• NATIONAL NEWS

Supreme Court allows Lafarge to mine in Khasi hills District in the state of Meghalaya

SC has permitted the Lafarge to mine in the state of Meghalaya. Also, lays down guidelines to be implemented in all future cases by the Government and the various authorities under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The bench, comprising chief justice S.H. Kapadia and justices Aftab Alam and K.S. Radhakrishnan, held that Lafarge had gone about getting its approvals in a bona fide manner, and that the company believed the land was not forest. Though, the central empowered committee, when it was eventually brought into the case, took the view that the land was forest, the court reasoned that the area was part of a traditional limestone mining belt which had become afforested.

India and Bangladesh Signs Agreement on Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection

India and Bangladesh has signed an agreement on bilateral investment promotion and protection giving each other most favoured Nation status in trade and investments. Addressing a media conference, Krishna said security cooperation figured high on the agenda of his delegation-level talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart when the two countries recognised the importance of addressing each other's security concerns. "Both the countries expressed determination to jointly combat the menace of terrorism and insurgency and agreed not to allow their territories to be used by elements inimical to each other," Kishna said.

Government Finalises Rules of Nuclear liability Law

Government has finalised the rules of implementation of the nuclear liability law and are likely to be notified the same within a month time. The civil liability for nuclear damage law was passed by the parliament last year." A PMO committee has approved the rules of implementation of the civil nuclear liability law. We will notify the rules within month," V Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the PMO told reporters here

SC Upholds Allahabad HC Ruling Against Greater Noida Land Acquisition

The Apex Court has upheld the Allahabad HC order quashing the acquisition of over 156 hectares of land from farmers in Greater Noida in UP for Industrial projects, but was actually sold to commercial developers for high profitable apartment complexes. The court also imposed Rs 10 lakh as cost on the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) and directed it to hand over the land to the villagers and farmers. "GNIDA allotted the land to builders in complete violation for which the land was acquired," a bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly said.

CBEC Withdraws Anti-Dumping Duties on Imports of Hydrofluoric Acid Exported from China PR

Antidumping Duty imposed on imports of Hydrofluoric Acid, originating in, or exported from, China PR vide notification No. 54/2008-Customs, dated the 28th April, 2008 has been withdrawn. Consequently, said notification has been rescinded.

SEBI Likely to Put In Place Standard Norms For Due Diligence For The Merchant Bankers By September

Market regulator is likely to put in place standard norms for due diligence to be carried out by Merchant bankers for public issue, in order to protect investors and enhance the quality of companies coming to the capital markets.

Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) (Amendment) Rules, 2011

Government has amended the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 thereby mandated that plastic material in any form shall not be used in any package for packing gutkha, pan masala and tabacco in all forms and has substituted Form 1 along with other provisions.

SC orders videography of temple treasure unearthing in Kerala temple

SC has directed videography of the ongoing unearthing of treasure trove inside chambers of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala. The vaults of the temple, sealed for close to 150 year, have been opened on the instructions of the Supreme Court. A bench of Justices R.V. Raveendran and A.K. Patnaik also proposed the appointment of a curator of a museum to preserve the treasure being unearthed from the ancient temple.

CBEC Exempts Specified Goods Imported Into India From Malaysia From Duty Of Customs Leviable

CBEC has exempted the specified goods/ tariff item of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, when imported into India from Malaysia, from so much of the duty of customs leviable thereon as is in excess of the amount calculated at the rate specified.

Government Panel Recommends cap on subsidized LPG Cylinders And Direct Transfer of Subsidy to the Retailer

Interim report of task force on direct subsidies on kerosene, LPG and fertilizer has suggested creation of the Core Subsidy Management System for maintaining information on entitlements and subsidies for all beneficiaries and direct transfer of subsidy through bank branches to poor.Indications are that consumers will be charged subsidized rate for eight cylinders a year, though a final decision on the exact number is yet to be taken. The usage pattern of cylinders indicate about 60% of LPG households consuming eight cylinders a year.

SC rejects Sikkim HC Chief Justice Plea To Scrap the Charges Framed Against Him By the Panel

SC has rejected the Sikkim HC Chief Justice's plea to invalidate the inquiry by Rajya Sabha appointed panel into his alleged corrupt practices and misconduct accusing him of adapting delaying tactics. "We hold that belated raising of objection against inclusion of Rao in the Committee appears to be a calculated move. Court observed that Dinakaran knows that the Presiding Officer of the Committee is required to forward the report within a period of three months from the date the charges framed under Section 3(3) of the Act were served upon him. Therefore, he wants to adopt every possible tactic to delay the submission of the report," the bench said.

Government to come out with a draft negative list for service tax

In two weeks, the government is likely to come out with a draft 'negative list' for service tax whereby services not mentioned therein would be taxed under the proposed GST regime. The government will propose tax in most of the services under the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime. "The draft paper (on negative list of services) is nearly ready and you should see this paper in two weeks," Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, told.

