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The application of one RTI applicant AM Attar seeking details of the agreement was rejected by the ministry on the grounds that its disclosure would affect the relations between the two nations and other Muslim countries.

"The earlier exemption sought under Section 8 (1)(a) of the RTI Act 2005 had already been dealt with on the previous occasion, hence the same need not be reiterated. However, the seeking of fresh grounds to justify non disclosure of information by the Respondent Public Authority does not provide additional merit to the case.

"However, interestingly no additional documents have been submitted by the respondent at this stage to substantiate
their contention or justifying the non furnishing of information despite clear directions of this Commission. The remaining information in the Bilateral Agreement does not pertain to any sensitive data, as agreed by the respondent (MEA) also and the same should accordingly be provided to the Appellant," information commissioner, Annapurna Dixit held.

She directed to remove clause two and four of the agreement. While clause two specifies the quota of the Indian Hajis, clause four mentions the figures (data) depicting the number of Hajis.

An official spokesman said here on Monday that the policy would apply to all municipal areas in the State and cover all land/properties belonging to all State Government departments, boards and corporations unless specifically exempted.

The policy has been prepared in accordance with guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court and the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Act for the National Capital Region.

The spokesman said the policy for outdoor advertising is driven not by revenue imperatives but by the towns' and cities' development imperatives. It would also be ensured that outdoor advertising is not hazardous to traffic. The advertisement rights shall be given for a period not exceeding three years.

However, hoardings/advertisements/banners for publicity of achievements, social welfare schemes/messages and various other development policies put up by government departments, boards and corporations would be excluded from the purview of the contract.

"Till now, imported liquor could be sold in any outlet with an area of more than 500 square feet. But we feel that sales will go up if we allow them to be sold in shopping malls as buyers of imported liquor do not go to local vendors," a senior excise department official said.

The official said for the licence, departmental store owners will have to shell out a fee of Rs 1 lakh per annum. ``The department will also generate more revenue by issuing licenses to stores in malls as there are about 20 shopping centres in the city," the official said. The government had allowed sale of liquor in stores in shopping malls in 2007.

"In order to promote liquor with low alcoholic content, a new licence in the form of L-10B will be given to departmental stores having an annual turnover of more than Rs 50 lakh per annum on an yearly fee of Rs 25,000 for retail sale of wines on an experimental basis," read the notification.

According to the new excise policy, licence for selling foreign liquor will be issued to only stores which have bought the foreign liquor vend, unlike the previous policy which allowed any one to buy the licence by paying a fee of Rs 25 lakh. The fee has also been increased to Rs 35 lakh.

Announcing the excise policy 2010-2011 recently, the state government said vends of both country liquor and Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) will be renewed at a "reasonable" rate increase of 5% to 10%.

The vends in NCR districts of Haryana including Gurgaon and Faridabad would be renewed at a rate increase of 8%. The government expects the policy to bring in stability in retail trade.

The entire MCD area has been divided into eight categories from A to H, wherein category A stands for upscale colonies. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), in its meeting of the House held on Monday, gave the final nod to the increased taxes that include 2% rise for residential properties falling under category A and B like Defence Colony, New Friends Colony, Vasant Vihar, Anand Lok among others. The other categories from C to H will see a rise of 1% from the previous rate from 10% to 11% for categorises C and E and from 6% to 7% for houses under category F to H.

The MCD commissioner, K S Mehra had proposed a flat increase of 5% across all categories.``We have tried reducing the burden on taxpayers,'' said leader of House Subhash Arya.

For commercial properties such as multiplexes, big shops etc there has been increase of 10%. Said Arya: ``The property tax rate payable by multiplexes, petrol pumps etc has been increased from 10% to 20% while the rate for commercial properties falling under A and B categories has increased from 10% to 15%, from 10% to 12% for category C to E and there is no change in the rates for category F,G and H.''

Meanwhile, a committee has been constituted by the civic agency to further study the possibility of taxing the telecom and electric companies operating from MCD land. A first time tax on production of electricity for commercial purposes and on the heavy duty power generators was also approved by the civic agency.

Source: Times Of India Property tax hike not steep, house owners get some relief

Housing sector, which constitutes over 70 per cent of the real estate sector, will by 2012 be facing a shortage of about 26.53 million houses. And most industry demands hover around fulfilling this requirement to buffet their positions.

