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Govt. placing tax crimes, Tax Evaders in trouble

Tax evaders will be in trouble as the government is placing tax crimes on a par with money laundering offences that have severe criminal and financial implications.

India could bring income-tax offences under its anti-money laundering law, making way for easier prosecution, rigorous imprisonment, and fines and shifting onus on the accused to prove he is not guilty. An inter-departmental group has been set up to examine the changes required, a senior finance ministry official told.

The groups’ recommendations could then be placed before Parliament and changes made to the Prevention of Money Laundering (amendment) Bill, 2011.The offences will include concealment of income. These changes are consistent with a global plan drawn up by the Finance Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body to combat money laundering and terror financing, of which India is a member.

A proposed amendment to PMLA has suggested open-ended penalty, to be decided by courts, as opposed to a maximum of.5 lakh fine now. The trial in these cases will be faster as offences under PMLA are tried in special courts and the onus to prove innocence lies on the accused.

The cumbersome procedure has meant that so far no evader has been put behind the bars although there is a provision for six months imprisonment and penalty on tax evasion. The tax authorities prefer not to invoke these provisions as prosecution could take many years. Significant changes have already been made through the Finance Bill, 2012, passed by the Lok Sabha on May 8 that will allow for easier prosecution.

India has submitted a detailed action plan that lists various short-term, medium term and long-term measures required to conform to FATF standards and some of the amendments proposed in the PMLA Bill are in line with these commitments.

Three northeastern Indian states to have high courts

Three states – Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya would have their own high courts soon as the amendment bill was passed by the Lok Sabha.

Tripura’s law department said that establishment of separate high courts would help in quicker disposal of cases, save litigants’ time and money, and fulfil a long-standing demand of these states.

By amending the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was passed by the lower house of parliament, paving the way for creation of full-fledged high courts in the three states.

Now the amendment bill will be presented in the Rajya Sabha before it is sent to the President for her assent.

Currently, the six northeastern states – Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh – have benches of the Guahati high court. Sikkim has a separate high court.

Under the North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971, Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya became full-fledged states on Jan 21, 1972.

Khagen Das, MP from Tripura, who had moved a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha for amending the necessary act to set up the high courts, said that he had met union home minister P Chidambaram and union law minister in New Delhi a number of times to expedite the process.

“The demand for a separate high court in Tripura has been vigorously pursued from 1987. The Tripura assembly had passed unanimous resolutions requesting the central government to set up a separate high court,” Das, a member of the central committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, said.

Reserve Bank of India directs New Norms for holding companies

New Reserve Bank of India directions, besides controlling leveraging by the holding company, also seeks to control their investment in the financial sector overseas.

Core Investment Company is a term used to describe investment entities which are created solely for the purpose of owning promoters’ share in group companies. Although these companies are registered as finance companies they do not engage in business on their own and RBI, therefore, categorizes them as a special category of NBFCS.

RBI has also barred Indian corporate from creating complex holding structures for overseas investments. All subsidiaries and joint ventures set up abroad must be operating entities.

CIC, which already have non-operating holding companies in existence overseas, will need to report the same to the RBI for a review. In case any business house uses their holding company to create an SPV abroad it will be treated as a subsidiary or joint venture, depending on the percentage of investment in the overseas entity.

Facebook users can now have more information as now FB updates its data use policy

Facebook is updating its data use policy in an attempt to give users more clarity on how the information they share is used by the company. The move comes a week ahead of its expected initial public offering of stock.

Facebook Inc. said that the changes are in response to an audit by Irish data-protection authorities last year.

As part of the changes, Facebook has created a new section of its data use policy _ formerly known as privacy policy _ to explain how it uses “cookies.”

PIL looks  cancelling of Andhra Pradesh HC judge’s appointment

The Supreme Court is ready to give a ear on PIL seeking to quash the appointment of a sitting Andhra Pradesh high court Judge for supposedly suppressing information about pendency of a criminal case against him at the time of his elevation to the constitutional post.

A bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai posted the PIL by one Manohar Reddy for further hearing on July 9 but said the relief sought by the petitioner was unprecedented.

Reddy alleged that when Justice Ramana was a student of Nagarjuna University in Guntur in 1981, he was named as an accused in a case relating to rioting and disruption of public property in 1981. Two years later, when he enrolled as an advocate, he did not mention the pending criminal case against him despite a mandatory requirement.

The petitioner alleged that while on one hand the warrants went unanswered, on the other hand, the then TDP government sought to withdraw prosecution in the rioting case. On January 31, 2002, the case against the judge was closed.

Microfinance Regulation Bill is approved by Indian Cabinet

The Indian cabinet has finally approved a bill aimed to bring microlenders under the central bank’s oversight. The Microfinance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill needs parliament’s approval to become a law. Microlenders have been accused of aggressive lending and recovery practices and high interest rates, which attracted calls for regulation.

India’s once-thriving microfinance sector was devastated by a crackdown more than a year ago by the government of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, which was the industry hub and largest market.

The state rules resulted in a drop off in loan collections and a drying up of funding for microlenders.

Copyright Act got the Union Cabinet’s approval

The amendment to Copyright Act got the Union Cabinet’s nod, with the government deciding to restore the provision of statutory licensing as proposed earlier in 2010.

It puts limits on the basic principle of the copyright law, that authors and creators should have the exclusive right to control the dissemination of their work. Under statutory licensing, the royalty or remuneration for the author or creator is specified by law or such set negotiation.

With the bill getting clearance, the statutory licensing clause will not specify users allowing for television and new media broadcasters as well as radio broadcasters to be benefited.

However, the bill allows for charging different rates depending on the use.The legislation was opposed in Parliament in its last session, particularly the statutory licensing for radio broadcast of literary and musical works.

The Cabinet also approved the Universities for Research and Innovation Bill, 2012 for introduction in Parliament and gave clearance to amendments to the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010.

Apex Court refuses to order presidential reference against NHRC Chairman and former CJI

The Supreme Court won’t be directing the Centre to suggest a Presidential reference against NHRC Chairman and former CJI K.G. Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as a judge in the apex court.

However, The Court asked the competent authority of the Centre to look into the allegation of judicial misconduct against the former Chief Justice of India (CJI).

A bench of justices said if there is any truth in the allegations, then it is for the President to make reference to the Supreme Court, on the advice of Council of Ministers, for inquiry against the former CJI.

The court passed the order on a PIL by civil society Common Cause, which had sought directions from the court to the government to make a Presidential reference to the apex court for removal of former CJI Balakrishnan as the chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Justice Balakrishnan had been elevated as a Supreme Court judge in June 2000 and was appointed the Chief Justice of India on January 14, 2007. He retired on May 12, 2010 after which he was appointed NHRC chairman.

Live-in-Relationship 

The Government has said that no panel has been set up for providing equal property rights among couples applicable to live-in-partners too.

However, the Working Group on Women’s Agency and Empowerment for 12th Plan constituted by the Planning Commission under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has, recommended that a comprehensive “Right to Marital Property Act”, applicable to all communities, may be enacted which should treat all the movable and immovable assets that a married couple or a couple living together have acquired, as joint property, which can be divided at the time of separation/ desertion, regardless of who has bought the property.

New Ethics for Advocates

The Bar Council of India has proposed a new draft Code of Professional Standards, Ethics and Etiquette. The said draft Code is available on the website of Bar Council of India. The said Code provides a general guide for ethical standards to be adhered to by members of the Bar whether practising individually or as a law firm and whether engaged in litigation or transactional/ corporate work.