Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed a six-month foreign asset disclosure scheme for small taxpayers like students, tech professionals and relocated NRIs as she presented the Union Budget 2026-27.
The 2026-27 Budget, seeking to harmonise the government's imperative to grant certainty while ensuring a rational tax policy, had several notable announcements to usher in halcyon days, says Mukesh Butani.
'As a result of delays, the desired reliefs are not coming for taxpayers.'
The Delhi High Court has set aside a Central Information Commission (CIC) order that directed the disclosure of information related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bachelor's degree.
Sources in the Election Commission (EC) rejected claims on Saturday of rigging in last year's Maharashtra Assembly polls and said defaming the poll panel after receiving an unfavourable verdict from the voters is absolutely absurd.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of a "scam" after the poll panel admitted to the existence of duplicate voter ID numbers. The ECI has said it will address the issue in the next three months. TMC leader Saket Gokhale alleged that the ECI is trying to "protect" someone and demanded answers about the extent of the duplication and why it took 25 years to address the problem.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that using terms like "miyan-tiyan" and "Pakistani" does not constitute an offence of hurting religious sentiments, though the court acknowledged that such language is in "poor taste". The court discharged a man who had been accused of using these terms against an Urdu translator in Jharkhand.
The matter came up before Justice Subramonium Prasad who listed it for hearing on October 16.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal challenging a single judge's order quashing a plea seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium's meeting on December 12, 2018, when certain decisions were purportedly taken on the elevation of judges to the apex court.
Justice Yashwant Varma issued notice on the challenge to the CIC order by the Income Tax Authority and sought the stand of the RTI applicant Girish Mittal, saying that "the matter requires consideration."
'As CIC, you have the power to comment on policy matters. 'If you have very strong beliefs and you know your rulings will be reported, you will express your beliefs.'
Justice Yashwant Varma took on record and accepted the statement made by CIC counsel that all endeavour shall be made to decide the appeal expeditiously and in any case within 8 weeks.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday dismissed a challenge to the Central Information Commission's order dismissing an RTI appeal seeking the agenda of the Supreme Court collegium's meeting on December 12, 2018, when certain decisions were purportedly taken on elevation of judges to the apex court.
In an apparent violation of the Right to Information Act, the Public Information Officer at the Prime Minister's Office has refused to provide information to an applicant, saying he failed to show how it was "useful" to him "either personally, socially or nationally".
The Union Health Ministry has said in response to a Right to Information application that it does not know where records related to agenda circulated in meetings of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 are held.
The CIC's directive came while deciding on a plea by Lucknow-based activist Nutan Thakur, who had based her RTI application on some media reports that RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya in a lecture in 2017 had said accounts of some loan defaulters have been sent to banks for resolution.
Kailash Avhad told Rediff.com that when he appeared before DCP Sandeep Palve, the police officer expressed anger at his RTI applications, caught him by the collar, banged his head against the wall and rained blows behind his ear. He then forced Avhad to touch his feet in apology.
With the Supreme Court declining to intervene in the tax demand case against it Friday, mobile service company Vodafone faces a potential tax demand of up to $2 billion (Rs 9,800 crore) from the tax authorities.
A robust dispute settlement system would help the government unlock tax revenues, and also aid ease of doing business.
The proposed rules, aimed at replacing RTI rules of 2012, have been placed by the department of personnel and training on its website for comments from public.
The order is is contrary to the Central Information Commission's directive bringing six national parties under the transparency law.
The CIC, the top appellate body in RTI matters, went through the law, orders of the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India report, submissions of the Central Public Information Officer in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to conclude that the status, nature and functional characteristics of the BCCI fulfil required conditions of Section 2(h) of the RTI Act.
If a couple is registered as joint owners of a property, the tax authorities expect both of them to show their income or capital gains from the house in their tax returns, says Arvind Rao, a chartered account and certified financial planner
The Budget has unveiled measures that should now pave the way for India to progress from Make in India to 'Innovate in India'.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley takes a protectionist stance in favour of domestic companies, increases customs duty on certain products.
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