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Ministry of Finance
CBDT continues follow up in cases connected with J&K Bank
Dated: 23 JUL 2019
CBDT has been actively pursuing leads found in the actions taken against the J&K Bank and its erstwhile Chairman, Sh. Parvez Ahmad. In another such follow-up action, a search and seizure operation has been conducted on a Group that is in the business of providing security to business establishments and prominent individuals, as well as in running hotels in Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of the country. The searched group also held a controlling share in a controversial Medical College in Punjab, which has been ordered to be closed by the Medical Council of India in 2014. The allegations against the group include defrauding the public sector banks including J&K bank in connivance with the bank officials, unexplained cash deposits in the group entities and large scale diversion of funds taken for development of the impugned Medical College as well as hotels of the Group for private gain of the promoters.
The search action has revealed apparent siphoning of loans obtained from various public sector banks of more than Rs. 74 crore. Digital and documentary evidences found during search also clearly reflect machinations of the bank officials in violating prudence norms as well as rules of business to safeguard the banks’ interest in grant of loans that exceed Rs. 200 crore. These loans have subsequently become NPAs.
The search action has revealed concrete leads of round tripping of more than Rs. 125 crore by the promoters of the Group. The money trail of round tripping suggests use of suspect entities, which have served as a conduit to bring back Rs. 125 crore as unsecured loans in the hands of the promoter family and its close associates.
Clear evidences that establish a wilful attempt to mislead and defraud the financial institutions have also been unearthed in the search operation. Few instances of such subterfuge are as follows;
(a) A sale of a hotel land in Jammu & Kashmir to a family member of the main promoter, who is a man of no means for a paltry sum of Rs. 35 lakh. Subsequently, a lease rental of Rs. 1 lakh per month was debited in the books of account in favour of the dummy relative. Hot pursuit enquiries with the dummy relation have shown him to be unaware of any of these financial transactions. Also, the lease rental debited in the books of the Group has been layered and brought back in the books of account of the other Group entities.
(b) Similarly, to obtain a large tranche of loan from the J&K Bank, the searched Group falsely claimed that 60 rooms of hotel being constructed by the Group at Mumbai had become operational and cash flow was being generated from such operations. The search party found that the hotel building in Mumbai was yet under civil construction and was nowhere near completion or in a shape wherein 60 rooms could be made operational to generate any cash flow to repay the loan.
The search team also found evidences of dummy manpower expenses. A large number of cheques issued to fictitious persons, who were supposedly on the rolls of the Group for providing security to businesses and prominent individuals, were found with the main promoter. Prima facie, dummy persons have been shown as employees to inflate the expenses of the security business undertaken by the Group at various locations in the country.
The main promoter and his family were the managing and controlling trustees of an educational society that ran the now closed Medical College in Punjab. Three batches of students were admitted in the Medical College and fee, inclusive of capitation charges were paid by these students. However, no tax return was ever filed by the society and the evidence gathered in the search strongly suggests that the impugned educational society also violated other regulatory laws. It is clear that the money collected from students as well as bank loans that were supposedly utilized for building infrastructure of Medical College, which was actually never built or constructed has been siphoned off by the main promoter and his family for personal enrichment.
The search action has led to seizure of unaccounted jewellery and undisclosed cash of more than Rs. 1.28 crore from the promoter of the Group.
DSM/RM/HP
(Release ID: 1580004)
F. No. 225/157/2019/ITA.II
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
Dated:23.07.2019
Order under Section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961
The 'due-date' for filing income-tax returns for Assessment-Year 2019-20 is 31.07.2019 for certain categories of taxpayers. It has been reported that some of the taxpayers are facing difficulties in filing their income- tax returns due to various reasons including extension of due date for issue of Form 16 for the Assessment-Year 2019-20.
2. In this regard, the Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of its powers conferred under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('Act'), hereby extends the 'due-date', as prescribed under section 139(1) of the Act, for filing income-tax returns from 31st July, 2019 to 31st August, 2019 in cases of all taxpayers who are liable to file their income-tax returns by the said 'due-date'.
