Department Financial News

black money law are popping the champagne. For the first time, the court has invoked Article 20 of the Constitution to squash law's retrospective use which was enacted in 2015 to allow the taxman to go after offshore bank accounts, properties and companies of resident Indians. Article 20 lays down that «no person shall be convicted of any offence except for violation of a law in force at the time of the commission of the act charged as an offence». In other words, one cannot be punished under a law which did not exist when the offence was committed. The Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal proceedings initiated by the income-tax department against persons connected to overseas bank accounts and firms which were closed well before the Black Money Act came into force.

NEET-UG 2024 has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for comprehensive investigation, said Education Ministry officials on Saturday. This comes after National Testing Agency (NTA) Director General Subodh Singh was shunted out today, amid a massive controversy that has erupted over exams NEET and NET. An official said he has been put on «compulsory wait» in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) till further orders. India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola has been assigned additional charge of the testing agency till appointment of a regular incumbent.

NTA Director General Subodh Kumar Singh was removed from his position on Saturday and placed on «compulsory wait» in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). India Trade Promotion Organisation Chairman and MD Pradeep Singh Kharola has been assigned the additional charge of NTA DG. This move comes amidst a growing controversy over alleged irregularities in the conduct of exams.

Karnataka police have decided to ask the Income Tax department to join the investigation into Renukaswamy murder case in view of huge money involved in execution of the crime. Kannada actor Darshan, his friend Pavithra Gowda, and 15 others have been arrested for abducting and brutally torturing Renukaswamy of Chitradurga to death on June 8. According to police, Darshan and his gang have so far spent Rs 78 lakh to cover up the crime and destroy material evidences. «There is lot of money involved and we don't know how much money they would have raised through unfair means to get rid of this case. Hence, we have decided to include the I-T department in the case,» a police officer said. So far cash to the tune of Rs 70.4 lakh has been seized from the actor, while Rs 7.6 lakh is yet to be recovered. During the investigation, police found Darshan's involvement and subsequently the entire case came out in open.

Gauhati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) has successfully completed its first cadaver kidney transplant and GMCH is also planning liver transplants. The GMCH is the only hospital in the northeast to have an in-house transplant team to conduct deceased kidney transplant. Assam’s Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) has successfully completed its first cadaver kidney transplant and GMCH is also planning liver transplants and seen success in its IVF centre.

Heavy Industries Minister H D Kumaraswamy has asked top officials of Hindustan Machine and Tools (HMT) to submit proposals for reviving the ailing public sector undertaking (PSU). An official statement said, “The once-glorious HMT is currently facing significant challenges. The Minister emphasized the need to strengthen the company and instructed Rajesh Kohli (HMT’s Chairman and Managing Director) to submit a proposal to the central government for necessary support.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-Reliant India) initiative was highlighted as a framework for HMT's revival, the statement added.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the GST Council has fixed a monetary limit for filing appeals by the tax department before the various appellate authorities. It has recommended a monetary limit of Rs 20 lakh for GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court for filing of appeals by the department before these legal forums, she said after the 53rd GST Council meeting held here. The Tax Authority would generally not go for an appeal if the monetary limit is less than the prescribed by the GST Council. The Council has also recommended that the maximum amount for pre-deposit for filing appeal before the appellate authority be reduced from Rs 25 crore CGST and Rs 25 crore SGST to Rs 20 crore CGST and Rs 20 crore SGST, she said.

GST) Council at its 53rd meeting in New Delhi on Saturday decided to roll out Pan-India biometric authentication to check fake invoicing. «This will help us to combat fraudulent input tax credit claims made through fake invoices in the cases,» she added. Post-budget session, there will be another meeting.

price stabilisation and it expects retail prices to ease with the progress of monsoon over most parts of the country. According to data compiled by the department of consumer affairs, the all-India average onion retail prices stood at Rs 38.67 per kg on Friday, while the modal price was Rs 40 per kg. Till June 20th, the Centre has procured 70,987 tonnes of onion, as against 74,071 tonnes procured in the same period last year, a senior official in the department of consumer affairs said. «The pace of onion procurement for price stabilisation buffer this year is largely comparable with last year, despite about 20 per cent decline in estimated rabi production,» the official said, adding that the government is on course to achieve targeted procurement of 5 lakh tonnes for price stabilisation.

NTA) comes under scanner owing to lapses in multiple examinations, the Ministry of Education on Saturday announced a high level committee led by former chairman of ISRO Dr. K. Radhakrishnan. «In order to ensure transparent, smooth and fair conduct of examinations through National Testing Agency (NTA), Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education constituted a High-Level Committee of Experts to make recommendations on: Reform in mechanism of examination process, Improvement in Data Security protocols. Structure and functioning of National Testing Agency,» the ministry said in a media release. The committee has been directed to submit its report within two months and is also free to co-opt any Subject Matter Expert for assistance.

