Farmula One: SC notice to UP Govt, Jaypee Group on tax exemption

India's Formula One ambition has hit its first hurdle just two weeks ahead of the first Indian Grand Prix. The Supreme Court sought explanation from the Uttar Pradesh government for granting tax exemption to Jaypee group, the company organising Formula 1 event in Greater Noida.

A bench headed by Justice D K Jain also issued notice to Jaypee Group, organiser of the sporting event, and asked them to file their response by Friday on why the event was given exemption from entertainment tax.

The notices were issued by the apex court on the basis of a public interest litigation (PIL) which challenged the exemption of entertainment and luxury tax for organising the F1 event.

The court passed the order on a PIL challenging the state government decision to grant tax exemption to the event.

India's first Formula 1 event is scheduled to be held in Greater Noida, adjacent to the national capital, on October 30.

The Uttar Pradesh government and the Jaypee group have been asked to file their replies by Friday.

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I Didn’t violate any service rule: Kejriwal

Anna Hazare’s key aide Arvind Kejriwal yesterday questioned the income tax notice served on him for payment of Rs 9 lakh as outstanding dues pertaining to the period while he was in government service, terming it a clear case of political vendetta against those involved in the Jan Lokpal campaign.

“In my opinion, there is no role of the Income Tax Department…they are doing it under political pressure,” he said, responding to the August 5 IT notice served on him.

Government sources, however, maintained that the notice had been served long back and the Anna group was only raking it up now to gain public sympathy and score brownie points.

Kejriwal said he remained in the government service from 1995 to 2006 and took study leave between November 2000 and October 2002. He said he rejoined and took a leave without pay from 2004 before resigning in February 2006 to devote full time to his NGO Parivartan.

The activist rejected the view that he had violated government service and bond rules or that he owed money to the government. He said if at all he owed money, the government could take it from his outstanding General Provident Fund dues. “I have been repeatedly writing to them to adjust it against my GPF amount, which is believed to be a few lakhs. However, this has not been done so far,” he said.

He said the government was interpreting the bond in a wrong way to suit itself. “No employee can work without taking a single break. I have not violated the bond condition. The government should return the GPF amount. I would donate the entire amount for the movement against corruption,” he added.

Supporting Kejriwal, Prashant Bhushan said the notice showed “the government has not yet taken any lesson. It is still using its dirty tricks department to target the group”.

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HC sends notices to IIT’s against its selection process

The Delhi High Court sent notices to 15 IITs across the country and to the HRD Ministry to clarify their selection process which is through the annual Joint Entrance Examination (JEE).

Aggrieved by the selection process, one Rajeev Kumar, who is a professor at IIT-Kharagpur, filed a Public Interest Litigation in the court stating that ‘the entire IIT-JEE selection process is an eye wash. The system is neither transparent nor has any set norms. No one knows what is the criteria for selection,’ the petitioner alleged.

The petitioner claimed that he has been fighting against the system for the last four years, finally the Delhi High Court has agreed to issue notices to the respondents, he said.

The Court has issued notices to the Ministry, the IIT council and the Joint Admission Board that conducts the entrance exams, the petitioner said.

‘The entrance in its current format is not transparent. No one knows how they select the candidates,’ he said.

India is known for the brilliant students 15 IITs across the country produce but many eligible’s are still left out for reasons not known to them, the petitioner alleged.

Eight new IITs have started operation in the last two years, the petitioner stated.

Since this year over 400,000 students will appear in the IIT-JEE, scheduled for April 11, they should have a right to have a transparent system, the petitioner added.

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