GST council clears bulk of rules for new tax regime

NEW DELHI: The GST Council cleared the bulk of the rules framework that constitutes the nuts and bolts of the goods and services tax regime, days after the Lok Sabha approved crucial laws related to it.

The quick decision by the GST Council on Friday brightens the chances of the new tax being rolled out from July 1 though industry has stepped up the demand for a September 1start to give it more time for preparation.

The council will take up on May 18-19 the last big remaining task of fitting individual goods into the four tax slabs already decided.

The council approved five rules dealing with registration, refunds, returns, invoice-debit and credit note payments that have been amended in line with changes to the GST laws.

In addition, it approved the draft of four remaining rules out of the total nine.

"Draft rules for input tax credit, valuation, transition and composition scheme have been approved by the council," finance minister Arun Jaitley said after the meeting.

These drafts will be made public so that industry can give inputs and the final draft will be up for approval at the next council meeting to be held on May 18-19 in Srinagar.

The Lok Sabha had on March 29 approved the four GST laws — central GST, integrated-GST, union territory - GST and compensation. These now have to be approved by the Rajya Sabha, which should not pose a problem as these are Money Bills.

The next meeting will also take up the crucial issue of deciding the slabs that goods and services will be slotted into.

The council has finalised a four-tier tax structure of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%, but the highest rate has been pegged at 40%.

With the next council meeting more than a month away, achieving the deadline may be difficult, experts said.

"Given the fact that the council is meeting next on May 18-19 to finalise these rules and rates would be finalised thereafter, implementing GST from July 1may be extremely difficult for the government," said Pratik Jain, indirect tax leader, PwC. "One could expect that the voices for September 1 implementation would get stronger over the next few days."

MS Mani, senior director, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, concurred with Jain.

"Today's announcement of the draft rules together with the GST legislations approved two days back gives businesses a very short window of three months to prepare," he said. "Since the rates would be known only by end of May, a process-based systematic approach by businesses is the need of the hour."

Source: ET Realty

82,048 affordable homes built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: Govt

NEW DELHI: A total of 82,048 houses have been constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY Urban) as on March 20, 2017 and of these 62,312 have been occupied, the government said today.

During the Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, several opposition members raised concerns that at the present pace the dream of 'Housing for All' may not be achieved by 2022.

According to the details provided by the government, under PMAY Urban, a total of 16,42,685 have been sanctioned as on March 2017. These include the subsumed projects under the Rajiv Awas Yojana, it said.

Minister for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh said Uttar Pradesh was one of the states relatively lagging behind in the implementation of the scheme.

According to the details provided by the government, of the 82,048 houses, 25,873 houses had come up in Gujarat, 10,447 in Karnataka, 10,805 in Rajasthan, 6,490 in Tamil Nadu and 5,506 in Maharashtra. In Uttar Pradesh, 3,822 houses had been constructed under the scheme.

Source: ET Realty

GST closer to reality, Lok Sabha clears four related bills

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha cleared four bills related to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Wednesday, setting the stage for 28 states, along with Delhi and Puducherry, to enact state laws over the next three months to roll out the new tax regime from July.

The four bills — Integrated GST, Central GST, Union Territory GST and Compensation Bill — will be followed by work in the GST council, comprising FM Arun Jaitley and state finance ministers, to finalise rules and product- and service-wise rates by the end of April.

GST will replace central excise, service tax and state VAT and several other levies, in addition to subsuming existing cesses and surcharges.

J&K will not be part of the current regime but will enact laws to ensure that its taxation system is linked with the Centre and other states for consumer benefits.

My congratulations to all countrymen on the passage of the GST Bill. New year, new law, new Bharat,” PM Narendra Modi tweeted after the bills were cleared. The passage came as several amendments pushed by lawmakers from the Congress and BJD were defeated after the government sought to clear doubts.

Jaitley promised the House that the regime will make things “slightly cheaper” and products such as petroleum, which are currently out of the net, would be included over a period of time. In fact, the finance minister said a decision on including real estate may be taken within a year of rollout. “Today, you have tax on tax, you have cascading effect. When all of that is removed, goods will become slightly cheaper,” Jaitley said.