A deduction to the extent of Rs 1.50 lakh is available on housing loan interest payment. Assuming an interest rate of 10 per cent per annum on a home loan, the current deduction benefits house buyers of up to Rs.15 lakh.

Analysts say property value in cities is much larger than this amount. ``We would recommend an upward revision of this limit of at least Rs 3 lakh. Consequently, the benefit of interest deduction can be linked to the income of the beneficiary and only those individuals falling below a certain income limit benefit from this deduction,'' says Pranab Datta, vice chairman & managing director, Knight Frank India.

Source: Mydigitalfc.com By Ranjit Bhushan Realtors want home loan tax rebate doubled

The improvement in economic fundamentals and industrial recovery is pointing to better days ahead. But that is hardly a relief to bankers who continue to worry over slippages, as 39 listed banks saw their gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rise over Rs 15,000 crore in the last 12 months.

Worst is fairly over and the pace of defaults will only decline. Yet, there is a need to be watchful of slippages in the next one-two quarters from restructured loans, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the commercial real estate segment, feel bankers.

Plus, there is another area of concern in the form of agriculture loans, especially to large farmers (cultivating land of more than two hectares) under the debt waiver scheme. These farmers were required to pay up 75 per cent of outstanding by December 2009. The government would pay the balance 25 per cent to banks.

Asset quality continued to be under pressure in the third quarter ended December 2009. The pace of defaults continued to rise. The outstanding NPAs of 39 listed banks rose by Rs 5,244 crore in three months to touch Rs 70,741 crore by end-December 2009. In July-September 2009, fresh NPA addition was about Rs 3,911 crore, up from Rs 2,258 crore in the April-June period.

While the economic growth climate has improved, the slowdown effects linger, making certain sectors vulnerable. The peak additions in bad assets are behind and the pace of incremental addition will decline in coming quarters.

Source: Business-standard By Abhijit Lele Restructured loans, realty, SMEs to test banks' asset quality

In an order that is sure to spark a debate, the court said poor background of the accused should along with old age and years spent behind bars while awaiting death sentence be considered as mitigating factors when courts ponder whether life sentence should be used in an otherwise fit case for death penalty.

The order was passed by a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu while hearing an appeal against death penalty awarded by the trial court and subsequently upheld by the Allahabad high court to two members of a gang of bandits convicted for killing four people in December 1995.

The Bench noted that apart from being old, the convicts had been in custody since 1996 and death penalty had hung over their heads since 2005, when the trial court gave its verdict.

The Supreme Court on Monday considered poverty as a mitigating factor while handing out the verdict on two bandits awarded death penalty by lower courts. "The convicts (Mulla and Guddu) belong to an extremely poor background. One thing which is clear to us is that they have committed these crimes for want of money. Though we are shocked by their deeds, we find no reason why they cannot be reformed over a period of time," a Bench comprising Justices P Sathasivam and H L Dattu said.

Source: Times Of India By Dhananjay Mahapatra Poverty could mitigate crime, even murder: SC

The Delhi Commonwealth Secretariat has quietly launched a special online lottery series hoping to raise over Rs 500 crore to fund the Games. The lottery, or raffle series, launched last week in 12 states, will continue for the next 23 months, said a top official, requesting anonymity. The top prizes could include luxury cars such as Mercedes, gold coins and cash prizes.

Lottery is a state subject, and some states have banned the practice. The CWG panel has written to these states requesting them to make a one-time exception, said another official. "It's for a good cause," he said, asking not to be named.

In fact, Scotland, which would host the Games in 2014 at Glasgow, has already started working on a lottery draw. The Scottish government plans to raise £150 million, about 50% of the total expenditure. London, which is hosting the 2012 Olympics, is looking to raise £2.2 billion (out of total expenditure of £9.4 billion) through lotteries. For the Beijing Olympics, the China Olympics Sports Lottery raised $140 million.

Source: Economic Times Commonwealth Games may leave you with a jackpot

Though the exact investment by ICICI Pru could not be ascertained, sources said it could be over Rs 100 crore. The residential project is part of Ansal API's township project, Aquapolis.

The project will be hived off into a joint venture in which Ansal Landmard, a group company of Ansal API, and an investment arm of ICICI Pru will be partners, sources said.

When asked Ansal API's official spokesman refused to comment.

