Supreme Court stays Madras HC order on BCCI administrator
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stayed an interim order passed by the Madras High Court superceding the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and appointing a retired judge of the apex court, S. Mohan, as interim administrator to manage the Board's affairs.

The Madras High Court order had restrained the newly-elected BCCI office-bearers from discharging their functions.

Passing the orders on a special leave petition filed by the BCCI and the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA), a bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice S.B. Sinha, also stayed the election/appointment of Jagmohan Dalmiya as BCCI patron-in-chief until further orders.

Commenting on the arguments, presented by the counsels opposing the BCCI action in the conduct of the elections to its board, the Bench said that "the facts may be in your favour, but it also prima facie appears that the High Court could not have passed such an order on a review petition. Everything is not all right with the BCCI, but everything is not right with the High Court order also. If we are satisfied that there were irregularities in the BCCI elections, we may direct fresh elections for the Board".

The Bench asked all the parties to file their responses and directed the listing of the matter for final hearing on October 26.
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Metallic scrap import: Finance Ministry opposes change of policy
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has said that import of "uncompacted loose metallic scrap" should not be allowed through any major ports or inland container depots (ICDs) as it would not be possible for Customs officials to detect explosives in heavy consignments of metallic scrap.

The Ministry is of the view that only import of "compacted and shredded scrap" should be allowed. The Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had just last Saturday made alterations to its policy in this regard.

On October 9, the DGFT tightened the import policy for metallic waste and scrap as a fallout of the recent explosion at the Ghaziabad facility of Bhushan Steel. It altered the import policy to specify that import of metallic waste and scrap would be permitted only in "shredded and compacted" form. However, it also said that metallic waste and scrap in "unshredded and uncompacted form" could also be imported as long as the imports are routed through the "major ports" and ICD, Tughlaqabad.

A Finance Ministry release said that the assistance of forensic experts at major locations has been sought and that the Customs officials have neither the expertise nor proper equipment to handle explosives and radioactive materials.
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Assocham recommends plan for zero per cent CST
New Delhi: The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) has proposed a two-pronged strategy to the Government underlining the need to either reduce central sales tax (CST) to zero per cent or replace it by pre-paid VAT (PVAT) to facilitate introduction of VAT.

In a memorandum submitted to the Finance Ministry, the Assocham President, Mr Mahendra K. Sanghi, pointed out that under the existing constitutional arrangements, the problem of inter-State taxation can be resolved by putting in place zero rating of inter-State sales as also having a system of PVAT.

He said that the levy of CST on the basis of `origin' and the related procedures are the most important factors affecting a united Indian market. Therefore, the first option envisaged in the proposed strategy includes reduction of rate of tax under CST, initially to 2 per cent and subsequently to zero per cent. This will help the States to check the evasion of tax, which is caused due to low rate of tax under CST as compared to the rate under the state sales tax.

As regards to replacing CST by a pre-paid VAT, Mr Sanghi said that all the drawbacks of the CST will be removed when the existing CST is replaced by a system of prepaid VAT (PVAT). ``The proposed system of PVAT will not impose any additional burden on administrative machinery. Nor would dealers in exporting or importing States have to bear any additional cost of transaction. In addition, the system of PVAT will help in reducing the evasion of tax and reduce corruption in the tax administration, which is rampant in obtaining the C Form from the department,'' observed the Assocham chief.
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Disinvestment panel to be wound up
New Delhi: The Congress-led UPA Government has decided to wind-up the Disinvestment Commission. However, a body to advise the Government on disinvestment, among other things, would be re-invented through the formation of a Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE).

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, had told the conference of PSU chief executives held recently in Delhi that the Government would soon constitute the BRPSE, which would advise on restructuring of PSUs. The new board would suggest options including disinvestment, outright sale or closure. The Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, had announced the creation of BRPSE while presenting the Union Budget for 2004-05.

The UPA Government has now relegated the erstwhile Disinvestment Ministry into a department functioning under the Finance Ministry in line with the changed priority on disinvestment.
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