The minister defended the decision for multiple slabs, saying a one-rate formula was highly regressive as hawai chappals and a luxury car would face the same levy. He then went on to allay fears of food products facing the levy and said all farm goods would be kept out.

The GST Council has recommended a four-tier tax structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28%. On top of the highest slab, a cess will be imposed on luxury cars, soft drinks, tobacco products, pan masala and coal to compensate states for potential revenue loss during the first five years of implementation.

With the Lower House clearing the legislations, some state governments are convening assembly sessions to clear state GST laws, which will enable them to impose tax that is expected to widen the tax base. The expectation is that “consuming states” such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will benefit more as the tax will be levied at the point of consumption as opposed to the factory gate, where excise duty is imposed. “This sets the stage for the definitive introduction of GST in the next few months. The GST rules and rates should now be decided very quickly so that business can be prepared,” said M S Mani, senior director at consulting firm Deloitte Haskins & Sells.

GST has been in the works for over a decade and it wasn’t until last year, when Parliament cleared amendments to the Constitution, that the new regime appeared to be a reality. This was followed by support from legislatures across the country, leading up to the establishment of the GST council.

While states such as West Bengal sought to block the reform, one of the biggest initiatives post-Independence, the Centre managed to overcome the hurdle with support from other opposition-ruled states, such as Bihar and Odisha.

Jaitley said once the new tax regime was rolled out, a businessman would have to deal with only one assessing officer instead of multiple authorities at present.

To opposition questions as to why the government brought the legislations as money bills, Jaitley cited constitutional provisions and said since 1950, all tax-related legislations were brought before Parliament as money bills.

Source - ET Realty 

CREDAI to soon launch 200 housing projects across the country

VISAKHAPATNAM: Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) is to launch 200 housing projects across the country to contribute to PM Narendra Modi’s target of providing houses to all by 2022, said its new chairman K Subba Raju.

Addressing the media here on Monday, Subba Raju said the project will be launched by Union urban housing development minister M Venkaiah Naidu in Ahmedabad on April 8.

President A Siva Reddy said Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Kurnool chapters of Credai are already preparing project blueprints to participate in the Centre’s affordable housing scheme. “The location of the project, the number of units and other details will be worked out in consultation with our national body. The state government had also decided to construct 1.94 lakh houses for the economically weaker sections and our AP chapter will be involved in the project,” he said. He said cost of inputs like land, steel, cement and labour is gradually increasing and there is a possibility that the prices of houses will also go up. Siva Reddy said provisions of RERA and GST will come into force soon and these will also have an impact on the cost of houses.

Source: ET Realty

Govt plans mega public outreach to hardsell GST

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked ministers and MPs to engage in a major public outreach over the goods and services tax (GST) with legislation related to the tax reform expected to be passed by Parliament soon.

The PM told a recent meeting of the Union cabinet that the government needs to vigorously explain the benefits of the tax reform that he thinks will be a significant milestone for the NDA government. He is understood to have spoken of the need to involve the party organisation and MPs as well.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley is expected to introduce four bills related to GST in Parliament on Monday . In the evening, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has organised a workshop for lawmakers who will deliberate on the bills in the coming days. This will be followed by a presentation before the council of ministers on Tuesday where Jaitley and his team are expected to explain the details and the benefits.

PM Modi has flagged the need to explain the tax measures with the common man as a key target for his ministers and party MPs as the government believes the benefits of one of the biggest tax reform initiatives needs to be communicated properly, especially when there are concerns over the impact on prices. Publicity through media channels is already un derway with badminton star P V Sindhu featuring in an advertisement but more is expected to follow. The exercise comes as the GST Council, comprising state finance ministers and the Centre, is ready with the final plan and is hoping to roll out GST from July, three months behind the original deadline.

But briefing lawmakers is only a small part of the blitzkrieg lined up by the finance ministry , which has instructed its commissioners to fan out in the field and work along with the state tax bu reaucracy . Officers have been asked to organise at least one town hall meeting with tax practitioners, lawyers and businessmen in every town which has a population of one lakh or more.

