• NATIONAL NEWS

Honour killings come within the category of rarest of rare cases deserving death punishment: SC

Supreme court has warned that the perpetrators of 'honour killings' could face death penalty saying that the honour killings, for whatever reason, meets the 'rarest-of-rare' criterion laid down for the capital punishment. The Bench comprising of Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Misra said that,"This is necessary as a deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilised behaviour. All persons who are planning to perpetrate 'honour' killings should know that the gallows await them,".

Delhi Govt. likely to move Supreme Court to phase out bluelines

Delhi government is planning to approach Supreme Court to cancel the permits of the remaining blueline buses still plying on the roads of Delhi. Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said that "We are determined to remove all the Blueline buses from the city at the earliest. We will now approach the Supreme Court to cancel the permits of the remaining Blueline buses as permits will expire in 2012 only," .

Interest may be taxable under the residuary head & yet be effectively connected with the PE: ITAT Delhi

ITAT Delhi has held that interest on income-tax refund earned by an Australian company, having a Permanent Establishment in India is taxable under paragraph no. 2 of Article XI of the Indo-Australia Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement .

Supreme Court stays Allahabad High Court's verdict on Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute

The Apex court has stayed the Allahabad High Court's verdict on Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute ordering for partition of disputed land at Ayodhya. The Apex Court termed the Judgement of Allahabad High Court as strange and criticized it by stating that the Judgement has opened a "litany of litigation",

Services provided by sub-contractors/consultants are classifiable as per section 65A :CBEC

CBEC has clarified that the services provided by the subcontractors / consultants and other service providers are classifiable as per Section 65 A of the Finance Act, 1994 under respective sub clauses (105) of Section 65 of the Finance Act, 1944 and chargeable to service tax accordingly.

Supreme Court has issued Contempt Notice to Sahara chief

The Apex Court has issued the notice to Sahara group chief Subrata Roy for initiating contempt proceedings against him and other two as questionnaire was send by Sahara Samay seeking personal information from enforcement Directorate and investigating Officer in the 2G spectrum case. The Bench Comprising of Justices GS Singhvi and AK Ganguly charged Roy with allegedly interfering with the investigation into the 2G spectrum case and in the administration of justice.

Mere repayment of dues to banks does not absolve the criminal liability :SC

SC has dismissed the petition praying for quashing of the chargesheet mainly on the ground that once the loan repaid along with interest saying merely because the dues of the bank have been paid up, the Appellant cannot be exonerated from the criminal liability.

A gift of an immovable property by Mohammadan need not be registered: SC

The Apex Court has held that Section 129 of Transfer of Property Act preserves the rule of Mohammadan Law & excludes the applicability of Section 123 of Transfer of Property Act to a gift of an immovable property by Mohammadan . Accordingly, mandate regarding registration of a gift would not apply to a Muslim donor. Supreme Court further stated that a gift of immovable property made by a Muslim is valid even if it is not registered under the Transfer of Property Act or the Stamps and Registration Act.

Verdict on forming SIT to track black money reserved by the SC

The Apex Court has reserved its order on a plea to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to track the black money stashed away in foreign banks and to take steps for bringing it back to the country. The bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and SS Nijjar also reserved its verdict on a petition seeking directions to the government to make public the names of persons who have kept black money in the Liechtenstein Bank.

Delhi HC reserves its order on trial of hostile witnesses in Jessica Lal murder case

Delhi High court has reserved its order on the prosecution of 19 witnesses including model-turned-bollywood actor Shyan Munshi on charge of perjury for turning hostile during the trial of Jessica Lal murder case. The Division Bench Headed by Justice Ravindra Bhat remarked that that the incident of "turning hostile" has become an "endemic.

Charges of cruelty, neglect or of desertion must be proved by wife to get maintenance: Bombay HC

Bombay HC has held that a woman seeking maintenance must prove charges of desertion, neglect, refusal, abandonment or of cruelty by her husband, in order to establish her claim for the maintenance. High Court Division Bench of Justice S A Bobde and Justice S B Deshmukh held that "The (wife) failed to establish a case of desertion, neglect, refusal, abandonment or of cruelty to her by her husband," said the bench, adding, that she had "also failed to establish the presence or existence of a mistress/concubine/any other woman in the house or life of the husband, entitling her to claim separate residence without forfeiting her right to maintenance".

Criminal Contempt Notices issued to the nine sacked office bearers of the ICPA

The Delhi HC has issued the criminal contempt notices to nine sacked office bearers of the ICPA for disobeying its order to call off the strike. The Division Bench headed by Justice BD Ahmed that" These Pilots are not understanding the gravity of being prosecuted for the contempt of Court". The Court further directed all the nine persons to remain present in the court in the next hearing and gave them two weeks time to respond to the contempt notice.

