Rs 38,000 cr service tax dues: Govt mulls out-of-court deal to resolve issue with banks

Agencies
August 2, 2019

Bengaluru, Aug 2: The government may be inclined for an out-of-court settlement in its dispute with banks over unpaid service tax dues to the tune of Rs 38,000 crore with officials indicating a more flexible stance to resolve the outstanding issues.

Sources in the government said that officials in the Finance Ministry may soon meet bankers to thrash out a compromise formula to resolve the issue that has divided the banking industry and pushed it into taking legal recourse.

A meeting proposed last month to resolve the issue could not take place and sources now say that all efforts are being made to organise the banker-official meeting this month so that a compromise is worked out well before the next date of hearing by the Delhi High Court in November. A meeting of bankers with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also slated on Friday.

About 13 banks, including State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, moved Delhi High court early last month against a government demand for service tax to the tune of Rs 38,000 crore. Their claim is that the government decision is arbitrary and the amount has been calculated by multiplying penalty with the total number of accounts held with the respective banks resulting in big increase in tax demand.

Other banks in the petition include Punjab National Bank, Yes Bank and Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, among others.

The government made the service tax demand for "treating the commitment of the customers to maintain minimum average balance (MAB) in bank accounts as a consideration for banking facilities provided for free".

Though the demand is of Rs 38,000 crore, sources said that the total amount could reach up to Rs 60,000 crore if interest and penalty are both included. Of the current demand, HDFC Bank itself is facing a penalty of up to Rs 18,000 crore.

"The stakes are high and has the potential to put the banking segment under prolonged periods of disruption. Coming at a time when the NPA issues are getting resolved, the government is unwilling to risk further and may work out an out-of-court settlement," said a source privy to the development. 

At the last hearing on the matter, a division bench comprising Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Talwant Singh had issued a notice to the Centre, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, the Goods and Services Tax Council and other authorities on the petition filed by the banks. The next day of hearing is November 14.

Other than the Delhi High Court, similar petition is pending before the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court. In this case, three banks have approached the court for relief.

As per industry estimates, savings account holders have paid over Rs 10,000 crore to the banks in the last three years as penalties for not maintaining minimum balance in their savings accounts. The penalty for non maintenance of minimum balance also varies from bank to bank.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 21,2020

New Delhi, Jul 21: A 42-year-old contractual doctor, who was working with Delhi government's National Health Mission, passed away yesterday due to covid-19.

Dr Javed Ali had been on the frontline in the fight against the highly contagious illness since March. He tested positive for coronavirus on June 24 and was hospitalised for treatment over the next three weeks.

For the last 10 days, he was on a ventilator. Yesterday morning, Dr Ali breathed his last at the AIIMS trauma centre. He is survived by his wife and two children - a six-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.

"I am proud of my husband. He kept working till the end and he is a martyr. He did not take even one day off since March. He worked even on Eid," Dr Heena Kausar, his wife, told media persons.

The cost for the initial treatment at the private hospital was also borne by the family. "No treatment cost was covered when he was at a private hospital initially. We spent around Rs 6 lakh from our own pockets," she said.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 25: Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao on Wednesday called a meeting of online, e-commerce food, medicine, groceries or animal products delivery aggregators at his office in wake of situation arising out of lockdown imposed in the entire country due to coronavirus epidemic.

The Police Commissioner has appealed one representative from each agency to join him in the meeting at 7 pm.

"I have called a meeting of online, e-commerce food, medicine, groceries, vegetables/fruits or animal products delivery aggregators today at 7 pm at my office at Infantry Road, Bengaluru," said Rao.

"One representative from each agency may please come. We promise all cooperation, please come," he said.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday confirmed 539 positive cases of coronavirus in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

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Agencies
January 24,2020

Indore, Jan 24: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Thursday said that he suspected that there were some Bangladeshis among construction labourers who worked at his house recently.

Their “strange” eating habits aroused suspicion about their nationality, the BJP general secretary said at a seminar in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) here.

When a new room was being added at his house recently, he found “eating habits” of some of the workers “strange” as “they were eating only `poha’ (flattened rice)”, he said.

After talking to their supervisor and the building contractor, he suspected that these workers were from Bangladesh, the BJP leader said.

When reporters questioned him later, Vijayvargiya said, “I suspected these workers were residents of Bangladesh. Two days after I became suspicious, they stopped working at my house. I have not filed any police complaint yet. I only mentioned this incident to warn people,” he said.

Speaking at the seminar, Vijayvargiya also claimed that a Bangladeshi terrorist was keeping a watch on him for the last one and a half years.

“Whenever I go out, six armed security personnel follow me. What is happening in this country? Will outside people enter and spread so much terror?” he asked.

“Don’t get confused by rumours. The CAA is in the interest of the country. This law will provide asylum to genuine refugees and identify intruders who are a threat to the country’s internal security,” he added.

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Sunday, 26 Jan 2020

Koopa Mandooka. illeterates. Do not bother about them.

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