NEW DELHI, May 7:

Giving in to demands from various sections, Government today rolled back the one per cent excise duty levy on branded or unbranded precious metal jewellery and deferred implementation of tax avoidance rules on foreign investors but left untouched the proposal to tax Vodafone-type deals retrospectively.
Moving the Finance Bill, 2012 for consideration in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised the threshold limit for tax collection at source (TCS) by sellers on cash purchases of jewellery to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh.
However, the threshold limit for TCS on cash purchase of bullion will be retained at Rs 2 lakh. Bullion will not include any coin or other articles weighing 10 gms or less.
Jewellery traders all over the country had gone on a long strike in protest against the one per cent central excise on branded and unbranded jewellery and delegations had met Mukherjee and Congress President Sonia Gandhi demanding its withdrawal.
In a bid to augment long-term low cost funds from abroad for the infrastructure sector, Mukherjee extended the lower rate of withholding tax of 5 per cent for funding specific sectors to foreign borrowings to all businesses.
This lower rate of tax will also be available for funds raised through long term infrastructure bonds in addition to borrowing under a loan agreement.
On General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) provisions that have been widely opposed by the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), the Minister announced deferring its implementation by one year. They will now apply to income of financial year 2013-14 and subsequent years.
Touching on another controversial proposal, the Minister held firm on amending the Income Tax Act with retrospective effect to tax capital gains on sale of assets in India through indirect transfers abroad, an apparent reference to Vodafone-type deals.
However, he gave an assurance that clarificatory amendments would not override Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
The Minister said the issue has been debated intensely in the country and outside and he would like to confirm that clarificatory amendments do not override the provisions of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs) with 82 countries.
“It would impact those cases where the transaction has been routed through low tax or no tax countries with whom India does not have a DTAA”, Mukherjee said.
In another message aimed at mollifying business concerns, he said the retrospective amendments now under the consideration of Parliament will not be used to reopen any cases where assessment orders have already been finalised.
“I have asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to issue a policy circular to clearly state this position after the passage of the Finance Bill,” he said.
On the GAAR provisions, Mukherjee also provided some sops when he said it would be amended to remove the onus of proof entirely from the tax payer to the revenue department before any action can be initiated under it.
The Government would also induct an independent member in the GAAR approving panel to ensure objectivity and transparency. One member of the panel would now be an officer of the level of joint secretary or above from the Law Ministry.
It would also provide that any tax payer, resident or non-resident, can approach the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) for a ruling as to whether an arrangement to be undertaken is permissible or not under the GAAR provisions. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, May 7:
The Home Secretaries of India and Pakistan will hold bilateral talks on May 24 and 25 in Islamabad during which a liberalised visa regime for the two countries is expected to be approved apart from New Delhi pressing for action against perpetrators of 26/11 attack.
During the parleys, which were being held after a delay of five months, a decision on issuance of multiple-entry and reporting-free visas for businessmen, allowing them to visit five cities instead of three as at present, is expected to be taken, a Home Ministry official said today.
An agreement to liberalise the visa procedures will benefit people of both the countries as it will also exempt elderly people from police reporting, allowing common people from either country to visit three earmarked cities instead of one. The Union Cabinet had given its nod for signing the pact on April 25.
Home Minister P Chidambaram had said last week that he hoped that the pact to have a liberalised visa regime will be signed during the talks besides taking forward Confidence Building Measures (CBMs).
“I think the liberalised visa regime can be signed if the Pakistani side is ready. Our Cabinet has approved it. Then we can talk about trade-related matters, we can talk about CBMs along the LoC…A number of issues. I am optimistic,” Chidambaram had said about the meeting.
The Indian delegation, led by Union Home Secretary R K Singh, will also press for action from Pakistan to bring the Mumbai terror attack perpetrators, including JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed to justice, and speedy trial in a Pakistani Court of seven 26/11 accused like Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
This will be the first meeting between Home Secretary Singh and his Pakistani counterpart K Siddique Akbar. Their predecessors Gopal K Pillai and Qamar Zaman Chaudhary had met in March last year in New Delhi.
The bilateral meeting will be held amid renewed engagements between India and Pakistan. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had hosted a lunch for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on April 8 when he was in India on a private visit.
Last month, Singh had met his Pakistani counterpart Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai had said when the Prime Minister had taken up with Zardari the issue of action against 26/11 perpetrators and activities of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, the Pakistan President had suggested that further discussion on Saeed was required and, since the Home Secretaries of the two countries would be meeting, the issue could be taken up at that time.
