Whispers Forum

While it is now being claimed by the Government that the income tax provisions are being simplified with a view to ease compliance for the taxpayers, what has been happening is exactly the opposite. Whereas the party now in power accused the previous government of practising "tax terrorism" and came to power promising tax payer-friendly reforms, it has been honing tax terrorism to perfection into "tax extremism."
Just to give one example, the ITR 2 return form used by most assessees without any business income, which used to have only 6 pages has now been inflated to 47 pages! The department is making even the ordinary assesses to have to engage chartered accountants at heavy fees even for the routine task of preparing and filing the annual return. What is the use of the government exhorting honest tax payers to come forward and pay their tax, while complicating even the filling and filing of the annual return. It is the CAs who are happy and laughing all the way to their banks!
Prema
Post a technocrat as ONGC Chief
Hope a technocrat gets the top post of ONGC. I am a technocrat and I know what will be morale if I am denied the post which I deserve because of my merit.
K Srinivasa Rao
Why did senior IA&AS officer proceed on leave !
The 10th August edition of 'Whispers" carried the above item about Deputy CAG, VR Ravindran, IA&AS (1983 batch) proceeding on leave possibly on appointment of Murmu, IAS (!985 batch), 2 years his junior, as CAG. Whatever be the reasons for Ravindran proceeding on leave, the fact remains that he is an outstanding officer with an impeccable record. One hopes that Government will find suitable avenues to appropriately utilise his services elsewhere, thereby also lifting the morale in the CAG's organisation as a whole.
Surinder Pal

The Appellant sought information about rotational Transfer of Assistant Engineers (QA) of Ammunition Discipline in the year 2017 and 2018 and correspondence made. The PIO referred to Section 8(2) of RTI Act to deny the information quoting the Official Secrets Act. The CIC held that the PIO has erred in interpreting Section 8(2) of RTI Act and directed the PIO to ensure that he acquaints himself well with the provisions of RTI Act.
Comments
According to Section 8 (2) of the RTI Act, notwithstanding anything in the Official Secrets Act, 1923 nor any of the exemptions permissible in accordance with section 8(1), a public authority may allow access to information, if public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm to the protected interests. Thus, section 8(2) is a non-obstante clause which seeks to override the inconsistent provisions contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923, which is further evinced from Section 22 of RTI Act. Section 22 says that the provisions of RTI Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in the Official Secrets Act, 1923, and any other law for the time being in force.
Citation: Pradeep Gajanan Errum v. Ministry of Defence (DGQA) in File No: CIC/DGOQA/A/2018/634294, Date of Decision: 23/07/2020
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