“In cities like Mumbai and Delhi, we will have hundreds of meetings with trade bodies and other stakeholders,“ said a source.

Detailed FAQs and other publicity material have been prepared by the finance ministry along with power point presentations that will be used during the town hall meetings. While this will be shared with the field officers, the material will be translated into local languages.

Source - ET Realty

Smart City budget for Ghaziabad hiked to Rs 2,901 crore

GHAZIABAD: The divisional commissioner of Meerut, Alok Sinha, on Thursday cleared the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation’s (GMC) Smart City proposal following a presentation by the civic body. The budget in the new proposal, which will be sent to the Union urban development ministry on March 31, has been pegged at Rs 2,901 crore.

TOI reported on March 17 that GMC had earlier estimated an expenditure of Rs 2,200 crore for various civic and infrastructure works.

The proposal has already been technically vetted by the Lucknow-based Regional Centre for Urban & Environmental Studies (RCUES), officials informed. “A high-powered committee of the state government will now review the proposal. The proposal will be finalised after the committee’s nod. A number of other cities will also present their proposals to the committee,” GMC executive engineer Sanjay Chauhan told TOI.

Ghaziabad will compete with 59 other cities in the country in the third round of the Smart City mission. The proposal consists of two components — area-based development and pan-city solutions. According to the proposal, a sum of Rs 2,122 crore will be spent on area-based development and about 1,495 acres of land in the trans-Hindon area of the city will be retrofitted and redeveloped. This area includes portions of Vaishali, Vasundhara and Kaushambi. An estimated budget worth Rs 779 crore will be used for pan-city solutions, aimed at making infrastructure and services better, which will involve the application of various smart solutions with the use of technology. Meanwhile, out of the total budget, the central government and the UP government will release Rs 500 crore each. Infrastructure works under way in the city with funds from the AMRUT scheme of the central government will further be adjusted into the budget.

The remaining amount will be raised through private partnerships while the GMC is also expected to make a certain quantum of the budget available.

Source - ET Realty 

Acquisition for Dwarka e-way 1km stretch in Delhi to kick off

GURGAON: It will take National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) a month and a half to acquire 24.03 hectares of land in the Bijwasan and Bamnoli areas of the capital to construct the incomplete 1km portion of the Dwarka expressway in Delhi. The authority issued a notification under the NHAI Act to ensure the process is completed without any hassle.

Unlike acquisition of land under the Land Acquisition Act, land acquired under the NHAI Act cannot be challenged in court.

Of the 4km of Dwarka expressway that is incomplete, from Urban Extension Road II (UER-II) passing through Dwarka Sector 26 in Delhi till Sector 111 in Gurgaon, 3km is on Delhi Development Authority (DDA) land, while the remaining 1km, which is private land, has to be acquired by NHAI.

To build this road, NHAI will acquire 24.03 hectares in Bijwasan and Bamnoli.

“We have identified the land and hope to complete acquisition at the earliest,” said NHAI project director Ashok Sharma.

The proposed 150m-wide Dwarka-Palam Vihar link, also known as Northern Peripheral Road or Dwarka expressway, which connects Dwarka in Delhi and NH-8 in Gurgaon, was envisaged 10 years ago and was to be ready before the Commonwealth Games 2010. The 27km-long road — 18km in Gurgaon and 9km in Delhi — has already missed six deadlines.

The detailed project report for the Delhi portion of the expressway is being prepared by NHAI through consultant AECOM.


Source- TOI

Middle-class home buyers get clarity to avail loan subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna

NEW DELHI: Giving clarity on the government's credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) for home buyers in the middle income group (MIG) segment, Union minister for housing Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday released the guidelines for the implementation of the scheme.

The move is set to bring down the monthly equated monthly installment (EMI) for the middle class by over Rs 2,000.

All middle class home buyers with annual incomes of above Rs 6 lakh and up to Rs 18 lakh per year will be eligible for receiving interest subsidy on housing loans taken in 2017 under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Urban).