The Home Secretary-level talks were scheduled to be held in December last year but were postponed due to domestic political situation in Pakistan.
Later, Pakistan had suggested April 16 as the possible date for the dialogue but the date clashed with a crucial meeting of the Chief Ministers hosted by the Home Ministry.
Subsequently, New Delhi sought a fresh date for the meeting after May 22 when the Budget Session of Parliament ends. (PTI)

AHMEDABAD, May 7:
Contradicting SIT’s clean chit, the Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae has held that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi can be prosecuted for offences under IPC in the post-Godhra riots of 2002 for “promoting enmity among different groups”.
Raju Ramchandran, Supreme Court lawyer and amicus curiae, also differed with the report of the Special Investigation Team(SIT) headed by former CBI director R K Raghavan, which had rejected suspended IPS officer Sanjeev Bhatt’s allegations against Modi.
“In my opinion, the offences which can be made out against Shri Modi, at this prima facie stage, are offences inter-alia under Sections 153 A (1) (a) & (b) of IPC (promoting enmity among different groups on grounds of religion) and 153 B (1) (assertions prejudicial to national integration),” Ramchandran said in his 25-page report made public today.
The report by Ramchandran on a complaint filed by Zakia Jaffrey, a riot victim, is in sharp contrast to the “clean chit” given to Modi and others by the SIT last month.
Modi can also be charged under IPC Section 166 (public servant disobeying law, with intent to cause injury to any person, and 505 (2) (statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes, the amicus curiae said.
However, the same report says that as far as the SIT conclusion, with regard to the steps taken by the Chief Minister Modi to control the riots in Ahmedabad, is concerned, the same may be accepted “in the absence of any evidence to the contrary”.
Ramchandran has based his conclusion about Modi on Bhatt’s deposition that Modi had given instructions in a meeting held on February 27, 2002 to “allow Hindus to vent their ire and teach Muslims a lesson in the wake of the Godhra train burning incident”.
Despite the SIT rejecting Bhatt’s claims, his statements cannot be disregarded, the amicus curiae maintained.
Jaffrey was today handed over the SC-appointed panel’s report, along with that of the amicus curiae, by SIT in the Court of the Metropolitan Magistrate.
Jaffrey’s husband, former Congress MP Ehsan Jaffrey, was among the 69 people killed in the riots at Gulberg Housing Society here over ten years ago.
Bhatt had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court in this regard.
The most vital material, supporting the allegation made by the petitioner (Jaffrey) against Modi, is the statement of Bhatt, then DCP (Intelligence) in Ahmedabad, Ramchandran said in his report.
“The SIT has concluded that his version is not believable for various reasons – that the other senior officers present in the said meeting have not supported his claim of being present in that meeting and his statement, his silence for more than nine years without any proper explanation appears to be suspicious and a number of departmental and criminal proceedings have been instituted by the Government and hence, Shri Bhatt has an axe to grind with the Government of Gujarat,” the report said.
“In my opinion, despite the aforesaid background (SIT rejecting Bhatt’s claims), it does not appear very likely that a serving police officer (Bhatt) would make such a serious allegation against Shri Modi, the Chief Minister, without some basis,” said the amicus curiae (friend of the Court).
“There is no documentary material of any nature whatsoever which can establish that Bhatt was not present at the meeting on 27.02.2002.
“Therefore, it is the word of Bhatt against the word of other officers, senior to him. The SIT has chosen to believe the word of the senior officers”, Ramchandran said.
It was difficult to accept the SIT’s conclusion that Bhatt’s statement is motivated because he has an axe to grind with the State on issues of his career, the report said.
“Though the SIT, as the investigating agency, has taken a view, the question whether Shri Bhatt was present at the meeting on 27.02.2002 and whether Shri Modi had indeed made such a statement (as spoken to by Shri Bhatt) can only be decided by a Court of law. It would not be correct to disbelieve the version of Shri Bhatt at this prima facie stage”, Ramchandran said.
“Hence, the question to be examined is whether the making of the statement by the Chief Minister in the meeting on 27.02.2002, by itself, is an offence under law,” said the report submitted to the Supreme Court on July 25, 2011.
