The plea stated that the impugned circular is at the teeth of Section 12(2) of the Right of Children to free and compulsory Education Act, 2009 and amounts to amendment in the legislation through a circular which is a denial of reimbursement for a part of students admitted under section 12(1)(c) of RTE Act, 2009.

The official said the department conducted inspections at 12 chit fund companies on October 21, five organisations were inspected on October 31 and 18 units were inspected on November 15.

New Delhi Feb 22 PTI The Supreme Court Tuesday said that a financier of a transport vehicle for which a lease or hypothecation agreement has been entered is liable to tax under the Uttar Pradesh Motor Vehicles Taxation Act 1997 from the date of taking possession of the vehicleThe apex court refused to interfere with the December 2019 judgement of the Allahabad High Court which had held that the financier-in-possession of the transport vehicle was liable to pay tax under the 1997 ActA bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna dismissed the appeal filed by the financier who had extended loan for purchase of the vehicle in question against the high court verdictIn view of the above discussion and for the reasons stated above it is held that a financier of a motor vehicletransport vehicle in respect of which a hire-purchase or lease or hypothecation agreement has been entered is liable to tax from the date of taking possession of the said vehicle under the said agreement the bench said in its judgementThe top court said that if after the payment of tax the vehicle is not used for a month or more then the owner may apply for refund under section 12 of the 1997 Act and has to comply with all the requirements for seeking the refund as mentioned in the provisionHowever only in a case which falls under sub-section 2 of section 12 and subject to surrender of the necessary documents as mentioned in sub-section 2 of section 12 the liability to pay the tax shall not arise otherwise the liability to pay the tax by such owneroperator shall continue it saidThe bench noted in its verdict that the financier had extended a loan for the purchase of the transport vehicle and on default in payment of loan is in possession of the vehicle in questionIt also noted that counsel appearing for the appellant had referred to relevant provisions of the 1997 Act and the Motor Vehicles Act 1988 in support of his submission that being a financier-in-possession of the vehicle unless the vehicle is put to use or is being actually used there shall not be any liability on the financier to pay tax under the 1997 lawThe counsel appearing for the state had submitted before the apex court that under the provisions of the 1997 Act every owner and operator is liable to pay tax leviable under Section 4The bench while referring to the relevant provisions of the 1997 Act noted that a financier who is in possession of the transport vehicle in question owing to non-payment of loan is an owner under the relevant provisions of the 1997 law and also the 1988 ActIt said that Section 4 of the 1997 Act is the charging section as per which no motor vehicle other than a transport vehicle shall be used in any public place in Uttar Pradesh unless a one-time tax at the rate applicable has been paid in respect thereofIt said the requirement under law is to first pay the tax in advance as provided under section 9 and thereafter to use the vehicleIn other words it is pay the tax and use and not use and pay the tax Therefore the submission on behalf of the appellant-financier that tax has to be paid at the time of use or thereafter cannot be accepted the bench notedIf such a submission is accepted in that case section 91iva which provides for the amount of tax to be paid in advance will become redundant andor nugatory it saidThe bench said in a case where after the tax is paid and the vehicle is not used the operator or the owner may apply and claim for refund as per section 12 and may get refund subject to fulfilling all the requirementsUnder the circumstances the impugned judgment and order passed by the full bench of the high court does not warrant any interference by this court The appeal stands dismissed accordingly it said PTI ABA SA

New Delhi [India], February 3 (ANI): A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking court direction for admission of children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups to every seat they are entitled to.