Interest subsidy will be provided on home loans for construction or purchase of house with carpet area of 90 square meters by those earning up to Rs 12 lakh per annum and of 110 sqm by those earning up to Rs 18 lakh per year.

No processing fee will be charged by banks or housing finance companies from the applicants under CLSS.

"Not only poor, but middle class is also on top of our PM's agenda. Middle income groups make substantial contribution to the economic growth of the country besides paying taxes and deserved support to fulfill the dream of owning a house which is a basic and genuine aspiration," said Naidu.

Prime minister Narendra Modi on December 31 announced the extension of CLSS to the middle class people, offering interest subsidy of 4% on housing loans of up to Rs 9 lakh of those with an income of Rs 12 lakh per year and of 3% on home loans of up to Rs 12 lakh of those earning Rs 18 lakh per year.

Housing loans above Rs 9 lakh and Rs 12 lakh will be at non-subsidised rates.

According to National Housing Bank MD and CEO Sriram Kalyanaraman, the interest subsidy of 4% under the scheme will bring down EMI by Rs 2,062 per month on a housing loan of Rs 9 lakh and interest subsidy of 3% will reduce the monthly outgo by Rs 2,019 on Rs 12 lakh loan, considering normal housing loan interest rate of 8.65%.

The scheme will be applicable just for one year starting January 1, 2017 and the government has allocated Rs 1,000 crore in Union Budget this year for the same.

"We may consider expending this MIG scheme based on the response and demand," informed Naidu.

The tenure of loan can be a maximum of 20 years or that preferred by the home buyer, whichever is lower.

The scheme gives preference to women with overriding preference to widows, single working women, people from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, backward classes, differently abled and transgender people.

National Housing Bank (NHB) on Wednesday also signed memoranda of understanding with 45 housing finance companies, 15 scheduled banks, 2 regional rural banks, 1 cooperative bank, 4 small finance banks and 3 non-banking finance companies-micro finance institutions for implementation of CLSS(MIG) component of PMAY(Urban).

NHB and Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) have been designated as central nodal agencies for implementation of CLSS for both MIG and EWS/LIG who would reimburse interest subsidy to primary lending institutions.

The CLSS component of PMAY(Urban), launched in June 2015, was already applicable for the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low income group (LIG) with income of Rs 3 lakh and Rs 6 lakh per year, respectively. People in this group are getting interest subsidy of 6.5% on a home loan of up to Rs 6 lakh.

Source - ET Realty 

Online-generated documents will now be verifiable in Noida, Gr Noida

NOIDA: Having launched an online delivery of services for its 16,300 institutional, industrial and commercial properties in December, Noida Authority has gone a step further. Deepak Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Noida and Greater Noida said on Tuesday that all documents and certificates issued by both Authorities of Noida and Greater Noida will soon be verifiable. These documents generated online will be supported with a digital signature as well as a unique bar code number to make them authentic.

According to officials, Agarwal has directed his team of officials to implement the move within a week. “We have also started intensive training programs of our staff who are involved in the online services at both Authorities,” he told TOI. “Allottee and anyone who wants to check the authenticity of a document issued online by the two Authorities will be able to go to the respective website and verify the documents,” he said. “This facility will be implemented within a week at both Authorities,” he added say the aim is to ensure speed and transparency.

With the online facility in place, allottees do not have to visit the Authority to get their works done and are able to get them done from anywhere. A host of services including permissions for mortgage, mutation of land, transfer memorandum, completion and functional certificates, lease rent deposit, water bill payments, etc are available for allottees to avail online. The services can be accessed from Noida’s website and Greater Noida’s website.

Agarwal said that with the online services, ease of doing business in both cities, approvals for building plans and interface with every allottee has become faster and straightforward. “Slowly we plan to go completely digital and to do away with manual applications and processes besides providing a single window access to information and services,” the CEO added.