“I am of the view that Bhatt needs to be put through the test of cross-examination, as do the others who deny his presence,” Ramchandran said.(PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 7: Dr Dilip K Arora, Director, National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Microorganisms, Kusmaur, Maunath Bhanjan, Uttar Pradesh, has been appointed as the new Vice Chancellor of the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu.
Shaleen Kabra, Commissioner Agriculture Production has been holding the charge as the Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-Jammu, after Dr B Mishra demitted charge as the Vice Chancellor of the varsity on April 12 on attaining superannuation.
Governor, N N Vohra, who is Chancellor of SKUAST-Jammu, has, in consultation with Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, who is also Pro-Chancellor of the University, appointed Dr Arora from among a panel recommended by a Search Committee headed by Dr Mangala Rai, former Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
This Committee included Madhav Lal, Chief Secretary, Dr S Ayyappan, Secretary, Department of Agriculture Research and Education and Director General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research and Prof D S Rathore, former Vice Chancellor, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur.
Born at Allahabad in 1952, Dr Arora did his M.Sc. Botany (1974) and Ph.D in Microbiology (1978) from the Banaras Hindu University. In his earlier career, he worked in various foreign institutions for 13 years. His foreign assignments included his working as Post Doctoral Fellow and Visiting Professor/Scientist at the Michigan State University, USA, University of Idaho, USA, Institute of Microbiology, Poland, INRA, France, Gifu University, Japan, Lund University, Sweden and Dongguk University, Korea.
Dr Arora is the recipient of many national and international awards and honours.

NEW DELHI, May 7:
The Supreme Court today reserved its order on a plea for its direction to the Centre to take action against NHRC Chairman and former CJI K G Balakrishnan for his alleged misconduct during his tenure as apex Court judge.
A bench of justices B S Chauhan and J S Khehar reserved its verdict on the petition which also seeks its direction to Government to make a Presidential reference to the apex Court for removal of former Chief Justice of India Balakrishanan’s removal as the chairman of National Human Rights Commission.
The Court was hearing a PIL by civil society Common Cause, which had alleged ex-CJI and his relative amassed wealth far exceeding their legal income during Balakrishnan’s tenure as an apex Court’s judge.
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.
The NGO has sought direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for making a reference to the apex Court under the Human Rights Act to look into the allegations of “misbehaviour” against Justice Balakrishnan.
“Despite the fact that there is overwhelming evidence indicating that the respondent no 3 (Balakrishnan) has been guilty of several acts of grave misbehaviour, the Government has not taken any step for his removal from the NHRC,” the NGO cousnel Prashant Bhushan had submitted to the Court.
A provision under the Human Rights Act says the NHRC chairperson or its members cannot be removed from their offices unless the President of India orders it on the ground of proved misbehaviour, ascertained by the Supreme Court after an enquiry on President’s reference for the probe.
Common Cause, in its petition, has annexed media reports as documents to buttress its allegations that ‘benami’ properties were acquired by Balakrishnan’s kin during his tenure in the Supreme Court.
In the last hearing on March 12, the Centre had told the Supreme Court that it is probing into the allegations that Balakrishnan and his relatives had amassed disproportionate assets during his tenure as judge and submitted a probe status report to it in a sealed envelop.
The Court after going through the report asked the Government to tell it as to what further action it intended to take on allegations against former CJI and granted three weeks to apprise it of its intended actions. (PTI)

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 7: A grenade blast killed child of a BJP leader’s Personal Security Officer (PSO) at village Sounder under the jurisdiction of Dachchan police station in Kishtwar district tonight.
Police said the militants reportedly lobbed grenade at the house of a Special Police Officer (SPO) Shadi Lal, who had posted as PSO to BJP Mandal president, Ravi Kumar, at Sounder in Dachchan area tonight.
Shadi Lal’s eight year old child was killed in the grenade blast. His identity couldn’t be ascertained immediately.
Confirming the killing, DIG Doda-Ramban range, Gareeb Dass said investigations in the case were on. He said police and Village Defence Committees (VDCs) have rushed to the spot and further details were awaited.
Reports said the local police and VDC members conducted searches in the area but there was no trace of the grenade throwers.
For the past few days, Army and police have launched massive search operations in the upper reaches of Kishtwar to nab the militants including three wanted by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) in connection with September 7, 2011 blast outside Delhi High Court in which 15 persons were killed and 80 others were injured.
Two Army jawans have been killed in the operations during past about 10 days.