This refers to the views expressed by one Prasad “ Narcissist rule under Modi” in WIC Forum dated August 10.The post merely reveals half-truths.
After taking over the governance by Modi-led NDA in 2014, the Modi sarkar raised public expectations of economic revival, creating millions of jobs. First two years were action-packed with announcement of schemes, programmes, plans.
Demonetisation topped the list of mis-adventures for sheer lack of success and the havoc that it inflicted on the economy. Ignoring the advice of two successive RBI governors: Raghuram Rajan and Urjit Patel, Modi sarkar sucked out 86% of the currency in circulation by value in Indian economy. currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were withdrawn in the hope that that the move would eliminate all black money from the system along with fake currencies. And, we all know the history thereafter.
Modi Sarkar claimed that 99.7% of the currency came from the system into banking stream. But, there was no black money dividend to the tune of Rs 25 lakh crores, as expected. But, there were huge losses of jobs due to partial closure of lakhs of SMEs, slumps in construction and farming sectors. Massive hardships to lower and middle classes. Long queues of accounts holders for withdrawing their own money. The sarkar failed on its stated objectives of combating terror funding, counterfeit notes and black money besides wiping out joblessness. Having said that, Atmanirbharta is the only lollypop for the public.
Consider specifics.
Fraudsters including Vijay Mallya and two Modis businessmen stealthily left the country. Vijay Mallya fled through diplomatic channel at Delhi airport, carrying some 300 bags (as per Enforcement Directorate). Mallya, by his own admission, had met the late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the corridors of Parliament before fleeing. Rest is known to everyone.
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi fled without repaying the loans taken from PSU banks, running into lakhs of crores of rupees. NPA rising exponentially. No accountability, no penalty for bankers for dereliction of duties. PM Modi’s friend Gautam Adani won the contract for building and operating six airports. Criteria for winning contracts to run the airports were changed.
We know PM loves to advertise his achievements to earn political brownie points, so much so, that a parliamentary question revealed that the government spent about Rs 5000 crores of tax payer money out of publicity budget for advertising government's ‘achievements’. History is repeating itself as no lessons were learnt from UPA-1 and 2’s multiple scams.
Freedom of Speech is fair enough. But, unbridled publicity by TV channels owned by business tycoons ,is questionable. Nothing is pro bono in the world. I refrain from expressing further due to current security scenario facing the country.
Misuse of discretionary powers is rampant in appointment matters including those to Constitutional positions. Cases of appointment of pliable, favourite bureaucrats by a caucus, is open secret. Grace marks for regional considerations. Is PM Modi oblivious of the goings-on.
Under UPA-I &II, there was free flow of money by touts to extra-constitutional persons in fixing appointments.
No longer under existing NDA dispensation.
PM Modi is unquestionably honest and incorruptible.
But, he is a politician ,too. His advisors within and outside including extra-constitutional bodies, are not worth trusting .
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

There was nothing wrong in the demonetization, GST and lockdown exercise. There were meant for the majority of citizens of the country and not for people who indulge in corrupt practices and had stock of black money. As regards atmanirbhar bharat, Modi is not to be blamed. The people to be blamed are the Malays & Nirav Modi's who have ditched the business atmosphere of the country
Anurag Srivastava
Confusion on disclosure of information be removed
There is so much confusion regarding disclosure of information related to the vigilance matters. Different public information officers in different organisations are taking different stands. Event the different benches of the information commission have taken divergent stand which adds to the confusion. A clear and categorical stand by the authorities would help in removing doubt. The DoPT should issue clear directions in the matter to avoid litigation.
Padma Tiwari

Let us analyse India’s present relatioships with its immediate neighbours .They have been specifically identified in view of China’s dubious role in the sub-continent. China’s informal and infamous doctrine of String of Pearls. Let us have a look at ground realities.
(a) Pakistan : Its latest cartographic aggression by “ annexing ” Union territories of Jammu &Kashmir and Ladhak along with Junagarh, a district of Gujarat in their new official maps, released a day before Ayodhya Puja on 5th August .It is also taking the illegality to the UNO. This has attracted a muted diplomatic response from India’s MEA. Fair enough. India as a mature democracy remains unruffled;
(b) Nepal : A similar misadventure was executed by Nepal by “ annexing ” Indian territories , claimed Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh of Uttarakhand as part of its sovereign territory ;
(c) Bangladesh : No wonder, Bangladesh could be the third country to re-open border management issues and water sharing problems with India. These cannot and should not be taken casually by India as pin-pricks,petty matters ;
(d ) Bhutan : India has un-demarcated border with Bhutan, multiple irregularities;
(e ) China’s “ salami slicing tactics” followed in south-china sea region, Galwan valley, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh , Sikkim, have been bad victims. China is refusing to retreat to pre-April 2020 position. A part of POK, Tibet, Aksai chin are still under its illegal occupation. After making noise, India falls into silence, hoping against hopes to evict China from illegal positions relying on core commander level talks.
Against this background , the Nation wants to know :
( i) What are the uses of India acquiring latest weapons ?
(ii) Are these for deterrence alone?
(iii) Why can’t these be used against our hostile neighbours instead of suffering global embarrassment ?
(iv) The common belief is that the central government takes decisions after seeing position of stars-Vedic astrology. No argument on matter of faith. The fault, PM Modi, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)
I think Arun Jaitley's nominees is Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Former Chief Economic Adviser, GoI.
Aniket