Source - ET Realty

Cabinet passes four draft GST bills, to be introduced in Parliament soon

The Cabinet on Monday approved four supporting GST legislations – Compensation Law, the Central-GST (C-GST), Integrated-GST (I-GST) and Union Territory-GST (UT-GST), a government official said. The bills are likely to be taken up by the parliament this week as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushes to roll out the new law, after years of delays.

Once approved by Parliament, the states would start taking their SGST bill for discussion and passage in the respective state assemblies. The GST Council, in its previous two meetings, had given approval to the four legislations as also the State-GST (S-GST) bill. While the S-GST has to be passed by each of the state legislative assemblies, the four other laws have to be approved by Parliament.

 Passage of all the legislations would pave the way for the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July 1. The government is hoping the C-GST, I-GST, UT-GST and the GST Compensation laws will be approved in the current session of Parliament and the S-GST by each of the state legislatures soon. While a composite GST will be levied on sale of goods or rendering of services after the new indirect tax regime is rolled out, the revenue would be split between the Centre and the states in almost equal proportion.

This is because central taxes like excise and service tax and state levies like VAT will be subsumed in the GST. While the C-GST will give powers to the Centre to levy GST on goods and services after Union levies like excise and service tax are subsumed, the I-GST is to be levied on inter-state supplies.

The S-GST will allow states to levy the tax after VAT and other state levies are subsumed in the GST. The UT-GST will also go to Parliament for approval. The Council has already finalised a four-tier tax structure of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent, but the model GST law has kept the peak rate at 40 per cent (20 per cent to be levied by the Centre and an equal amount by the states) to obviate the need for approaching Parliament for any change in rates in future.

The GST Council has already cleared all five draft laws – the Central GST, Integrated GST, state GST, Union territory GST and rules on compensating states for revenue losses. There would be four tax slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 percent, plus a levy on taxes on items like cars, aerated drinks, and tobacco products to compensate states for any revenue losses in the first five years.  GST is expected to boost the rate of economic growth by about 0.5 percentage points, broaden the revenue base and cut compliance cost for firms.

Source- The Financial Express

Govt steps up efforts on quicker exit for startups

NEW DELHI: The government is working on a fresh set of initiatives for startups, including rolling out norms for resolution of companies that are facing financial stress within 90 days and new tax proposals. Sources told TOI that the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) will hold consultations over the next few days to provide a further boost to startups, including norms for allowing them to raise more debt from promoters.

While a committee had suggested that the time frame for deciding on a resolution package for startups be halved from the 180 days for companies, the ministry of corporate affairs has started work on notifying the norms although the process may take two-three months. “We need to hold public consultations before we notify the norms. But if everyone is on board and a company is not saddled with litigation, then the winding up process can start before the prescribed 90 or 180 days,” said an officer. The norms on faster exit are in focus after the arrest of Yogendra Vasupal, the co-founder of homestay aggregator Stayzilla.

The government’s latest effort, however, goes beyond quicker exit with DIPP’s consultations with other government agencies focusing on several issues related to corporate, financing and infrastructure. The finance part is also seen to be crucial as several companies are finding it tough to raise funds. “We want to ensure that startups have access to debt and equity to grow. Various measures are being discussed,” DIPP secretary Ramesh Abhishek told TOI.

So far, around Rs 650 crore has been cleared and the plan is to step it up significantly to over Rs 1,800 crore next fiscal and over Rs 2,300 crore by March 2019. This support is going to come from Sidbi, departments of science and technology and biotech as well as through the credit guarantee fund, whose Rs 2,000 crore corpus in four years will provide comfort to banks to lend to over 400 startups. To step up funding from the Rs 10,000 crore fund of funds, DIPP is seeking changes in the guidelines that will allow easier financing. The government expects around Rs 600 crore to flow to 15 venture funds next year, a significant jump from Rs 115 crore to five VCs this year.

Sources said that a further relaxation of Angel Tax is also in the works by recognising angel investors as a category and treating them similar to venture funds. Talks have also been initiated to allow for exit before one year without being burdened with capital gains tax, a benefit that is currently available in listed entities.

