Pacific, Middle East, Central Asia and African regions participated in the competition.

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FM scraps 'misery tax' on health

NEW DELHI: The health 'misery' tax has been withdrawn. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday decided to drop his budgetary proposal to levy service tax on diagnostic tests and treatment in air-conditioned hospitals.

The tax on healthcare, dubbed by many as a ''misery tax'', had come in for criticism from hospitals as well as Congress members on the grounds that the government was taxing a basic necessity even when it did not provide medical treatment facilities to all the citizens.

On March 1, a day after the Budget, TOI was the first to report that the unpopular proposal would be dropped. The finance ministry was hoping to net Rs 700 crore from this ill-concieved measure.

Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill on Tuesday, Mukherjee admitted: ''The levy on healthcare has raised considerable anxiety in the House and outside...I have decided to exempt the new levy in its entirety both in respect of services provided by hospitals as well as by way of diagnostic tests until GST (goods & services tax) comes into force.''

Along with relief for healthcare, there was marginal relief for automakers as the finance minister halved the import duty on completely-knocked down (CKD) units to 30%. Still, buyers of imported CKD cars should brace for a price increase as the current duty was 10%. The hike will impact high-end models like BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 by around Rs 3-4 lakh.

Imported mobile phones are also set to get cheaper as the countervailing duty that is levied in lieu of local taxes, would be lowered from 5% to 1%. Similarly, imported printers and coking coal are expected to cost less, while duties on some computer parts have also been lowered.

The finance minister, who announced most of the amendments in the absence of the Opposition that had walked out, also provided partial relief to branded readymade garments. Instead of the actual excise levy of 6% proposed in the budget, the minister has levied a tax of 4.5%. He clarified that small scale industry would remain outside the excise net.

The FM also reduced the basic customs duty on raw silk from 30% to 5% to augment domestic availability for weavers, both in the handloom and powerloom segment. There was also relief for 130 items which the government plans to bring under the ambit of central excise with the Mukherjee deciding to make the rules simpler.

In addition, in view of the representations from the industry, the government decided to allow more local companies with overseas subsidiaries to be eligible for payment of lower tax on dividends. In the Budget, the government had proposed to halve the tax rate to 15% on dividends received from foreign subsidiaries in which the Indian company holds over 50% stake. Now, the threshold shareholding is proposed to be lowered to 26%. The move was aimed at getting these overseas subsidiaries to repatriate a larger share of profits to India instead of parking them overseas.

There were also sops for the New Pension Scheme with the minister announcing allowing for deduction to employer's contribution to a pension scheme on account of an employee.

Mukherjee emphasised the importance of staying our course on tax reforms, the enactment of the Direct Tax Code and the constitutional amendment to facilitate the implementation of GST from the next fiscal year.

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