Appointment of agency for providing electronic platform for electronic voting under Companies Act

In order to have secured electronic platform for capturing accurate electronic voting process, MCA has approved NSDL & CDSL to function as agency appointed for providing and supervising electronic platform for electronic voting subject to certification by the STQC Directorate.

Marking a company as having management dispute by ROC under MCA-21 system - Clarified

In order to bring uniformity of practices by all Registrar of Companies, MCA has clarified that Registrar of Companies shall use the facility of marking a company as having management dispute under MCA-21 system subject to the compliance of the conditions stipulated therein.

Particulars filed in e-Form 32 will be taken on records under Straight Through process (STP) mode

All particulars filed by the companies in e-form 32 will be taken on records of the ROC through the STP process as filed by the company & verified by the practicing professional, without prejudice to the rights of the parties to settle the dispute. (Attached)

Green Initiative in the Corporate Governance -Paperless compliances of S. 219(1) of the Companies Act

MCA has clarified that the company would be in compliance of sections 219(1) of Companies Act, 1956, in case, a copy of Balance Sheet etc., is sent by electronic mail to its member, provided conditions specified within the circular are complied with. (Attached)

Agricultural Market Committee can also direct the trader to pay penalty: SC

The Apex court has held that criminal proceedings can be initiated against the assesses for non payment of the market fees re-assessed, levied by the state agriculture market committees on sale or purchase of notified agricultural produce in the notified areas of the state. (Attached)

Assessee not liable to pay interest upon failure on the part of employer to deduct TDS: Uttarakhand HC

The Uttarakhand HC has held that upon failure on the part of the employer to deduct tax at source, the assessee only becomes liable to pay the tax directly under Section 191 of the Act and does not become liable to pay interest under Section 234B of the Act.

• INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Russia on the U.S.A piracy list for consecutive 14th year

In the recent list released by U.S.A of the countries that are with the worst records of preventing copyright theft Russia was kept on it for the 14th consecutive year followed by China which made it to the list for the seventh year. The Trade Representative's office also issued an "open invitation" to the dozens of countries listed in the report to work together on a plan to resolve U.S. Concerns. "This year's Special 301 Report comes with a call to action for our trading partners. We are ready to work intensively with you to stop intellectual property theft that threatens IP-related jobs in the United States and other countries," Trade Representative Ron Kirk said in a statement.

Companies Laws to be amended in Cayman Island

After a long and significant consultation process the Government of Cayman Islands have decided to amend the Companies law in order to enhance competitiveness of its financial services industry.

In tabling the The Companies Law (Amendment) Bill, 2011, Premier and Finance Minister McKeeva Bush stressed the anticipated benefits the country's local industry is to reap, with new opportunities for growth expected. Mr. Bush further commented that, "The process by which these amendments were prepared reflects [the] government's renewed partnership with the private sector, which has been instrumental in soliciting the views of industry and providing input into the drafting process".

"These amendments are the end result of an extensive consultation process, aimed at addressing client and market-driven issues that have arisen in practice. It is expected to increase the attractiveness of the Cayman Islands as a domicile for corporate entities and maintain our competitive edge".

Q4 2010 Financial Services Data issued by Bermuda

Financial Services Data for the quarter 4 of 2010 has been released by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) containing figures for the final quarter of 2010, and providing year-on-year statistics in respect of the island's financial services industry. Banking Sector total assets increased by 4.9% from the previous quarter but the funds in the industry sector slightly fell down then the last quarter According to the BMA, the insurance sector continued to record significant results, with an increase in aggregate total assets for the reporting period ended December, 2009, of USD496bn. The registration of new insurance companies picked up again after a small slump in Q3, with 13 new additions in Q4, mostly of the single parent captive and single purpose, single transaction or single customer variety.

Swiss Federal Council has proposed stringent guidelines Swiss Banks

Swiss Federal Council in a meeting on 20th April adopted several legislative proposal to deal with systematic risk posed by big banks . By,2018, all important banks should build up more capital, meet more stringent liquidity requirements and improve their risk diversification. In addition, the rules prescribe that banks be organised in such a way that a national economy's systemically important functions are ensured even in the event of threatened insolvency. The proposed package of measures is designed to prevent the state from having to use tax revenues in the future in order to bail out systemically important banks, the government explained.

Rapid Progress in China on intellectual property rights: US

U.S in a recent report stated that China had made rapid progress on improving protection protection of intellectual property rights but voiced concern about Beijing's longer term commitment. China was among the list of "priority watch list" for weak protection of copyright.The 12 countries on the priority watch list -- China, Russia, Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, India, Indonesia, Israel, Pakistan, Thailand, and Venezuela -- will be the subject of "particularly intense" bilateral talks in the next year, the report said.