Source: Et Realty

Centre gives violators six-month window to obtain environmental approvals

MUMBAI: The Union ministry of environment and forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has offered a six-month window for all entities who started construction without seeking environmental clearance (EC), to apply for the same. The notification, issued on March 14, states the ministry deems it necessary to bring all projects and activities in compliance with environmental laws at the earliest.

All projects which require prior environmental clearance but were brought before the regulatory authority for clearance after starting construction work, are to be treated as cases of violations. The notification states that even Category B projects (building construction) will be appraised for grant of environmental clearance by an expert appraisal committee and EC will be granted at the central level. In Maharashtra alone there are over a 100 projects that have been taken up without prior EC.

As per the notification, in cases of violation action will be taken against the project proponent by the state government or state pollution control board under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Further, no consent to operate or occupancy certificate will be issued till the project is granted the EC. Criminal prosecution in the courts will be an independent and separate proceeding.

The cases of violation will be appraised by respective sector expert appraisal committees with a view to assess that the project has been constructed at a site which, under prevailing laws, is permissible and the expansion which has been done can be run sustainably under compliance of environmental norms with adequate environmental safeguards.

If the findings are negative, closure will be recommended along with other actions under the law, states the notification. If the findings are affirmative, or in other words, the environmental damage can be rectified,

then the project will be prescribed terms of reference, remediation plan and natural and community resource augmentation plan. The collection and analysis of data for assessment of ecological damage will be done by an accredited independent environmental laboratory.

The project proponent will be required to submit a bank guarantee, equivalent to the remediation and resource augmentation plans, with the state pollution control board. The quantum will be decided by the EAC and finalised by the regulatory authority. It will be deposited prior to the grant of EC and will be released only after successful implementation of the plans. The completion must be confirmed by the regional office of the MoEFCC, the EAC and the regulatory authority, states the notification.

Activist Zoru Bathena, who has been highlighting violation of laws for the Metro-III project, said there may be genuine cases where the violation may be inadvertent but said the government must publicise how many violators have been prosecuted till date. “It’s like the Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme, where the government does not have the mechanism to catch those who have black money. But those schemes have 

not stopped the menace. If it is so difficult to comply with environment laws and even more difficult to implement them, then do away with the law itself,” said Bathena.

Source: ET Realty

GST Council clears all five enabling Bills; July 1 rollout now looks real

NEW DELHI: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council at its 12th meeting on Thursday agreed on all the provisions of State GST and Union Territory GST draft Bills. With this, all the five enabling draft laws stand approved by the GST Council and the government’s resolve to launch the indirect tax reform by July 1 appears to be on track. In its previous meetings, the Council had cleared three draft laws ­­— Integrated GST (IGST), Central GST (CGST) and compensation draft laws.

Once GST is implemented, states and the Centre will collect the same rates of taxes on goods and services.  If the GST law stipulates that a product or service will attract 12 per cent tax, then both the states and the Centre will get six per cent each under CGST and SGST.

The Centre will also levy and collect the IGST on all inter-state supply of goods and services. This has been kept in the law to ensure seamless flow of input tax credit from one state to another.

The Centre is confident that the new tax regime will become operational from July 1. Thursday’s GST Council meeting also approved the proposed cess on ‘demerit’ or sin goods such as tobacco, alcohol and aerated beverages, capped at 15 per cent. The cess would be levied for five years and can be continued longer. The Council has kept the option open for levying cess on any residual item as and when decided by the Centre and states.

The GST Council is headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley, who briefed reporters after the meeting on Thursday. Jaitley said all the Bills would now be sent to the Cabinet for approval and will be tabled in the current session of Parliament.

“The GST Council will meet on March 31 for framing rules for the GST regime,” Jaitley added. The critical meeting to complete the slabs for various goods and services will be held after March 31. The Council has already agreed on a four-slab structure — 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent — in addition to a cess on sin goods.

“The cap of cess on demerit goods on top of peak rate of GST has been kept at 15 per cent, but effectively it will be only 12 per cent,” Jaitley said.

Source- The New Indian Express

New building code to hold developers liable for safety

The Centre on Wednesday unveiled a code under which builders can be made liable for the safety of the structure. 