SC constitutes Special Investigation Team to follow the Black Money Trail

SC has appointed a committee of two retired judges to follow the trial of black money parked in the tax havens asking government to issue the necessary notifications for the special investigation team which will report to the court. "The amount of unaccounted monies, as alleged by the Government of India itself is massive. The show cause notices were issued a substantial length of time ago. The named individuals were very much present in the country. Yet, for unknown, and possibly unknowable, though easily surmisable, reasons the investigations into the matter proceeded at a laggardly pace."

"Even the named individuals had not yet been questioned with any degree of seriousness. These are serious lapses, especially when viewed from the perspective of larger issues of security, both internal and external, of the country," the court said.

Government Panel Suggests Central Economic Intelligence Bureau Nodal Agency For All Economic Offences

Government panel has suggested setting up a collaborative hub and spoke structure of partnership between the central economic intelligence bureau and enforcement and regulatory agencies of both the centre and states to combat serious economic offences and organised tax evasions.

Income-tax (Sixth Amendment) Rules, 2011 - Amendment to Assessment procedures

CBDT has amended the Rule 12 of IT Rules, thereby, stipulating that a firm required to furnish the return in ITR-5 or an individual or HUF required to furnish the return in ITR-4 & to whom provisions of S.44AB are applicable shall furnish the return electronically under digital signature.

Food Security Bill Unlikely To Be Passed Into Law This Fiscal Year

The government has been trying to build up a political consensus on the contours of the proposed food security law and putting in place the institutional framework for the proposed law is likely to be delayed. "Realistically speaking, we will be very happy if the Act can be implemented at least for the last three months of this year," a senior official at the food ministry said. "Truth is it may not be possible until the next financial year

RBI Release Master Circular on Wilful Defaulters

In order to put in place a system to disseminate credit information pertaining to willful defaulters for cautioning banks and financial institutions so as to ensure that further bank finance is not made available to them, RBI has released the master circular on 'Wilful Defaulters'.

Proposed Guidelines For Conversion of Non Profit Company to an Ordinary Company Under Companies Act

At present there is no specific provision under Companies Act, where a company can apply for conversion of a non-profit company to an ordinary company. Hence, MCA has released the proposed guidelines for conversion of S.25 Company to an ordinary company requesting comments by 15.07.11

Proposed Guidelines For Strike Off Name U/s.560 of Non Profit Companies Licensed U/s.25 of the Act

MCA has released the proposed guidelines for strike off name under S.560 of the Companies Act, 1956 for S.25 companies requesting comments/recommendations by 15th July, 2011.

EPFO to Introduce Facility for Online Filing for PF Accounts Settlement

EPFO is all set to introduce the facility for online filing of applications for the settlement of PF accounts and transfer of accounts from one organization to another. However, the facility for accounts balance information through website is available from today, ie, 01 July, 2011.

India - Malaysia Free Trade Agreement to be Effective From Today

The free trade agreement between India and Malaysia will come into force from today, giving Indian professionals acess to the key south-east Asian nations. Also, the exports from India will attract lower or no duty in Malaysia by virtue of this agreement.

• INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Dot Com owners to be extradited to US for copyright infringement

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has claimed that they can extradite the owners of .com or .net addresses to US in cases of copyright infringement. It has come in the wake of extradition attempts on the owner of TVShack.net. O'Dwyer's website cataloged links to non-licensed TV shows and movies.

Barnett's one of the top officials at United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has made the statement to a British Magazine Guardian stating that "website owners with .com or .net addresses could face extradition to the U.S. even if the activity they are performing is legal in the UK". He has stated that,"The jurisdiction we have over these sites right now really is the use of the domain name registry system in the United States. That's the key."

Procedures to be followed by Government of UK in the BskyB matter

Prime Minister David Cameron said that the government had to follow proper legal procedures when deciding on the takeover of BSkyB and the decision would take "some time".

"Governments must follow the proper legal processes and procedures. That is exactly what (culture secretary) Jeremy Hunt is doing. His role is to take the advice of independent regulators. And, as his department made clear, given the events of recent days, this will take some time," he told reporters.

"I don't think it is right for the PM to start picking who should and should not run media organisations. It has been reported she offered her resignation and in this situation, I would have taken it," he added.

Legal team necessary to guide Filipinos on UAE laws

Six Filipino legal advocates have expressed interest in helping form a paralegal team to assist in the monitoring of the progress of cases involving their compatriots, which is estimated at over 600,000, including the undocumented across the UAE.

"We are willing to take part in the formation of this paralegal team to volunteer our services," Atty. Allan Reiz Macaraig told.

Lagarde case decision put off by French Court

A French court on Friday gave Christine Lagarde, the new managing director of the International Monetary Fund, her second reprieve in a month from a potential investigation into whether she abused her authority as France's finance minister before taking her new job. But the court left open the possibility of future legal proceedings against her. An investigation of Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, is still possible. As Ms. Lagarde prepared to hold her first I.M.F. board meeting on Friday to consider another $3 billion in emergency financing for Greece, the French Court of Justice, which oversees the actions of ministers in office, said it would delay until Aug. 4 a decision on whether to look into her handling in 2007 of a court case involving a French tycoon.