Nirbhaya case: govt. seeks nod for executions

03/02/2020, STAFF REPORTER,NEW DELHI

The Centre on Sunday sought to remove the stay on the execution of the four convicts in the December 16, 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case, asserting that the credibility of the judiciary and its ability to execute death sentences were at stake.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Home Ministry, argued that the convicts were moving the court one after another with one of them, Pawan Kumar Gupta, yet to file his curative petition.

Mr. Mehta argued there was “a deliberate, calculated, well-thought-out design to frustrate the mandate of the law”.

Senior advocate Rebecca John, appearing for convict Mukesh Kumar Singh, however, objected to the plea. “As of today, there is no definitive law which permits what the Centre is seeking ... singling out execution,” she said.

Money earned in India by NRIs will be taxed, says Nirmala
Clarification follows letter from Kerala CM over impact on workers in West Asia

03/02/2020, PRISCILLA JEBARAJ, VIKAS DHOOT,NEW DELH

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday scotched fears that provisions introduced in the Budget would bring Indian workers’ income in zero tax jurisdictions, like the UAE, into the Indian tax net.

The Finance Bill has proposed three major changes to prevent tax abuse by citizens who don’t pay taxes anywhere in the world — reducing the number of days that an Indian citizen can be granted non-resident status for tax purposes from 182 to 120; citizens who don’t pay taxes anywhere will be deemed to be a resident; and the definition of ‘not ordinarily resident’ has been tightened.

“Let’s say an NRI, living in Dubai or elsewhere, is not taxed for his income there, but has some earnings through something in India for which he doesn't pay tax here. We are saying, for that income which is generated in India, pay a tax,” she said.

‘It will hurt Indians’

Alarmed by the possible implications of the new provisions, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, recording the State’s strong disagreement over the provision as it will hurt Indians working in the Middle East, “who toil and bring foreign exchange to the country” through remittances.

“The new provision is being interpreted to create an impression that those Indians who are bonafide workers in other countries, including in the Middle East, and who are not liable to tax in these countries, will be taxed in India on the income that they have earned there. This interpretation is not correct,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

The Ministry will incorporate a clarification, if required, into the law so that only income derived from an Indian business or profession will be taxable for such citizens, the Minister said.

A Bizarre Tale Of 3 Death Row Convicts Facing Different Fates In Same Case

A Bizarre Tale Of 3 Death Row Convicts Facing Different Fates In Same Case: The Delhi High Court on Sunday reserved orders on the revision petition filed by Union Government against the trial court's stay on the execution of the hanging of four convicts in the 2012 Delhi...

'Can Death Row Convicts In Same Case Be Separately Hanged?' Delhi HC Reserves Order In Nirbhaya Case

'Can Death Row Convicts In Same Case Be Separately Hanged?' Delhi HC Reserves Order In Nirbhaya Case: Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of Delhi High Court is hearing petition by Tihar Jail authorities against the Trial Court's stay on the execution of Nirbhaya case convicts.For live updates, stay in the...

Pension scheme may see mandatory enrolments

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:03.02.2020

The government is looking at mandatory enrolment of workers in the pension scheme when they join the organised sector workforce, while giving them the flexibility to decide their contribution, as part of fresh efforts to provide a robust social security net for millions of workers, a top government official said.

“There will be a system of auto enrolment and an employee can contribute Rs 100 while the employer can also contribute. People who are young today need to save for tomorrow,” finance secretary Rajeev Kumar said. In the Union Budget, the government has announced the plan, which will provide for inter-operability of schemes and provide safeguards for the accumulated corpus.

Currently, pension plans are sold by insurance companies, mutual funds as well as companies that operate under the National Pension System regulated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India. In addition, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation provides Employees Pension Scheme by transferring a part of the employee’s and employer’s contribution in addition to the Employees State Insurance Corporation.

The finance secretary said that the idea was to bring them all under one umbrella so that subscribers did not lose their money in case they switched jobs. Besides, the government views pension sector as a potential source of large fund flow that will also encourage long-term investors to pump money into infrastructure and other sectors.

The pension regulatory agency was set up over a decade ago to implement the NPS and provide low cost solutions for retirement savings. But despite tax benefits, the scheme has not taken off although the kitty has expanded to around Rs 4.2 lakh crore.

Kumar said the government has taken a series of steps in the Budget to ensure that the cost of financial intermediation comes down through measures such as the proposed bill for netting of financial transactions.

