by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz, Corporate finance, News
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai : In an apparent volte-face, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has said that figures of ‘write-offs’ of Income Tax arrears furnished under right to information action were sent out in error.
Responding to an IANS report “Income Tax Department writes off huge arrears, show RTI replies” on May 28, 2018, the CBDT’s official spokesperson said that the the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Pr-CCIT) Hyderabad had provided erroneous figures of ‘write-offs’ under an RTI application filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, a Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) activist.
According to the RTI replies, the Pr-CCIT, Hyderabad had stated that it had written off a total of Rs 3002.20 crores in two financial years, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.
The CBDT spokesperson, Saurabh Ahluwali, Commissioner of Income Tax (Media & Technical Policy) now says that the information provided was “due to an inadvertent error made by the CPIO who reported the figures of ‘Cash Collection’ or recoveries made from arrears in these years as the figures of arrears written off.”
The correct amount of arrears written off in those two years for the Andhra Pradesh & Telangana by the Pr-CCIT Hyderabad, was actually zero (Nil), as no write-off orders were passed in these (two) years, he said, adding that the RTI applicant Gaur has been informed of the mistake.
Interestingly, the IANS had sent an email to the CBDT on May 16, with specific queries on the figures and the authorisation levels for the ‘write-offs’, which was ignored for nearly 13 days.
After the IANS story was published on May 28, the CBDT swung into action with a reply.
On the figures of tax arrears, totaling to over Rs 50,000 crore, including over Rs 33,157.97 crore from Pune alone, provided under RTI by various IT offices across India, the CBDT spokesperson said it had already collected Rs 44,633 crore during 2017-2018, which was 14.6 percent higher than Rs 38,944 crore collected in the previous fiscal.
Besides, the CBDT said of the current demands, Rs 52,537 crores was recovered by the ITD in 2017-2018.
The CBDT reiterated that ‘write-off’ of arrears was a detailed and long-drawn process and only initiated for arrears which become irrecoverable “after all avenues for recovery are exhausted.”
Besides, all proposals of ‘write-off’ of arrears above Rs 5,000 are examined by a committee at Zonal, Regional and Local levels, while any proposals for ‘write-off’ above Rs 25 lakh must “be approved by CBDT” and any such amount above Rs 50 lakh need approval “by the Finance Minister.”
For small value arrears upto Rs 10,000, there are relaxations in guidelines under a fast-track process, but the rigorous process remains in place and during 2017-2018 (upto December 31, 2017), a meager amount “of Rs 5.6 crore was written off in the entire country, the spokesperson said said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Finance, News, Politics
Mumbai : The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has so far splurged a whopping Rs 4,343.26 crore only for advertisements and publicity through different media, it has been revealed under RTI, an activist said here on Monday.
Mumbai-based RTI activist Anil Galgali had sought details from the centre’s Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC) on all spend on advertisement and publicity in all media since the present government assumed office.
The replies provided by Financial Advisor, BOC, Tapan Sutradhar on the expenses incurred since June 2014, were a revelation on the massive spends, but owing to all-round criticism of the government, there was a small reduction — almost Rs 308 crore — in 2017, said Galgali.
As per the replies, from June 2014 to March 2015, the government spent Rs 424.85 crore in print publicity, Rs 448.97 crore on electronic media and Rs 79.72 crore on outdoor publicity, totalling to Rs 953.54 crore.
In the next fiscal 2015-16, the spending increased substantially for all media. These included, Rs 510.69 crore on print media, Rs 541.99 crore on electronic media and Rs 118.43 crore on outdoor publicity, or a total of Rs 1,171.11 crore.
In 2016-17, the expenditure incurred on print medium dropped (yet higher than the first year June 2014-March 2015), to Rs 463.38 crore, but for the electronic medium it increased over the previous year to Rs 613.78 crore, and catapulted to Rs 185.99 crore on outdoor publicity, totalling to Rs 1,263.15 crore.
The next year, April 2017-March 2018, there was a sharp drop in spending on electronic media over the previous year to Rs 475.13 crore and a significant drop in outdoor publicity expenses to Rs 147.10 crore.
The RTI replies also said that between April-December 2017 (nine-month period), the government spent Rs 333.23 crore on the print medium alone, with the total figure of last fiscal (April 2017-March 2018) coming to Rs 955.46 crore.
“A detailed analysis proves that after stringent criticism it attracted, especially from the opposition and on social media, over squandering of scarce public resources, the government finally cut down on its publicity expenditure this year by Rs 307.69 crore,” Galgali told IANS.
However, he pointed out that the total spending of last financial year is still significantly higher than the present government’s first year in office when it spent Rs 953.54 crore in just nine months in office.
He added that although it is okay for the government to spend on publicity wherever genuinely required, in case of excess expenses, reins must be tightened and the authorities must publicise all such expenditure on its websites.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
By Nikhil M. Babu,
New Delhi : Ninety-two per cent of the total number of RTI requests filed with different departments of the Delhi government were filed online after the system was introduced 10 months ago, according to government data.