BJP) workers staged a protest outside the Delhi Jal Board office in Delhi on Saturday. The police also used water cannons to disperse the people protesting the prevailing water crisis in the national capital. BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla attacked the AAP, saying that Haryana is sending enough water and the Supreme Court has also acknowledged this.

NDA government in Andhra Pradesh, headed by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is scheduled on June 24. The NDA government comprises TDP, BJP and Janasena. The Cabinet meeting is scheduled to commence at 10 am on Monday in the first block of the Secretariat, said an official release on Saturday, quoting Chief Secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad. The Chief Secretary on Friday directed all the departments to submit their agenda for the Cabinet meeting.

Delhi Airport on Saturday became the first Indian airport to introduce the Government of India’s Fast Track Immigration-Trusted Traveller Programme (FTI-TTP) for Indian passport holders and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders. This facility aims to reduce congestion at airports by offering expedited emigration/immigration clearance for pre-verified travellers, both arriving and departing. Delhi Airport's Terminal 3 is equipped with eight electronic gates – four for arrivals and four for departures – to facilitate a seamless experience for programme participants. The number of counters may increase based on demand.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday chaired a pre-budget meeting with state and union territories finance ministers at Bharat Mandapam. The meeting is organised by the Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs with the finance ministers of all states and UTs, along with other stakeholders, for suggestions for the upcoming Union Budget. The Finance Ministry had consulted with various stakeholders of the economy a few days ago. Sitharaman has met economists, finance and capital market experts and industry bodies. The first pre-budget meeting was chaired by the FM on June 19. The meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, the finance secretary, secretaries of the departments of economic affairs, revenue, financial services and corporate affairs and the chief economic adviser.

Ohio amusement park on Wednesday after police said he crossed into a restricted area and was hit by a roller-coaster.Local authorities said the unnamed man was struck by the Banshee roller-coaster at Mason, Ohio’s Kings Island amusement park around 8 p.m. local time.

strategic partners to building a defence innovation bridge under the Critical and Emerging Technology Initiative, the US has said on the partnership's first anniversary. INDUS-X, which stands for enhanced strategic and defence partnership between India and the US, was launched on June 21 last year by the US Department of Defence and the Indian Ministry of Defence during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington, DC. «In its first year, INDUS-X has advanced both countries' commitment to build a defence innovation bridge under the initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET),» the Department of Defence said in a press release on Friday. The iCET was launched by Prime Minister Modi and US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the QUAD summit in Tokyo on May 24, 2022.

Nikhil Gupta, an Indian national, has been extradited from the Czech Republic to the United States in connection with an alleged foiled plot to murder Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. This extradition has brought renewed attention to the case against Gupta, who allegedly hired a hitman at the behest of an Indian government official. The US Department of Justice claims Pannun was targeted for exercising his freedom of speech in America. Gupta has pleaded not guilty. Gupta's extradition was approved by Czech authorities on June 3 but was made public just before the visit of US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to India. Sullivan’s visit, primarily aimed at reviewing the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, was overshadowed by the developments in the Gupta case. Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek announced the extradition the same day Sullivan landed in India. Subsequently, a group of Democrat senators wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding a stronger response to the alleged Indian involvement in the plot. According to the US Department of Justice, Pannun is a dual US-Canadian national and political activist. They assert that «Pannun is an American national and political activist who was targeted for exercising a 'quintessential American right: his freedom of speech.'»

fire broke out in Arjun Tower at Gokhale Marg in Maharashtra's Thane in the early hours of Saturday. According to the Thane Municipal Corporation, fire tenders are currently at the spot trying to douse the fire. «No injuries have been reported so far,» Thane Municipal Corporation said.

Leader of the Opposition? Why wasn't there any Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha since 2014? Why is the Congress likely to get the post? The lies in numbers.The Leader of the Opposition is the Leader of the largest opposition party. The post was not recognised till 1969 when Ram Subhag Singh became the first recognised LoP of the Lok Sabha.The post received statutory recognition through the Salary and Allowances of Leaders of Opposition in Parliament Act, 1977.The Act defines the term ' Leader of the Opposition' as that member of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha who, for the time being, is the Leader of that House of the party in Opposition to the government having the greatest numerical strength and recognised, as such, by the chairman of the Rajya Sabha or the speaker of the Lok Sabha.Although several political parties may exist in the Opposition, the post of Leader of the Opposition is said to be taken up by the party that secures one-tenth of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.

Lac La Hache and about an hour north of 100 Mile House, around 1 p.m.“Multiple air ambulances, BCEHS ground crews and several local fire departments responded to the scene,” Highway Patrol Cpl.