New Income Tax Return Form SARAL II for Assessment Year 2010-11

                  CBDT notifies New Income Tax Return Form SARAL II (ITR 1) for Assessment Year 2010-11 for Individuals having income from Salary/Pension/Income from One House Property (Excluding loss brought forward from previous years) / Income from Other Sources (Excluding winning from Lottery and Income from Race Horses). CBDT also notifies Income Tax Return Verification Form ITR-V for Assessment Year 2010-11 for SARAL II (ITR-1) ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-5, ITR-6 & ITR-8 transmitted electronically without digital signature.

                                                       NOTIFICATION

                                                MINISTRY OF FINANCE

                                                (Department of Revenue)

                                 (CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES)

                                        New Delhi, the 23rd April, 2010

                                                     INCOME-TAX

       S.O. 943 (E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by section 295 of the Income-tax Act,
1961 (43 of 1961), the Central Board of Direct Taxes hereby makes the following rules further to
amend the Income-tax Rules, 1962, namely:-

1.    (1) These rules may be called the Income-tax (Third Amendment) Rules, 2010.

       (2)They shall come into force on the 1st day of April, 2010.

2. In the Income-tax Rules, 1962,

(a) in rule 12, –

(i) in sub-rule (1), for the figures “2009”, the figures “2010” shall be substituted;

(ii) in sub-rule (5), for the figures “2008”, the figures “2009” shall be substituted;

(b) in Appendix-II, for Forms ITR-1 and ITR-V, the following forms shall be substituted,
 
DOWNLOAD THE NOTIFICATION


Instructions for filling out Income Tax Return FORM SARAL-II (ITR-1)

CLICK HERE TO DOWN LOAD THE ITR-I FORM AND INSTRUCTION

source: gservants

Read More

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan has restored its earlier quota policy

          To ensure smooth admission for children of central government employees, the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan has restored its earlier quota policy under which the class strength would not be affected while accommodating students in reserved category.


         As per the restored system, reservation will be given to students over and above the existing strength of a class in a central school.

        According to this system, each class will have 40 seats. But another five students can be given admission under reserved category. The students given admission under reserved category will be above the normal strength, the Board of Governors of KVS has decided.

       “The reserved students will not eat away the seats for general category students. The reservation will be above the existing class strength,” a ministry official said.

      The KVS was following this quota system previously.

   But it was amended few months back bringing the quota seats within the class strength.

Read More

National Council of JCM for Central Government Employees Met today

                National Council(JCM), the apex body of the Joint Consultative Machinery for the Central Government Employees, met under the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary Shri K.M. Chandrasekhar today. Senior Leaders of the Central Government Employees’ Unions/Federations and Secretaries of various Ministries/Departments actively participated in the deliberations.

           In his opening remarks, Cabinet Secretary referred to the discussions held during the meetings of the Standing Committee of the National Council and the meetings of the National Anomaly Committee and reiterated the endeavour of the Government to maintain a sustained level of contact with the staff side to take forward the process of consensus building. He also enumerated some important decisions, taken in the recent past to increase the welfare, morale and productivity of the employees.

           Cabinet Secretary also emphasized the need for the Staff Organizations to work in harmony with the official side to enhance productivity and efficiency.

         Various issues of importance to the Central Government Employees and their families were discussed with a view to find amicable solutions and to ensure a harmonious relationship.

source:gservants

Read More

Education loans set to become more attractive

           The Ministry is planning to subsidize the interest rates on educational loans and intends to bring in down to as low as 4%. For the same, the Ministry is working on a refinance scheme.


         This would involve, setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to refinance banks for giving educational loans at a rate of interest below the PLR. National Education Finance Corporate (NEFC) will have to be set up to refinance the banks.

        Impact: Banks have been witnessing defaults and non-payments on educational loans. This may change. Banks are set benefit on two counts- defaults should reduce because of low rate of interest charged to the borrower and even in case of defaults; banks will be able to cut their losses by virtue of subsidy provided by the government.

       It is intended that the rate of interest charged will be based on parent's income.