Of the total 20,276 Right to Information (RTI) requests received by different departments since the launch of the online option, 18,582 were filed online while only 1,688 were filed by post and other means, according to the data accessed by IANS.
The data is from July 10, 2017, the day when the system was launched by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to May 4, 2018.
Under the online system, an RTI can be filed with around 190 departments and autonomous bodies under the Delhi government, by paying a fee of Rs 10 and it can be done round the clock, making the process simpler.
The government received Rs 118,520 as RTI fee in the same period, according to the data.
One of the officials responsible for the implementation of the online RTI system said the government had saved money on postal charges as most RTI replies were now sent online.
“We are working on an option for users to create accounts like in central government RTI system and are also planning to put up online questions asked under RTI,” the officer said.
Mohit Goel, an RTI activist for the past 12 years, said after the introduction of the online system, the entire process had become convenient and faster.
“Earlier, we used to send the RTI request by post and it took four-five days to reach the office. And many times, the RTI was transferred to another department and it also took time. But now everything has become online,” Goel said.
A senior government officer said the monitoring and management of RTI requests had become easier online.
“We did not have a centralized figure of the pendency of RTIs. But now we know the total number of pending RTIs and also the first and second appeals,” he said.
The officer said earlier the RTI fee paid went to different departments. But now it goes to one account of the Delhi government and can be used for something useful as the amount gets consolidated.
The Delhi government launched the online system with 173 public authorities and now public can file RTI requests with around 190 departments online.
(Nikhil M. Babu can be reached at nikhil.b@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai : The contradictions between the buyer and suppliers of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in India have been laid bare in replies to right to information queries.
But even in year-wise details, replies given by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the two public sector suppliers — Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) Hyderabad and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bengaluru — have thrown up inexplicable discrepancies.
According to Mumbai-based activist Manoranjan S. Roy, whose efforts through RTI queries have shown the serious mismatches, this points to a rot which may run deeper than expected.
On the overall figures from 1989-1990 till 2014-2015, the ECI says it had received 1,005,662 EVMs from BEL, but BEL said it has supplied 1,969,932 — a difference of 964,270 machines. In the year-wise breakdown of figures, the ECI and BEL end up contradicting each other, says Roy, who has now moved the Bombay High Court seeking a probe into the whole affair.
“For instance, in 2003-2004, BEL said it supplied 193,475 EVMs to EC, which said it received only 167,850 — a shortfall of 25,625. The following year, the ECI said it received 36,395 EVMs, but BEL supplied only 2070,” Roy said.
Just in one year — in 2008-2009 — the shortfall in supply to ECI from BEL was a 962,000 EVMs. In 2010-2011 the variation was 13,490 EVMs but in 2013-2014, ECI received an excess of 51,713 EVMs against the BEL’s supply of 139,725. One of the worst years of mismatch was 2014-2015, when BEL supplied 62,183 EVMs but ECI received none.
Ditto is the scenario with ECIL, which supplied 1,944,593 EVMs to ECI between 1989-1990 to 2016-2017 but ECI said it received 1,014,644 — a gaping shortfall of 929,949. A similar mismatch rules the year-wise numbers with ECIL.
“In 2003-2004, ECIL said it supplied 303,878 EVMs to EC, which said it received only 168,195. In 2008-2009, the ECI said it received 78,000 EVMs, but ECIL figures say it supplied 816,000 EVMs,” Roy said.
In 2013-2014, the ECI received 191,438 EVMs, but ECIL had supplied none. The situation, however, reversed in the next three years — 2014-2015 to 2016-2017 — when ECI said it received zero machines, but ECIL figures stated 173,962, 120,103 and 272 EVMs were supplied, respectively.
As mentioned in earlier reports, the ECI said it had incurred a total expenditure of Rs 536.02 crore on acquiring EVMs from BEL which says it received Rs 652.56 crore. The ECI expenditure on acquiring EVMs from ECIL are not available.
Curiously, ECIL said it had not supplied a single EVM to any state between 2006-2007 till 2013-2014.
Nevertheless, ECIL — through ECI — recovered an amount of Rs 50.64 crore from Maharashtra government between March-October 2012.
“The question is why such huge discrepancies in the EVMs figures received by ECI from the two companies? Where have the excess machines supplied by BEL and ECIL actually gone?” Roy asked. Same goes for the discrepancy in the money spent.
Even on the question of destroying old EVMs, there is lack of clarity. On July 21, 2017, the ECI said that it had not sold any EVMs as scrap. The EVMs procured in 1989-1990 were said to have been destroyed by the manufacturers themselves.
The ECI said that the process of destroying (old/outdated/irreparable) EVMs received by ECI between 2000-2005, “is still under consideration”, thus implying that all machines are still under its possession.
(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Quaid Najmi,
Mumbai : There are contradicting records of the numbers of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in stock, their costs, their mode of transportation and other details, as per replies received under the Right to Information Act.
