Pvt edu institutions get property tax relief

Pvt edu institutions get property tax relief

Chandigarh: 09.11.2021

The Haryana government has decided to give exemption in property tax for one year to private educational institutions. Haryana urban local bodies minister Anil Vij said the state government had decided to give exemption to private educational institutions on the account of losses suffered by them during the Covid-19 period.

Vij said the private educational institutions in the state would get a relief of Rs 23.50 crore from the relaxation of one year. He said chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had given his approval to the decision.

The government educational had already been given similar exemption in property tax and the state would foot bill of Rs 10.35 crore for this. Thus, 8,986 educational institutions in 88 civic bodies of the state would get a relief of Rs 33.85 crore.

Haryana private schools association president Kulbhushan Sharma thanked the ULB minister. He, however, said that the schools should be given more exemptions. TNN

Sharma makes temple run to Tirupati

Sharma makes temple run to Tirupati

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: 09.11.2021

On a day the Rs 18,300-crore IPO by Paytm made its debut, its founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma made a temple run to Tirupati on Monday to seek the blessings of Lord Balaji.

The Paytm boss landed in Tirupati on Monday afternoon for a darshan of the lord of the seven hills. “Just met Sh Jawahar Reddy Executive Officer, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (#TTD) in Tirupati as I have come here to seek blessing of God for all of @Paytm family,” Sharma tweeted after his visit to the abode of one of the richest gods in the world.

The Paytm IPO, which opened on Monday (November 8) and will close on November 10, aims to raise Rs 18,300 crore through a fresh issue of Rs 8,300 crore and an offer for sale of Rs 10,000 crore.

Special trains cost more, but amenities missing

Special trains cost more, but amenities missing

No Blankets Or Pillows, Curtains Removed

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 09.11.2021

More than 90% of trains may have resumed with full patronage, but railways continue to run them as specials, unreserved express specials and festival specials, charging high and varying fares without offering onboard amenities.

Concessions for senior citizens have been suspended, blankets and pillows are not given and curtains removed from all AC classes but charges have not been reduced. Passengers say it is unfair to keep fares high under different classifications when reservation status is at waitlist and RAC for weekends and holidays.

On Friday, Southern Railway announced around 11 unreserved specials with fares equivalent to express trains. This means people will have to spend double the money they had been spending for tickets on passenger trains to travel by these unreserved express specials between interior towns.

S Vijayaraghavan, who used to travel by passenger trains, said a passenger had to pay ₹30 or more to travel by one of these trains from one station to another while it used to cost only ₹7 on a passenger train. “Railways should introduce passenger trains instead of running trains that charge more money from the people. It is of no help.”

The railways is also introducing festival specials which have fares that will cost ₹300-₹500 more than regular AC III tier class on scheduled trains on the route. However, these trains do not offer any additional facilities.

Suresh Seshadri, a Kolkata resident who works in Chennai, said that on Coromandel Special and Howrah Mail special, the last few 2nd AC and 3rd AC tickets under premium tatkal category cost ₹4,000 and ₹2,500. “The actual fare is ₹2,500 and ₹1,750. A flight to Kolkata booked in advance will be cheaper than a 2nd AC seat.”

This, said consumer activist T Sadagopan, was fleecing in the name of pandemic. “There is no point in running the same express and mail trains by calling them specials and then cancelling all concessions for senior citizens and others. Curtains are removed, pillows and blankets are not given. Railways should be charging less from passengers who travel by AC class because half of the amenities are not provided on board. There is no justification to continue to charge the same fare.” However, railways maintain that all passenger trains are not being operated because the pandemic is still on. The Railway Board has said that a decision on running of passenger trains and running scheduled trains will be taken only after the pandemic reduces considerably.

Hospitals try to sell unsold vax stocks at discount, no takers

Hospitals try to sell unsold vax stocks at discount, no takers

Sumitra.Debroy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:09.11.2021

Stuck with unsold Covid vaccine doses worth crores, private hospitals have started offering their stocks at 10-30% discounted rates to bulk purchasers. Many have even approached the manufacturers hoping to return unsold inventory.

Far from the situation in May-June when private players faced a crisis of shortage, they were sitting on more than 47lakh doses in October last week. Hospitals in Mumbai may have more than 85% of the unsold doses. Vaccinations in the city’s private sector nosedived in October with less than 3lakh paid jabs administered.

Sanjeevani Hospital in Malad has 7,000 doses of Covishield worth Rs 44lakh and hardly any takers. “I’ve approached both the manufacturer and BMC, but nobody is willing to take the vaccines,” said Dr Sunil Agarwal, the hospital’s director. “We are willing to liquidate it at a discount of 30%...it is better than doses going to waste altogether,” he said. The hospital’s daily footfall for vaccination has dropped to 20-25 people, far below the crowd of 1,000 they had previously.

In a similar dilemma is Oscar Hospital in the western suburbs with around 25,000 doses. Dr Nitin Pawar said, “We have all threes-—Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik, but hardly any people are coming forward,” Dr Pawar said. Oscar, like many others, is pinning hopes on the government approving a booster shot. “The other way we may see a surge in demand is if the interval between doses is reduced,” he said. The corporation had said more than 22 lakh people would be eligible for vaccination immediately if the 84-day interval is shortened.