Ansal API is bringing in investors to fast-track the completion of its projects, which were delayed due to the earlier slowing of the real estate sector. In June 2008, HDFC Asset Management Company invested in Megapolis in Greater Noida, which was marketed as a high-tech township.

Source: Business-standard By Raghavendra Kamath ICICI Pru arm to take 40% in Ansal realty project in Gzb

However, what the real estate developers are hoping for is that the budget provide sufficient stimulus and sops to help the sector achieve the desired growth rate. Even consumers interested in buying property or investing in real estate expect the FM to spell out some consumer-centric policies.

For Vikas Vasal, executive director, KPMG, "The government is having a tough time managing its fiscal deficit. "To contain it the government has two options: increase revenue in terms of tax collection; and control/reduce its expenditure. Therefore, it is unlikely that the government will come out with any tax benefit for the realty sector per se."

Hopes, however, are high. Says Navin M Raheja, CMD, Raheja Developers Limited, "We expect that the deduction of interest on home loan, under Section 24 of the Income Tax Act should be revised from the existing limit of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh."

Redefining real estate
The tag of "infrastructure" earlier used by the government and all financial institutions while considering real estate allowed for easy funding of townships and residential /commercial buildings.

Says Anil Sharma, CMD, Amrapali Group, "This (the infrastructure tag) seems to have got de-linked from real estate since the time land and property prices began to spiral.

Source: Hindustan Times By Syed Amir Ali Hashmi Budget ho!: As the Budget Day draws near both realty developer and consumer get set to review their must-have lists

Locations which show affordability and future capital appreciation potential are preferred. According to a Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM) survey, the most viable cities in terms of residential investment potential currently are Gurgaon and Noida in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.

Abhishek Kiran Gupta, head-research, JLLM, says tier I cities are currently the most preferred residential investment options. "These have a multitude of diversified market drivers and huge latent demand due to inward migration and higher spending power. The preferences range from affordable options within closest proximity to traditional workplace hubs to rationally priced luxury housing at status address locations."

Besides the tier I cities, there are also some other cities that are gaining ground for investment purposes. Cities such as Bhubaneswar, Patna, Gwalior, Pune, Rudrapur and Nagpur are some examples. "These cities have several attractive features such as being IT, BPO, academic, pharmaceutical or financial and commercial hubs. Hence, a lot of people are migrating to these cities thereby adding to the demand for real estate," feels Rajeev Rai, VP (corporate), Assotech. The developer has residential housing projects in Delhi NCR.

Source: Economic Times Tier I Cities Most Preferred Residential Investment Options

The 45-km long line, from Jehangirpuri to Gurgaon, is expected to have a very high ridership.

As per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the line, the opening of the new section will add around 3.4 lakh commuters to the Line 2 (Central Secretariat to Jehangirpuri) by the year 2011. Since the section is already crowded, DMRC has taken a decision to add about 60 more trains to the line when the Gurgaon stretch becomes operational.

``Once the Gurgaon corridor is opened for the public, it will form an approximately 45-km long Metro line connecting parts of north, south Delhi and Gurgaon. Journeying from the one end to the another will take just 90 minutes. DMRC is planning to run around 60 trains on this line with a frequency as high as 3 minutes, benefiting lakhs of passengers,'' said a DMRC spokesperson. Trains on the Noida section run at a frequency of 8-11 minutes during off-peak hours.

The Gurgaon line also has the sharpest broad gauge curve with a radius of 282.5 metres near IFFCO Chowk. The other curves on elevated Metro tracks have a radius of over 300 metres. The spokesperson added curves of less than 300 meters radius are considered sharp curves in urban rail construction. ``This had to be done near IFFCO Chowk to as the area is very congested and we wanted to retain the already existing buildings, commercial malls and residential complexes on either side of the Metro alignment along Mehrauli-Gurgaon (MG) road. The alignment was also planned along the median so that people benefit from it,'' the spokesperson said.

Two plots of this scheme are in sector 107 while five others are located in sector 78, Noida.

According to Yash Pal Singh Tyagi, incharge of the scheme, the reserve price of the plots has been fixed at Rs 20,400 per sq meter.

The respective area of the plot number GH 01 is eighty three thousand nine hundred per sq. mt, while plot number GH 02 comprises one lakh sq mt. Plot numbers GH 03 and GH 04 have an area of 56,600 sq mt and 61,430 sq mt respectively. Plot No. GH 05 has an area of 71,725 sq mt in Noida's sector 78.