Further, it has emerged that no audits have been conducted by the State Election Commissions of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh on EVMs.
Seeking to corroborate the information received from Election Commission of India (ECI), Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL), Hyderabad and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), Bengaluru, Mumbai RTI activist Manoranjan S. Roy had sought information on EVMs from two major states — Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh — and received alarming replies.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission (M-SEC) informed on May 2, 2017 that since 2014-2017, it had not conducted any audit pertaining to the number of EVMs, their cost, the security staff, mode of transportation of the EVMs, etc.
However, M-SEC confirmed it is in possession of 76,250 Balloting Units (BUs) and 76,050 Controlling Units (CUs) — the two parts of the EVM system. Additionally, the ECI had provided it with another 15,000 BUs and 110,000 CUs, each costing Rs.9,200 (BU+CU). But it gave no information on the number of defective EVMs lying with it.
When probed further on this, major differences came up in the information provided by the ECI on March 03, 2017 and July 01, 2017 — which points a needle of suspicion towards misuse of EVMs, Roy contended.
In response to a query, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that for corporation elections on February 21, 2017, it had set up 7,304 polling centres in which it deployed 8,161 BUs and 7,304 CUs.
At that time, 136 BUs and 752 CUs were were found to be defective prior to the elections and another 16 BUs and 15 CUs broke down on election day.
To similar queries, the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission (UP-SEC) said on 08-05-2017 that it had deployed a total 159,791 BUs and 147,164 CUs in the February-March 2017 assembly elections.
Like M-SEC, the UP-SEC also stated that no audits were conducted for the same, adding the (audit) could be available with ECI.
There were differences in the number of EVMs the UP-SEC said it had received from ECIL in 2012, since the ECIL had already made it clear it had not supplied any EVMs to any state during 2006-2013.
Also, the ECI and UP-SEC figures differ vastly on number of polling booths. According to UP-SEC, the total number of polling booths set up were 190,388 in Assembly elections 2017 while the ECI said the number of booths were 11,356 — an obviously incorrect figure.
For those elections, the BEL supplied 139,438 BUs and 105,218 CUs of Model M2MEK, and ECIL supplied 84,480 BUs and 85,170 CUs from five different states, totaling to 224,918 BUs and 190,388 CUs for the assembly polls.
Again at variance with the ECIL’s replies, the UP-SEC said on 30-10-2017 that in 2011, the company had supplied 16,730 BUs and 12,100 CUs for a payment of Rs 142.86 crore plus transportation and VAT of Rs 32,276.
The ECIL had earlier stated that from 2006-2013, it had not supplied any EVMs to any state, as per RTI reply of 16-09-2017.
No transportation details were provided by UP-SEC on grounds that the EVMs were received from different states across India.
The UP-SEC said for the 2017 elections, it received 6,000 BUs and 3,000 CUs from Maharashtra plus another 81,800 BUs and 47,750 CUs from the ECIL, contradicting the UP-SEC’s own figures which said on 08-05-2017 it had deployed a total 159,791 BUs and 147,164 CUs in the assembly elections.
On January 11, 2018, the Madhya Pradesh-State Election Commission (MP-SEC) had supplied on loan 50,000 BUs and 25,000 CUs of EVM Model M1 to the UP-SEC.
“The RTI replies by both Maharashtra and UP SEC’s show they have not conducted audits, maintained proper accounts, there are contradictions galore among all the concerned agencies on the number of EVMs supplies Or received, raising serious doubts on where such huge amounts of public money have actually gone,” Roy said.
“There are absolutely no records of which EVMs were actually used for elections, how many are defective or defunct, why and which different models were deployed, who has approved these different models, the type of software-hardware used and whether they are hack-proof, whether the software is dedicated (exclusive) or purchased from the markets, etc,” Roy said.
The net result is that large stocks of unaccounted EVMs along with BUs/CUs are lying with various state elections commissions all over India and prone to severe misuse by vested interests during different elections where they are deployed, he explained, adding that Karnataka elections are coming up in May 2018.
Moreover, since the past 30 years, there is continuous purchase of EVMs by the ECI for the elections, but even the basic details are missing.
“There’s clearly (unexplained discrepancy) running into many thousands of crores of rupees, blatantly going on since nearly three decades. If this is the situation in just two states, the state of affairs in all other states can well be imagined,” Roy said.
All this calls for a thorough review of the authentic stock position of all EVMs from 1989, the number of non-functional or defective EVMs of both the suppliers and the available stocks with all states, the models and software installed, etc, well before the next general elections, Roy demanded.
Roy has filed a Public Interest Litigation in Bombay High Court, seeking directions to all parties to provide all records/documents pertaining to EVMs, setting up of a suitable probe panel to ban EVMs till the logical outcome of the probe.
Part-1 : EVM skeletons in RTI replies: Contradictory numbers from EC, suppliers raise question mark on polls
—IANS