Long ago Sylvia Browne wrote “ln around 2020 a severe pneumonia like illness will spread throughout the globe attacking the lungs and the bronchial tubes and resisting all known treatments - it will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived”.
No one knows where this mutated virus was developing. Some ascribe it to Wuhan in China. The vaccine Is still to come.
Covid has led to stress and depression. The Lockdown and un lockdown are continuing. Schools and colleges are closed. The online classes are not the same. When teaching is irregular and not monitored. Life is different. The stress factor affects young and old alike. People sound irritable and troubled. Domestic help arrives sparingly.
The best solution could be picking a hobby gardening, Healthy gup shup. Indoor
Games, Bridge cards etc. and the like.
Dr. Rekha Bhargava.
CGHS needs improvement
CGHS beneficiaries are facing problems during this Covid-19 crisis. Pensioners are still stuck in remote places due to non-availability of proper public transport, inter-state travel problems, containment zones in Delhi etc and CGHS facilities are not available in such areas. OPD medicines prescribed by specialist are being purchased without knowing the reimbursement status as no orders are available after July 31, 2020 for reimbursement of OPD medicines. Many medical specialists visiting different CGHS wellness centres in Delhi are not visiting the dispensaries since March, 2020 due to Covid-19 problems. Medical Specialists are visiting dispensaries on weekly basis to take care of chronic problems after medical officer incharge. Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart problems, hyper tension etc. are being ignored and not being given equal importance. Apart from this even tele-consultations are not being implemented which could easily be done during Covid-19 crisis to maintain safe distance and avoid travel by senior citizens who are more prone to the problems. Beneficiaries are afraid of going RML, Safdarjung hospitals as these hospitals are designated as Covid-19 hospitals also. At least tele-consultations could be implemented on trial basis in Delhi region. Such programme generally gets stuck in a bureaucratic way of working. It should be implemented professionally. CGHS beneficiaries are expecting good way of working under Minister of H&FW who is a renowned doctor. OPD medicines reimbursement should be allowed till the time situation becomes normal.
Naveen

I am a nationalist who never voted for Congress. When Modi took over in 2014, I hoped the country will see a great era. But what we got is a narcissist rule without any regard for democratic values. He is taking India back to socialism in the name of Atmanirbhar. He gave triple shocks to India in the form of demonetisation, GST, Lockdown. This government is run by PMO mafia and ministers are mere rubber stamps. Now he is hogging credit for Ram Mandir sidelining the veterans like Advani. But all Indians know that the credit for Ram Mandir goes to countless VHP/RSS workers. Thankfully, no tyrant can survive for long as seen from the history. People are waiting for achche din post this tyranny. Wait for 2024 should not be long. If Congress comes of out of dynastic chains, I consider voting for New Congress. Otherwise my vote will be for another Dewagowada, who reduced tax rates in 1997.
Prasad
CBDT- Good work
CBDT has taken series of good measures to overcome trust deficit between tax payers and tax administration. Vivad se Vishwas Scheme is being implemented to resolve the cases involved in disputes. Considering the success rate of such recoveries as 35%-40%, the scheme may yield better results. Approximately 7.8 lakh crore revenue is stuck in Vivad. But CBDT has to do lot of leg work which requires man power and time to achieve the objective. In the best interest of the department CBDT has to reduce their workload of trifle cases where no tax liability has been fixed/assessed. The work arrears to be reduced. CBDT has already taken good measures to resolve the cases from AY 2015-16 onwards.It means all the cases before AY 2015-16 which are not involved in appeal, scrutiny (judicial/assessment), tribunals, courts, legal cases, disputes etc should be closed taking into other considerations. CBDT has to learn lesson from Banks. In case banks are not able to recover the loan or interest for three years, they start the process of NPA and start writing off the loan from fifth year or so. Similarly CBDT to take decision to close all the cases before AY 2015-16 if they are not involved in any litigation or scrutiny or disputes as stated above. This will clear some unnecessary cases which are occupying the man power or computer or work table space without any substantial gain. Building a trust or confidence is long drawn process and needs time and manpower. A single officer may contribute in overcoming the trust deficit. It is collective efforts. See NIKE and ADIDAS Brand is not created in a day or in a year. It has taken several years to build the TRUST. Rome was not built in a day.To overcome trust deficit some work arrears have to be reduced and create a VISHWAS first in the mind of tax payers that the department is working to help the tax payers in such cases. Work should be visible to tax payers and have a Vishwas on tax payers.
Naveen

