Hon'ble Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah

The Hindustan Times reported that the Collegium of judges in the Supreme Court had sent a recommendation to the Law Ministry that three judges i.e. the Chief justices of Madras, Patna and Kerala High Courts — Justices A.K. Ganguly, R.M. Lodha and H.L. Dattu be elevated to the Supreme Court.

However, this recommendation has raised a storm because it overlooks or supercedes three Chief Justices who are senior to the chosen three, viz. The Chief Justices of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand High Courts — Justices A.P. Shah, A.K. Patnaik and V.K. Gupta.

HT pointed out that the records showed that Justice Gupta became a High Court Judge in 1990 and was elevated to the post of Chief Justice in 2000. Justice Shah became a Judge in 1992 and a Chief Justice in 2005. Justice Patnaik became a Judge in 1994 and a Chief Justice in 2005.

In comparison, Justice Dattu became a Judge in 1995 and was elevated to the position of Chief Justice in 2007. Justice Ganguly was also made a Chief Justice last year. Justice Lodha became a Chief Justice only in May this year.

No reasons were apparently given by the Collegium for the supersession of the three senior judges though it was hinted that “performance” and “conduct” may have played a part.

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It doesn’t pay to be greedy … especially when you are indulging in immoral activities – That is the moral of this story.

In 2002, Devendra Doctor, an informant for the Income-tax department tipped off Mr. Ajay Kumar Singh, who was then the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax (Investigation), of a case of unaccounted income. Pursuant to this tip-off, raids were conducted and the department claimed to have made a seizure of Rs. 1 crore.

However, Devendra Doctor was aggrieved. He claimed that the seizure was Rs. 4 crores and that the department had undervalued the seizure to deprive him of the cash reward that he is entitled to as an informant.

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The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has issued Notification No. 1-CA(7)/116/ 2008 dated 25-9-2008 inter alia permitting CAs to enter into partnerships with non-CAs.

Regulation 53B reads as follows:

53B. Membership of professional bodies for partnership. − (1) For the purposes of entering into partnership under Item (4) of Part I of the First Schedule to the Act, a person shall be a member of any of the following professional bodies, namely:-

(a) Company Secretary, member, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, established under the Company Secretaries Act, 1980;

(b) Cost Accountant, member, The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India established under the Cost and Works Accountants Act, 1959;

(c) Advocate, member, Bar Council of India established under the Advocates Act, 1961;

(d) Engineer, member, The Institution of Engineers, or Engineering from a University established by law or an institution recognized by law.

(e) Architect, member, The Indian Institute of Architects established under the Architects Act, 1972;

(f) Actuary, member, The Institute of Actuaries of India, established under the Actuaries Act, 2006.

(2) Professional bodies or institutions outside India whose qualifications relating to accountancy are recognised by the Council under sub-section (2) of section 29 of the Act.”;

Click here for the full text of the said Notification.

NOTIFICATION NO. 93/2008, DATED 30-9-2008

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (xvi) of section 47 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), the Centre! Government hereby makes the following scheme, namely: -

1. Short title, commencement aud application (I) This scheme may be called the Reverse Mortgage Scheme, 2008.

(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force from the 1″ day of April, 2008.

(3) Save as otherwise provideC in the Scheme, it shall be applicable to all eligible persons.

2. Definitions.- In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(a) “Act” means the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961);

(b) “approved lending institution” means -

(i) National Housing Bank established under section 3 of the National Housing Bank Act, 1987 (53 of 1987);

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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF INCOME TAX (INTERNATIONALTAXATION)
107, Scindia House, N. M. Road, Ballard Pier,
Mumbai, 400 038

Confidential

DIT (IT) Sr. & Jr. Stand.Counsel. /08-09.

Dated: 30.9.2008

To.
All India Federation of Tax Practioners,
215, Rewa Chambers, 2nd floor,
31, New Marine Lines,
Mumbai – 400 020.

Sub: Engagement of Sr. Standing Counsels and Jr. Standing Counsels to represent Income Tax Department Before lTAT, Mumbai

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), New Delhi desires to engage Senior Standing Counsels and Junior Standing Counsels for representing l. T. Department before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Mumbai, for various reasons. For this purpose, the Chief Commissioner of Income-tax Mumbai ha s been authorised to draw a panel of standing counsels comprising a maximum of two Senior Standing Counsels and two Junior Standing Counsels for each bench. In this regard qualification of counsels has been indicated by the CBDT as under:

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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India conducts the audit of revenues from direct taxes of the Union Government under section 16 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act 1971.

Nine hundred and sixty one observations with a tax effect of Rs. 1,749.97 crore were issued to the Ministry as individual draft paragraphs, including 542 observations involving revenue impact of Rs. 1,085.32 crore that has arisen from local audit conducted in earlier years. Nine hundred and eighteen observations involving revenue impact of Rs. 1,663.50 crore have been included in this report. There was loss of revenue of Rs. 1,354.33 crore due to timely remedial action not being taken in 3,593 cases.

The report for the year ended March 2007 has been prepared for submission to the President under Article 151(1) of the Constitution of India.

Click here to download the report (730 kb)

WORK ALLOCATION OF CIT (DRS)/SR. DRS.

INSTRUCTION NO. 13/2008, DATED 19-9-2008

Reference is invited to Boards earlier instruction No. 4/2008 dated 25.03.2008 on the subject of work allocation of CIT (DRs}/Sr. DRs.

In supersession of earlier instruction on this subject, the Board has decided to lay down the following parameters for allocation of work between the CIT [DRs] and the Sr. DRs. for representation before ITAT.

2. The allocation of work between the CIT (DRs) and Sr. DRs would be as under:

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