New Delhi Nov 22 PTI The Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 has adopted its report on the bill with several opposition MPs including those from the Congress TMC and BJD submitting their dissent notes Sources said the report was adopted after almost two years of setting up of the joint panel when the bill was referred to it for further scrutiny and making recommendations The sources said four MPs from the Congress and two from the Trinamool Congress and one from the Biju Janata Dal opposed certain provisions of the panels recommendations Congress leader and chief whip of party in Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh gave his dissent note to the committee on the bill after the panel adopted its report at its meeting here The former Union minister also lauded the democratic manner in which the panel functioned under P P Chaudharys chairmanship for past four months Besides Ramesh Congress MPs Manish Tewari Gaurav Gogoi and Vivek Tankha also submitted their dissent notes along with TMCs Derek OBrien and Mohua Moitra and BJDs Amar Patnaik The report was delayed by the panel as its former chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi was elevated a minister and Chaudhary was appointed as its new chairperson The bill was referred to the JCP for scrutiny before it is taken up by Parliament for consideration and passage Ramesh shared the information that the report has been adopted by the panel Finally it is done There are dissent notes but that is in the best spirit of parliamentary democracy Sadly such examples are few and far between under the Modi regime he said He said he was compelled to submit a detailed dissent note on the bill as his suggestions were not accepted and he was unable to convince the members But that should not detract from the democratic manner in which the committee has functioned Now for the debate in Parliament Ramesh tweeted Tewari and Gogoi also said they had submitted their dissent notes to the Secretariat of the committee after the final meeting of the Joint Committee on Data Protection We started in December 2019 and finished in November 2021 Tewari said I have been constrained to submit a very detailed note of dissent since I do not agree with the fundamental design of proposed legislation It will not stand the test of law he said The Anandpur Sahib MP said his fundamental objection was that there is an inherent design flaw in the bills very construction A bill that seeks to provide blanket exemptions either in perpetuity or even for a limited period to the state and its instrumentalities is ultra vires of the Fundamental Right to Privacy as laid down by a nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court he said Tewari said he did not think the bill in its present form especially most of its exception and exemption clauses including carve outs for governments that exempt these behemoths from the ambit of this legislation would stand the test of vires in a court of law I therefore am constrained to holistically reject the bill in its present form in entirety for this design flaw he said On his reservations about the bill that were part of his dissent note Gogoi said there was a lack of attention being paid to harms arising from surveillance and effort to establish a modern surveillance framework Ramesh in his dissent note said he had suggested amendments to Section 35 the biils most crucial provision as well as to Section 12 He has argued that Section 35 gives almost unbridled powers to the Centre to exempt any government agency from the entire act itself Under the amendment I had suggested the Centre will have to get parliamentary approval for exempting any of its agencies from the purview of law Even then the government must always comply with the bills requirement of fair and reasonable processing and implementing the necessary security safeguards Ramesh said This would bring about greater accountability and transparency but even that was not found acceptable Section 12ai creates certain exceptions for governments and its agencies from the provisions of consent he said The TMC MPs described the bill as Orwellian in nature and raised questions on the panels functioning They alleged it rushed through its mandate and did not provide sufficient time and opportunity for stakeholder consultations the sources said They also said they opposed the bill for lack of adequate safeguards to protect the right to privacy of data principles the sources said In the note they have also opposed the recommendations for inclusion of non-personal data in the legislation they said The TMC MPs said the bill provides overboard exemptions to Government of India without proper safeguards in place The MPs moved an amendment to Clause 35 which gives powers to the Centre to exempt any of its agencies from the acts application sources said But in the notice the two said not only has the panel failed to introduce proper safeguards to prevent misuse of the provision it has made recommendations to empower Centre with more unqualified powers Ramesh in his dissent note said the JCPs report allows a period of two years for private companies to migrate to the new data protection regime but governments and their agencies have no such stipulation He argued the bills design assumes that the constitutional right to privacy arises only where operations and activities of private companies are concerned PTI SKC ASG AAR

New Delhi [India], September 22 (ANI): The Central government on Wednesday apprised the Supreme Court that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended an amount of Rs 50,000 as ex-gratia to be paid to families of those who died of COVID-19 including those who were involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities to the cause of death.

New Delhi [India], September 3 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday granted yet another opportunity to the Centre to formulate uniform guidelines for issuance of death certificates with regard to those who succumbed to COVID-19.