The Appellant sought information regarding a recruitment rally conducted by the Punjab Regimental Centre, Ramgarh Cantt. Jharkhand from the Cantonment Board, Ramgarh. The Appellant was aggrieved with the fact that the Respondent office did not transfer the RTI Application to the concerned public authority and that CPIO replied on the RTI Application only after expiry of the 30 day time period and two days after First Appeal was filed, and that too for returning the RTI Application. The CIC observed that by his own admission, the Appellant was aware that the information sought pertained to Punjab Regimental Centre, yet he filed the RTI Application with a completely unrelated public authority i.e the Respondent office, Cantonment Board, Ramgarh. The CIC did not find any scope for intervention in the reply of the PIO reply and condoned the delay in replying on the RTI Application while disposing the appeal.
Comments
Section 6(1)(a) of RTI Act provides that the RTI Application should be filed to the concerned public authority. The act put an onus on the applicant to file the application to the concerned authority if he knows who is holding the information. An applicant should not file an application to anyone expecting that he would find the right public authority and would transfer the RTI Application to the relevant public authority under section 6(3).
Citation: Rahul Kumar v. Cantonment Board in File No: CIC/IARMY/A/2018/163631, Date of Decision: 22/07/2020
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

There was a time when Bishan Singh Bedi and Madan Lal played cricket for Hindu college and Mohinder Amarnath and Surinder Amarnath played for DAV college Amritsar, at Gandhi ground. However some other cricketers like Aijaz Khan and Suresh Deecee, were equally popular. Whosoever has seen Aijaz khan playing would vouchsafe that had he got chance to play for India, he would have proved the best all-rounder. He could play volleyball and Basketball even better and for six long years he remained best athlete of DAV college and it was heard later on that after doing MA English, he went back to Palampur. Madan Lal also remained Best athlete of Hindu college.
Those were the days, when in early 1960s, emerged a legendary athlete Gurbachan singh Randhawa. He won gold medal in Decathlon in 1962 Asiad and was declared the best athlete of Asia. He was the first to get Arjuna Award in 1961.He was national record holder in High jump, Javelin throw,110 metres hurdles and Decathlon. He got fifth position in 110 metres hurdles in 1964 Tokyo Olympics. India is yet to produce an athlete like him. He played in the vast grounds of Khalsa college, Amritsar, which has produced Gold Medalists in various Asian games like Jugraj Singh ,Bahadur Singh,Raghbir Singh Bal , Parveen Kumar,And Kartar Singh. In the last Asiad, Arpinder Singh has won Gold medal in triple jump. It is significant that Amritsar had big open grounds and parks, for the natural sportsmen to nurture their talents. It had Mall Mandi, Phula Singh Burj and pathi grounds. Harbhinder Singh, one of the best centre forwards of the world hockey, used to be the best athlete at Akali Phula Singh ground sports held annually. Besides being Centre forward of Indian hockey and winning golds in Olympics and Asian games, he was member of the national 4x100 metres relay race.
There were many akharhas in Amritsar. Dara Singh practiced at Akharha located in a public park opposite PBN school near Hall gate. There is a kallu da akharha, there was one in Gheesi Bagh, which was shifted to Pathi ground. In 1971,Vijay kumar Billa from Khalsa college Amritsar created history by winning Bharat Kesari and Bharat Kumar titles in the national championship ,on the same day. I have seen him participating in Khalsa College Athletics meet also, where he jumped over 6 feet bar in High Jump event. Daljinder Singh, who reigned inter-varsity and Amritsar athletics for many years, was first in High jump, and wrestler Vijay Kumar Billa was second.
In Company Bagh, there used to be Gymnastics ground, Volleyball ground and Lawn tennis ground and these produced many national players. I remember in 1950s, there was a boy of about 14 called Bhai Bhutni, who could dive over a bar of more than 5 feet six inches height and his long jump was more than 20 feet. He could take away the shoes placed on a wall at the height of more than 16 feet and on a Persian wheel, he could remain intact at the buckets, even if the ox ran it at the full speed. Sports, thus came naturally to the Punjabi youth. Govt has been formulating various schemes like Khelo Punjab etc. but the fertility of play grounds and parks has waned over the period. This aspect has to be seriously cared for.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

