Amended Money Laundering Bill approved by Parliament
New Delhi: An amended Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, which removed certain lacunae that came in the way of its notification, has been approved by the Parliament.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, 2005, cleared by Lok Sabha last week, was passed by the Rajya Sabha after Finance Minister P Chidambaram assured the House that his ministry would get the notification of the Act done as early as possible with the removal of certain shortcomings in the earlier Act.

"If all goes well, the Act could come into being by June 1," he said winding up discussions on the bill. He said there were certain provisions in the original Prevention of Money Laundering Bill, which were in conflict with each other.
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SC allows Mumbai mills to go ahead with land development
New Delhi: Providing a major relief to the textile mills in Mumbai, the Supreme Court has said that those closed textile mills in Mumbai that were granted commencement certificates for development of land in possession of private owners, could go ahead with the construction after getting requisite sanction from the authorities.

A Bench comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice S.B. Sinha passed the orders on a batch of appeals against the Bombay High Court order, staying further development plans of the mills.
It also allowed the National Textile Corporation to complete the transactions relating to development of land in its sick textile mills in Mumbai as per the plan approved by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction.

However, the Bench made it clear that construction of buildings for residential purposes as well as creation of third-party interest in the land would be at the risk of the owners and would be subject to the result of the writ petition pending in the High Court. On a petition from the Bombay Environment Action Group, the High Court, by an interim order on April 1, had restrained Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation from granting approval to the development plan till details about ownership and schemes were laid before the court for scrutiny and evolved an integrated plan of development.

With over Rs10,000 crore at stake in these development works, the Bench allowed those mills that have got permission for construction to resume the work. The Bench said, "Any further construction and/or creation of third-party rights by the mill owners will be at their own risk and would be subject to final orders of the High Court."

Regarding those mills whose layout plan for development of the mill land had not been sanctioned, the judges said that they could still apply to the authorities for approval of schemes but on the basis of such approvals could not start construction.

The PIL in the High Court had challenged a 2001 modification to Rule 58 of the Development Control Regulations that permitted mill owners to retain most of their land. The total land area of the defunct mills is around 600 acres, located mostly in Central Mumbai and carries a very high price tag.

The Maharashtra Government, Bombay Dyeing, National Textile Mills, Ruby Mills, Hindoostan Mills and Morarjee Mills, Mafatlal Industries and Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh filed the appeals against the High Court order.

The Bench has asked the High Court to dispose of the writ petition by
July 31.
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Cabinet clears amendment of labour laws
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has given its nod for introduction of a Bill in Parliament for simplifying the forms of returns and registers prescribed under certain labour laws.

The Bill would amend the Labour laws (exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining of registers by certain establishments) Act, 1988 for this purpose.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Jaipal Reddy, told reporters here that the simplified forms to be introduced by this amendment bill would give much needed relief to employers of several establishments in maintaining registers and submitting returns under the various labour laws.

After the passage of the proposed amendments, the employers will send one annual return in form I instead of numerous reports. Similarly, in place of numerous registers, the employers would maintain two registers in Form II and Form III at workplace.
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