Dr Prince Surana, CEO of Surana Group of Hospitals said many hospitals are trying to sell stocks at discounts, but few have found buyers. CoWin allows private hospitals to transfer doses to each other. “That option is used mainly when someone is in urgent need of 100-200 doses. If anybody wants more doses, they usually place orders directly with manufacturers,” he said. Another hospital head said he spoke to the Serum Institute of India to ask them to take some doses back.

“They turned it down saying they cannot be sure how the vaccines were stored,” he said. The extension of expiry period of Covaxin from 6 month to 12 months has brought some relief though, he said. A state official said private hospitals have offered vaccines to the government. “But we cannot buy from private sector when there is abundant supply from the Centre,” the official said. Interestingly, no hospital has slashed rates despite the oversupply.

Doctor among two held for making fake death certificate

Doctor among two held for making fake death certificate

Indore: 09.11.2021

Dewas police have arrested two persons including a doctor for allegedly making a fake death certificate for claiming an insurance sum of Rs 1 crore.

Two others involved in the scam are absconding. The matter came to light after an insurance firm lodged a complaint with Kotwali police after suspicions over the documents, police said.

The police during investigation found the certificate to be fake, police said. The accused Abdul Haneef purchased an insurance claim of rupees one crore from SBI life insurance in May 2019 on Rs 40,000 annual deposit. The accused deposited two instalments of Rs 4,000 each, police said.

In September 2019, his son Iqbal applied for a death certificate with the municipal corporation declaring his father as dead based on a fake document issued by Dr Shakir Mansoori, police said. TNN

Panel to scrutinise govt tenders above ₹50 crore

Panel to scrutinise govt tenders above ₹50 crore

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:09.11.2021

To bring transparency and avoid irregularities in the tendering of government works, the Karnataka government has decided to subject tenders costing Rs 50 crore and above to scrutiny by an independent committee headed by a retired judge of the high court.

The state cabinet took a decision in this regard at its meeting here on Monday. Besides the retired high court judge, the committee will have two members with expertise in finances and technical field. “All tenders costing Rs 50 crore and above will go before the committee and they should be cleared in 15 days,” said state law and parliamentary affairs minister JC Madhuswamy.

Sand mining policy gets approval

The set government up two such has committees decided to to speed up the process of scrutiny. Currently, each department has a panel of its own to scrutinise the tenders. But allegations of overestimation of budget, tweaks in qualification of bidders and taking up works deemed not necessary have put a question mark on the functioning of these committees. “The new system will address all these issues,” said Madhuswamy.

The cabinet cleared a sand-mining policy, which seeks to empower gram and taluk panchayats to dispose of sand mined in their jurisdiction.

Under the policy, gram and taluk panchayats can sell sand extracted from streams and lakes at Rs 300 a tonne. Similarly, Mysuru Mines and Minerals and Hatti Gold Mines have been empowered to extract sand from riverbeds and sell it in south and north Karnataka regions, respectively. The sand extracted from rivers will be priced at Rs 700 a tonne. The initiative will help GPs financially as 25% of the royalty will go to them.

SC: States withdrawing consent to CBI ‘not desirable position’

SC: States withdrawing consent to CBI ‘not desirable position’

‘Need To Examine Issues Of Permission Recalls, Court Stays’

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:09.11.2021

Expressing concern over eight states withdrawing their general consent granted earlier for CBI probe within their territories and allowing the agency to probe only 18% of the 150 requests made from 2018 to June, 2021, the Supreme Court on Monday said “it is not a desirable position” and decided to examine the issue.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M M Sundresh took note of an affidavit filed by CBI director S K Jaiswal that informed the court that the CBI’s functioning as an investigating agency and also as a prosecuting authority was being hampered with West Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram having withdrawn their general consent, forcing the agency to approach the states to get consent on a case-tocase basis, which “is time consuming and at times may be detrimental to timely and prompt investigation”.

Directed by the court to place a “report card” on the CBI’s efficiency as a prosecuting agency, the director said that some of the cases in which permission was denied involved high-stake financial matters with a bearing on the economy. He also said that delays in trials were also caused by stays granted by HCs and furnished details of 367 cases in which proceedings were stayed, some of them in the 1990s.

The bench said that both the issues — states not granting sanction for probe and courts passing stay orders — needed to be examined and issued notice to all states and high courts concerned. The bench referred the case to the Chief Justice to decide on registration of a fresh PIL and for adjudication of the issues raised by the CBI director by an appropriate bench.

Additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain and advocate Sanjay Tyagi, appearing for the CBI, said that the problem faced by the agency was because of the “peculiar nature” of the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act, 1946 which regulates the CBI. As per the law, the CBI requires the consent of a state government to conduct investigations within its territorial jurisdiction.

“Requests in approximately 78% of cases were pending, which mainly pertained to bank frauds of high magnitude impacting the economy of the country. The delay caused in taking up cases by the CBI due to any of the reasons mentioned above, at times, leads to destruction or dissipation of evidence. This is detrimental not only for the investigation by the CBI but also for subsequent prosecution of cases,” Jaiswal said. He said that the CBI’s legal department was at present handling 13,291 appeals pending in sessions courts, HCs and the SC. He also gave details of pending trials in 9,757 cases — in 500 cases trial had been pending for more than 20 years and in 921 cases for 15-20 years.

Times View: This is what happens when there’s mistrust over the functioning of central agencies. That’s why it is important that agencies are not seen as partisan and do a professional job. States too should only raise objections when necessary, rather than try to score political points.