There are several steps to enhance liquidity in the system by introducing new tools and strengthening the existing ones.

Rajeev Kumar


FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW: The government, which is aiming to provide a social security net for workers, says people who are young today need to save for tomorrow

Govt: Nirbhaya convicts testing India’s patience

Aamir.khan2@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:03.02.2020

The Centre told the Delhi high court during a special hearing on Sunday the four Nirbhaya case convicts were “trying to test the patience of the nation” and people felt unsafe and didn’t send their daughters out of their houses because of monsters roaming around.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, while pressing for a stay on an order postponing the hanging of the four deathrow convicts in the 2012 gang rape case, told Justice Suresh Kait, “The crime was so inhuman, ghastly and devilish it shook the conscience of the nation.”

Citing the 2019 gangrape and murder of a Hyderabad vet after which the accused were killed by police in an alleged encounter and subsequent celebrations among the public, the SG said, “this shows people are losing faith in the criminal justice-delivery system.”

On Saturday, the court had issued a notice to the four convicts — Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur and Pawan Gupta — to respond to government’s plea seeking their immediate execution and setting aside of the trial court’s order staying the hanging scheduled for February 1.

The Centre accused the convicts of adopting delaying tactics to delay the inevitable. It said the convicts had committed an “abhorrent” act and its logical conclusion of a death sentence was confirmed by all courts. Mehta revisited the night of the crime and highlighted the cruelty inflicted upon the woman and how she was thrown off a bus and left to die on the road. In his opinion, a convict with sheer, calculated inaction, in tandem with other convicts, could frustrate the process of law. The Centre’s counsel also argued that seven years had passed but the convicts were still “playing” with the machinery of the judicial system.

Arguing on the point of the legal remedy of a mercy plea before the President, he said such a plea could be decided differently for different convicts. “Mercy jurisdiction is an individualistic jurisdiction. They can’t rely on the mercy plea with the President and say if one convict’s mercy is allowed, there could be a change of circumstances for the others,” Mehta argued.

This point was vehemently opposed by senior advocate Rebecca John, who represented convict Mukesh Singh.

John asked where the Centre was all this while during the warrant proceedings and why it had only “woken up” yesterday (Saturday).

“We are taking a life from a human being… And, therefore, the Constitution gives me the option of legal remedies. You keep saying delay, delay, delay... but you (Centre) never entered the trial court. Even death-row convicts have rights. They have rights to use their remedies and use it till their last breath of their lives,” she submitted.

The high court reserved its order after the arguments.

Full report on www.toi.in

The bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait reserved its order on the Centre’s plea

HC orders reinstatement of nurse made scapegoat

K.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Madurai:03.02.2020

Madras high court has directed the state government to reinstate a staff nurse who was terminated from service following a maternal death at a primary health centre (PHC) in Tirunelveli, saying she was made a scape goat without conducting a proper inquiry.

Petitioner T Blessie moved the HC Madurai bench in 2011 seeking to quash the termination order passed by the director of medical and rural health services dated July 23 that year and reinstate her. Her counsel stated that on April 24, 2009, a woman named Kannuthai delivered a baby girl at the Ukkirankottai PHC where the nurse was employed on contract. However, the woman developed a complication following which duty doctor Padma shifted her to the Tirunelveli medical college hospital where she died after two hours.

The petitioner was subsequently transferred to three PHCs within 27 months. On June 10, 2011, Tirunelveli deputy director of health services instructed her to sign a prewritten paper without allowing her to read it. Counsel submitted that on July 23 the termination order was passed on the charge that it was dereliction of duty on her part which resulted in the maternal death. When the nurse had discharged the duties on the instructions of the duty doctor, she alone had been punished, which was a discrimination. He stated that the order was passed without providing an opportunity to the petitioner to explain. The government advocate submitted that based on the representation given by the mother of the deceased woman, an inquiry was conducted and departmental proceedings initiated against Blessie, Padma and block medical officer Dr Sivagami Ebinezer.

The deputy director on completion of oral inquiry held the petitioner responsible for the death as she had not written the details on the case sheet, administered methergine injection before separation of placenta against protocol, did not administer an injection (syntocinon) and had not given proper treatment during the referral. On perusal of the submissions, Justice J Nisha Banu observed that the authorities concerned have straightaway passed the termination order without issuing charge-memo and without conducting any departmental inquiry in violation of Article 311(2) of the Constitution.