Success Story of Reliance Industries, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a net worth of $ 72.4 billion, Mukesh Ambani has emerged as the world’s sixth (now fifth) richest person surpassing Elon Musk of Silicon Valley as well as Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Co Founders of Alphabet. His father and Founder of Reliance Industries, the late Dhirubhai Ambani, did not hail from a family of any industrial houses. Son of a village school teacher in Chorwad, Junagadh district, Dhirubhai and his brother Ramnibhai left for the Port of Aden in 1948 where Dhirubhai is reported to have made a substantial amount of money by melting silver bullion and selling it as pure silver since he knew the value of pure silver was much higher than bullion.
Once Dhirubhai dropped by at Gurjari (name of Gujarat village industries unit) in Ahmedabad when he looked at things in the shop which had been languishing for the past several years with no takers. He asked the Manager of the store to tell him the total value of the goods lying unsold. The Manager paused for a while and said “One crore rupees.”
Dhirubhai wrote a cheque for Rs 1 crore and within a month he was able to sell the entire stuff for more than INR 10 crores in the overseas markets advertising how these items were the handiwork of poor artisans living in rural areas in India which was factually correct. This bears eloquent testimony to the business acumen of Dhirubhai. He returned to India from Aden in 1958 to start his own business in textiles. The first office of the Reliance Corporation was a 350 square feet room at Narsinatha Street, Masjid Bunder, in Mumbai with one table, three chairs and a telephone. He established the Reliance Commercial Corporation in 1966 which later became Reliance Industries on May 8 1973.
In the early 1980s, when Mukesh Ambani was at Stanford Business School, Dhirubhai called him back to India to supervise construction of a polyester mill. Dhirubhai was actively engaged in purchasing suppliers as well as petrochemical plants and oil refineries culminating in the establishment of fabrics, textiles and energy empire under the Reliance flagship. The rest is history.
Dr Sitharam Gurumurthi, IAS (Retired),

An Honest officer transferred who made the first GST arrest in her zone and collected evaded revenues for central govt. Everyone knew she was an epitome of honesty hence must have been sour tooth for many in department and evasion circle. Her transfer comes as a surprise as she was investigating few big files where many corrupt influential people were involved. Raises eyebrows if it was just a routine transfer or a conspiracy to remove her from the post so that the looted booty can be shared. Hope CBIC members team read this and transfer people only after thorough verification of IRS officers and their contribution to the job they are entitled. Wishing her good luck in future. Corruption seeds is what we sow and in the end corruption is what we reap.
A Visitor
Large number of promotion files pending with EO/ACC
A large number of promotion files of various departments are pending with EO/ACC since February. Why no one bothers to clear those pending files in chronological order whereas the files of influential officers travel at speed of light and get ACC clearance in a few seconds? Is this still a suit boot sarkar?
Amit