Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage-Another Ground for Divorce

The Law Commission of India submitted to the Government of India, its 217th Report on “Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage-Another Ground for Divorice”. The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Justice A.R.Lakshmanan, former Supreme Court Judge, forwarded the report to the Union Law Minister, Dr. Hans Raj Bhardwaj.

Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides grounds for presentation of a petition for divorce. Section 27 of the Special Marriage Act, 1954 similarly provides grounds for grant of divorce in the case of a marriage solemnized under the Act. However, the said Acts do not provide “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” as a ground for divorce. The Law Commission of India in its 71st Report title “The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 – Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage as a Ground of Divorce” recommended amendments in the Hindu Marriage Act to make irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a new ground for granting divorce among the Hindus. Recently, the Supreme Court also in Naveen Kohli V. Neelu Kohli (AIR 2006 SC 1675) recommended to the Union of India to seriously consider bringing an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 to incorporate irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground for the grant of divorce.

In view of the above, the Law Commission of India suo motu took up the study of the subject. The Commission examined the extant legislations as well as a number of judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts on the subject and has expressed the view that “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” should be incorporated as another ground for granting divorce under the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954. The Court before granting a decree for divorce on the ground that the marriage has irretrievably broken down should also examine whether adequate financial arrangements have been made for the parties and children.

Declaration of holiday on 14th April, 2009 - Birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

F.No.12/6/2009-JCA-2
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel & Training)
North Block, New Delhi

Dated the 2nd April,

Declaration of holiday on 14th April, 2009 - Birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

It has been decided to declare Tuesday, the 14th April, 2009 as a Closed Holiday on account of the birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, for all Central Government Offices including industrial establishments throughout India.
2. The above holiday is also being notified in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act of 1881 (26 of 1881).

New tax rule to usher in clarity on TDS credit

Tax relief

The new CBDT rule has now settled the position that a person who is liable to pay the tax should be eligible for the TDS credit

Joint owners in shares, deposits or property could now have the right to claim

K.R. Srivats

New Delhi, March 20 Tax deducted at source (TDS) credit can now be availed by persons other than the deductees. This has been clearly articulated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a new rule on TDS credit availment.

Bringing relief and certainty to taxpayers, the CBDT has also spelt out the situations and the procedure through which the tax credit will be made available for persons other than deductees.

The credit for TDS will be allowed to persons other than the deductees only in cases where the relevant income is assessable to income tax in the hands of such other person. The new CBDT rule has now settled the position that a person who is liable to pay the tax should be eligible for the TDS credit, say tax experts.

To illustrate this point, consider a situation of winnings from a raffle going to a minor. The tax is deducted before the payment is made to the minor. Under the clubbing provisions of income tax, the income of the minor gets clubbed with those of the parent and gets taxed at the latter’s hands.

As the TDS certificate is in the name of the minor (deductee being the minor), tax authorities at the ground level often deny TDS credit to the parent even though the incomes are clubbed and assessed in the hands of the parent. Now, the CBDT has made it clear that tax credit has to be granted to the parent (the person in whose hands the income is assessable).

Similarly, in a situation where the deductees are joint owners of shares, property and deposits, the CBDT has now said that the TDS credit would be available to the respective joint owners in proportion of their ownership of the asset. Hitherto, no mechanism was available by which all the joint owners in shares, deposits or property could have the right to claim TDS credit.

“The latest CBDT rule on credit for TDS will bring clarity at the ground level. They have gone by the principle that the person who pays the tax should get the tax credit,” Mr Jayesh Thakur, Associate Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers told Business Line.

Till date, tax officers were taking different views on the eligibility for tax credit in situations where the income is assessable to tax in the hands of persons other than the deductee. Hitherto, assessees were often required to go up to the High Courts to get benefit of the TDS credit, point out tax experts.

Trusts, partnership firms

The CBDT has also brought clarity and certainty to the eligibility for availment of TDS credit in respect of trusts, partnership firms and Association of Persons (AOP).

In situations where the deductee is a Trust and the income is assessable in the hands of trustees, the TDS credit should be granted to the trustee. Similarly, where the deductee is partner or karta of a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and the income is assessable as the income of firms or the HUF, the TDS credit would have to go to the partnership firm/HUF.

Where the deductee is the Association of Persons (AOP) and the income is assessable in the hands of the members, the CBDT has made it clear that the TDS credit should go to the members of AOP.

The procedure: For persons other than the deductee to get the TDS credit benefit, the deductees are required to file a declaration with the deductor. The declaration should have details of the other person (i.e. the person to whom tax credit is to be given) like name, PAN, payment or credit in relation to which tax credit is to be given and the reason for giving credit to such person.

The deductor would report tax deduction in the name of such other person to the tax authority. The TDS certificate could also be issued in the name of the person other than the deductee.

In Budget 2008-09, the Government decided that the system of allowing credit to the assessee for TDS/Tax collected at source (TCS) needs a certain degree of flexibility considering the ongoing technological and business process changes.

Instead of providing rigorous conditions regarding the method of giving credit for TDS in the Income Tax Act itself, the Government decided to do this through the rules. That promise has now been implemented by CBDT by bringing the necessary rule for this purpose.

Govt abolishes banking transaction tax

New Delhi, Apr 1 (PTI) Taxpayers will not have to pay levy on withdrawal of cash from banks with the government withdrawing the Banking Cash Transaction Tax (BCTT) from today.
The government had introduced 0.1 per cent BCCT in 2005 on cash withdrawals of more than Rs 50,000 (individuals) and Rs 1,00,000 for others in a single day from non-savings bank account maintained with any scheduled bank.

The tax has been withdrawn from April 1 following an announcement made by the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his budget speech for 2008-09, sources said.

In his Budget speech, Chidamabram had said, "The BCTT has served a very useful purpose in enlarging the information system of the Income Tax Department. Since the information is also being gathered through other instruments introduced in the last few years, I propose to withdraw this tax with effect from April 1, 2009." The levy was introduced in 2005 to track unaccounted money and trace its source and destination.

Though BCTT was not introduced with the intention of revenue generation, the levy, as per the revised estimates, contributed to the exchequer Rs 600 crore during 2008-09. The BCCT collection was Rs 550 crore for 2007-08.