      *Parents with income less than Rs 4.5 lakhs p.a. will be charged 4%

      *Parents with income more than Rs 4.5 lakhs p.a. and requiring a loan of less than Rs 12 lakhs will get it at 7%
       *For loan amounts above Rs 12 lakhs, interest will be charged at 9%
          Impact: The highest rate of interest to be charged under the proposed structure i.e. 9% is lower than the lowest rate currently charged by banks, which is in the range of 10%-12% in most instances. This will certainly prove to be beneficial to students across the board.

       Repayment period: The ministry intends to increase the loan repayment period to 6-12 years from the current 5-7 years.

      Impact: This will reduce the pressure on the borrower by giving him/her greater amount of time for re-payment.

        The interest cost for the moratorium period will be paid by the government - So if the loan is for a period of 7 years, the interest for the first two years (study period) and one year moratorium (holiday period to find a job) will be paid by the government and for the balance 5 years, interest and principal will be paid by the borrower.

       Impact: Typically interest rate on the education loan starts accumulating as soon as the course is over. Since interest during the moratorium period will be paid by the government, EMI for the borrower is set to fall. This will reduce pressure on his/her cash flows.

         This is a proposal which has been submitted to the Planning Commission and has been discussed with them too.

        The Planning Commission is currently looking into the proposal of setting up a National Education Finance Corporation (NEFC) to refinance banks. Based on the feedback received, the ministry will prepare a formal note which will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval.

         If this proposal is approved by the Cabinet, educational loans will certainly be accessible to more number of students. 'Financial issues' will hopefully not deprive a student from pursuing higher education.
source:BankBazar.com&ET

Read More

Pension arrears for pre-2006 PBORs would soon be disbursed.

         The Defence Minister Shri AK Antony has called for early disbursal of revised pension and arrears to Ex-Servicemen. Inaugurating the Controllers’ Conference of the Defence Accounts Department here today, Shri Antony asked the Defence Finance officials to expedite and further streamline the pension system for the Armed Forces personnel.


       “Even now, I am getting a lot of complaints from people that they are not getting pensions… Considering the past, things have improved, but even then complaints are there still… So you must take all steps possible so that they get their dues at the earliest,” Shri Antony said.

       Commending the Defence Accounts Department for facilitating the procurement of weapons and systems, Shri Antony noted that the capital expenditure, utilised last year, has been an all-time record. He called for transparent, timely and judicious use of Defence Expenditure. He said that the Government has tried to infuse more transparency in the huge Defence outlay, which is over Rs. 1.52 lakh crores for the current financial year.

       “Defence expenditure and procurement issues are complex and time-consuming and have a direct bearing on our national security. We have tried to infuse more transparency and efficiency into our procedures and systems. It is my firm belief that expenditure of public money must have an appropriate system of checks and balances”, he said.

        In his address to the gathering, the Minister of State for Defence Dr. MM Pallam Raju said that the Defence Pension Adalats have become an effective mechanism for grievance redressal on the ground. He hoped that the pension arrears for pre-2006 PBORs would soon be disbursed. Dr. Pallam Raju said that the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) would soon roll out the e-ticketing system for air travel. The PCDA Rail Booking System for e-ticketing would be introduced in another 200 Armed Forces units by next month and all units would be covered by the yearend, added Smt Nita Kapoor, Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA). The Secretary Defence Finance, Smt Indu Liberhan stressed the need for continuing institutionalized interaction between the Defence Finance and the three Services. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India Shri Vinod Rai said that since Defence Finance relates to a sensitive national security concern, the keyword for its success is the outcome and not simple accounting.


         The Chief of the Army Staff General VK Singh and Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister Dr. VK Saraswat were among the dignitaries present at the inauguration of the three-day biennial conference.

source:pib

Read More

Selected candidate can enjoy quota benefit under UPSC rule: SC

            The Supreme Court has upheld the Constitutional validity of a UPSC rule allowing merit list candidates, belonging to reserved category, to avail the quota benefit while choosing posts.

            A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice K.G.Balakrishnan on Friday set aside the Madras High Court judgement which had declared the Union Public Service Commission rule as unconstitutional.