(Rajarajeswari R.)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
16 JUL 2019
Seeding of Bank Account and Linking with Aadhaar
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has apprised that “The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019” has been passed by the Parliament. The bill, inter-alia, has the provision for allowing the use of Aadhaar authentication on voluntary basis as acceptable Know Your Customer (KYC) document, by inserting Section 11A under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Further, as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) Master Direction on KYC dated 25.2.2016 (as amended in May 2019), banks are to obtain the Aadhaar number from an individual who is desirous of receiving any benefit or subsidy under any scheme notified under section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016).
As far as the requirement of Aadhaar number for receipt of certain subsidies, benefits and services etc. are concerned, Section 7 of The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016), inter-alia, provides that:
“The Central Government or, as the case may be, the State Government may, for the purpose of establishing identity of an individual as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from, or the receipt therefrom forms part of, the Consolidated Fund of India, require that such individual undergo authentication, or furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number or in the case of an individual to whom no Aadhaar number has been assigned, such individual makes an application for enrolment:
Provided that if an Aadhaar number is not assigned to an individual, the individual shall be offered alternate and viable means of identification for delivery of the subsidy, benefit or service.”
The linking of the bank accounts with Aadhaar for receiving subsidy/direct benefit transfers from the Government, including the State Governments is done as per the extant provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016).
This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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DSM/RM/PD
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
16-July-2019
CBDT issues clarification on incorrect reports in social media pertaining to difficulty in filing of Income Tax Returns
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has said today that no changes have been made in any of the Income-tax Return (ITR) forms including ITR-2 and ITR-3 since the notification made on 1st April 2019, i.e. on the 1st day of the Assessment Year 2019-20. There were reports in social media that the taxpayers were facing difficulties in filing return of income in ITR-2 & ITR-3 due to large scale changes in the ITR form on 11th July, 2019.
It is stated that the software utility for e-filing of all the ITR forms has been released long back. The utility for e-filing ITR-2 and ITR-3 was released on 2nd May and on 10th May 2019 respectively. However, the software utility update is a dynamic process and is continuously taken up as per the feedback received from the users/filers to ease their experience in electronic filing of returns.
It is further clarified that the updating of utility does not hamper filing of return as the taxpayers are allowed to file using the utility which is available at that point of time. For example, more than 85 lakh taxpayers have filed returns in ITR-1 till date by using the said utility, which has also undergone update later. Therefore, the impression that the taxpayers are not able to file return due to changes in ITR form is also not correct as more than 1.38 crore taxpayers have already filed their returns by using the utility released till date. Even though the utility is being updated regularly to provide ease to taxpayers, the returns filed by using the previous version of utility will continue to be valid.
It is pertinent to state that the updation in utility of ITR forms is based on feedback and mainly aimed at easing the compliance burden of the taxpayers by facilitating easier e-filing. For instance, this year, the facility of pre-filling of return forms has been provided based on the information furnished in the TDS statements. This facility has been updated in the utility subsequently. This would substantially reduce the efforts of taxpayers in filling of return forms.
It is reiterated that there are no changes in the notified ITR forms; only the utility has been updated to facilitate the taxpayers. Therefore, the assertion that numerous changes have been made in ITR-2 and ITR-3 on July 11, 2019, does not give a correct picture.
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DSM/RM/KMN
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Micro,Small & Medium Enterprises
11 JUL 2019
Startup India Programme for MSME Sector
Government has launched the Startup India Initiative with the objective of building strong eco-system for nurturing innovation and startups in the country. The incentives available to Startups under Startup India initiative are given below:
Government has notified Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) Order, 2012 under MSMED Act, 2006. The policy mandates 25% annual procurement from MSEs by Central Ministries / Departments / Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs). Out of 25% target of annual procurement from MSEs, 4% is earmarked for procurement from MSEs owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs and 3% from MSEs owned by Women Entrepreneurs. In order to monitor effective implementation of this Policy, Ministry of MSME has launched a Portal, namely, MSME “SAMBANDH”
This information was given by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
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NP/SKP/IA