The code has been prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under the consumer affairs ministry.

The code is voluntary but states can incorporate them in their building bylaws. 

"The code contains provisions on use of new/innovative materials and technologies and on prefabricated construction techniques that can give fillip to speedier construction to meet the objectives of housing for all by 2022," consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said after releasing the code on the occasion of the World Consumer Rights Day in New Delhi.

That apart, Paswan said the government has drafted a fresh consumer protection Bill after incorporating suggestions of a parliamentary standing committee and hopes to introduce it in the ongoing session.

In August 2015, the Centre had introduced the consumer protection Bill in Lok Sabha to repeal the 30-year consumer protection Act. The standing committee had also submitted its recommendations in April.

The ministry has accepted some of the recommendations of the panel and finalised the draft Bill, which has also been vetted by the group of ministers, headed by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

"The draft Bill was sent to the law ministry. We had proposed 80-odd amendments in it. So, the law ministry suggested us to bring in a new Bill," Paswan added. 

ON the building code, BIS Director (Civil Engineering) Sanjay Pant told PTI that it is a voluminous code with 34 chapters. 

It is used by local bodies for framing building bylaws. It is used by government departments in construction activity. It is used by private builders as well as professionals like architect, planners and engineers. It is also used for academic purpose.  

Asked about key changes made to the building code, Pant said planners, structure designers and supervisors were made responsible for the safety of the structure while geo-technical engineers and builders were not included.

"Now, builders are also made responsible safety of the construction. Builders have to give a certificate saying that the building has been constructed as per the planned design submitted to the local bodies," he said.

Apart from making builders liable, the revised code has made necessary changes keeping in view the requirement of modern buildings.

For example, the code specifies fire and life safety norms for high rise buildings and a proper horizontal evacuation system in high-rise hospitals and public buildings.

It also provides for universal accessibility for senior citizens and differently abled citizens besides encouraging use new building material and alternative smart technologies.

The salient features of the revised code are norms for solar energy utilisation, inclusion of modern lighting technique including LED, updated provision on piped gas supply in houses and hospitals, solid waste management and rain water harvesting, besides high speed lifts for tall buildings.

For ease of doing business, the revised code has a detailed provision for streamlining the approval process in respect of different agencies in the form of an integrated approval process through single window approach thereby avoiding separate clearances from various authorities.

Source: Business Standard 

Lok Sabha passes Enemy Property Bill

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which denies inheritance rights to heirs of individuals who left the country for Pakistan and China, completing the process after Rajya Sabha gave its assent to the long pending legislation last week.

The amendment was necessitated by the claim made by the Raja of Mahmudabad of Uttar Pradesh on properties belonging to his father which were declared enemy property and seized by the government of India following partition.

Lok Sabha had to pass a fresh bill to approve the amendments introduced by the upper House on the recommendations of the select committee which considered the legislation. While RSP member N K Premachandran moved an amendment, it was turned down.

Home minister Rajnath Singh said the purpose of the bill was to clarify the rules that inheritance law would not apply to enemy property a question which first arose in 2010. The government had passed an ordinance to enforce the law.

Singh denied the contention of some MPs that the bill was against “natural justice” and “human rights”, stating that Pakistan had seized the properties of Indian citizens and it was only natural that the property of those who migrated to Pakistan was not returned.

Among those who spoke on the bill were Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy, Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, CPM’s Mohd Salim and RJD’s J P Yadav among others.

Home minister Singh sought to raise the temperature around the claim of Raja of Mahmudabad by citing from the evidence of Uttar Pradesh on “talukdari” where the state had linked the royal family’s fiefdom to its collaboration with the English in suppressing the 1857 revolt.

Hesaid a system, “Sanad kabooliat”, was instituted where the individuals who had helped suppress the 1857 revolt were given properties on the condition that they would pledge support to the English.

Singh said Raja of Mahmudabad’s ancestors had secured “talukdari” by signing the bond with the English, hence neither the father nor the son could get rights to the properties.

Source: Et Realty