          “Such migrations (of reserved category candidates taking the benefit of reservation even after making into merit list) is not inconsistent with the provision of the Constitution….Appeals are allowed,” the bench said.

            The court passed the order on a special leave petition filed by the Centre challenging the Madras High Court verdict.

              The bench said the option to take benefit of the quota after migrating to the reserved category was validly allowed by the UPSC.

            Migration under Rule 16 (2) as amended in 2005 is not inconsistent with the Constitutional provisions under Article 14 and 16.

          “Under such facts and circumstances, the Madras High Court judgement is set aside and the Constitutional validity of Rule 16 (2) is upheld,” the bench, also comprising Justices S H Kapadia, R V Raveendran, B Sudershan Reddy and P Sathasivam said in an unanimous verdict.

         The judgement assumes significance as it would have a bearing on the procedure for allotment of posts adopted by UPSC as well as aggrieved candidates who had challenged it in the Central Administrative Tribunal after the civil services examination of 2005 and 2006-07.

       The apex court, on 27th August last year, had reserved its judgement after a marathon hearing involving the contentious issue which was referred to it by a smaller bench.

         Rule 16 (2) of the Civil Services Examination as amended in 2005 mandates that a reserved category candidate selected on merit as general category can be considered as reserved category for allocation of a post on preferential basis.

         However, this rule was held as unconstitutional by the Madras High Court, leading to filing of appeals against it by the Centre and aggrieved candidates. The aggrieved candidates come from both categories.

         The Centre had defended the Rule by contending that it has been enacted to further the cause of the deprived classes and is not violative of the Constitution.

             It had contended that the rule gives the candidates of deprived classes, selected in merit list without taking the benefit of reservation, an opportunity for appointment to a service of higher choice in order of their preference.

Read More

Minutes Of the Second Meeting Of the National Anomaly Committee

              The Second meeting of National Anomaly Committee was held on 27th March,2010 in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Secretary(Personnel).Eleven members from Staff side and sixteen from official side participated in the meeting. DOP&T issued a copy of the minutes of the Second Meeting of the National Anomaly Committee on 4th May,2010.


          At the outset, the Chairman welcomed the representatives of the Staff Side and Official Side. Referring to the interesting and fruitful discussions held during the first meeting of the NAC on 12th December 2009, the Chairman stated that some progress has been made and stated that action taken on the decisions taken in the first meeting shall be shared with the staff side.

          The Chairman then suggested that issues pertaining to pensions may be taken up first for discussions as the representatives of the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ welfare had to attend another meeting, although that meeting had been postponed. The Chairman also informed that the 46th Meeting of the National Council (JCM) has been scheduled to be held on 15th May 2010 under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary. The Chairman also reiterated the resolve of the Government to ensure early resolution of all the anomalies by holding meaningful discussions with the staff side.

 DOWN LOAD THE OFFICIAL COPY OF THE MINUTES OF SECOND MEETING OF NATIONAL ANOMALY COMMITTEE

source: gservants

Read More

Joint Committee to examine the Anomalies pertaining to the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme.

No.11/1/2010-JCA

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

North Block, New Delhi,

Dated the 3rd May 2010

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Constitution of a Joint Committee to examine the Anomalies pertaining to the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme.

                The undersigned is directed to refer the discussions during the second meeting of the National Anomaly Committee held on 27* March 2010 and to state that it has been decided to constitute a Joint Committee to examine the anomalies pertaining to the Modified Asswed Career Progression Scheme (MACPS). The Composition of the Joint Committee will be as under:

No	Official Side	Staff Side
1	Joint Secretary (Estt), DoP&T- Chairman.	Shri M. Raghvahiya
2	Joint Secretary (Pers), Deptt. Of Expenditure	Shri S.K. Vyas
3	Director (E-I), DoPT.	Shri C. Srikumar
4	Director1 DS(JCA), DoPT - Member Secy.	Shri Umraomal Purohit

2. The Joint Committee shall examine all the anomalies pertaining to MACPS
forwarded by the Secretary, Staff Side and submit its report to the Chairman of the National Anomaly Committee.

(DINESH KAPILA)

Deputy Secretary (JCA)

Read More