There are two plots in sector 107, GH 01 and GH 02 with area sizes of 2,24,500 and 72,325 sq mt respectively.

For the last three months, not a single patient from below poverty line (BPL) has been treated at the Rockland Hospital.

When the special committee appointed by the High Court visited the hospital last month, only one out of the 11 beds available for BPL patients was occupied in the Pushpawati Singhania Hospital.

Noting that there is a `calculated, systematic nexus among government and private hospitals to successfully frustrate the court and cheat poor patients', the committee has recommended penalising medical superintendents of government hospitals if they do not refer patients to private centres.

In Delhi, 40 private hospitals allotted cheap or free land by government agencies are required to set aside a tenth of their beds for the poor even if they had not given any such commitment at the time of allotment. The High Court committee has come to the conclusion that over 90 per cent of these free beds remain unoccupied.

"Close to 1,000 beds in private hospitals are supposed to be used to unburden government hospitals and provide quality care to underprivileged patients," said Ashok Agarwal, a lawyer associated with Social Jurist, an NGO. "It is bizarre that some hospitals have not treated a BPL patient for as long as three months. Part of the blame is with the government, which does not pressure the private hospitals.
We're going to ask for a highlevel inquiry in this matter."

Source: The Indian Express By Vidya Krishnan  Private hospitals dodge `poor' clause, doors still shut to underprivileged

Environment Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said here today that the board was contemplating offices at all district headquarters.

It would also set up four new laboratories at Panipat, Yamunanagar, Sonepat and Bahadurgarh. It had also been decided to strengthen and upgrade the existing laboratories.

Yadav said if the online process for "NOC" turned out to be a success, other services , like consent to operate, grant of authorisation and cess collection, would also be included in the ambit of online services in due course of time.

He said efforts were being made to motivate farmers against the harmful effects of burning of paddy straw and wheat stubble.

He said since plastic bags posed a major threat to ecology, the state government had issued a revised notification , increasing the thickness from 30 microns to 40 microns.

The provision for a fine had also been made by giving power to officers of other departments to take cognisance of plastic carry bags.

A teaser rate is a low, initial home loan interest rate that generally continues for the first few years and then would go up over time. These schemes have a fixed rate, between 8-8.5 per cent, for the first 2-3 years of its tenure; they turn into market-linked floating rates soon after. I can see why RBI is concerned. There are three important levers in any real estate transaction: price, interest rates and changes in income. Most bull runs in real estate are based on all the three levers remaining low. In 2003, prices and interest rates together were extremely low and incomes were going up and one saw a bull run in real estate actually picking up in 2005 because of these factors. Today, prices are crazy , incomes are not going up, but interest rates are low. So, teaser home loan rates are enticing people to borrow, with the belief that incomes would go up in the next few years and so would prices.

Very few people have thought on:
• What would happen if the prices went down?

• What if interest rates went up at the same time but incomes did not go up substantially?

The answer to both the questions could mean that the bank can come back to a borrower and ask for more margin money. Take an example: You are enticed by a teaser loan rate and you buy a property worth Rs 1 crore by making a down payment of Rs 15 lakh (15 per cent). Let’s say the real estate market corrects by 40 per cent, which is completely possible. At this point, a bank can invoke the Depreciation of Security clause in a home loan agreement and get the person to pay an upfront amount. This is because the market value of the property is Rs 60 lakh now and the bank’s exposure should just be 85 per cent of Rs 60 lakh, or Rs 51 lakh. But, the bank has lent you Rs 85 lakh and so, you must now pay them Rs 85 lakh minus Rs 51 lakh immediately. If you do not pay, you become a defaulter, even though you are paying equated monthly installments (EMIs) on time. And, the entire loan becomes payable immediately.

The writer is director, My Financial Advisor

Source: Business-standard By AMAR PANDIT Beware Teaser Rates!

Fed up of SMS ads offering the latest in real estate or promising to reduce power bills or the size of your waist? For now, you have no option but to keep hitting the delete button on your mobile phone.

A regulatory dichotomy involving the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the department of telecommunications (DoT) is letting illegal advertisers trespass into consumers' mobile phones at will.

Trai says the penalties for violating laws against illegal telemarketing are not stringent enough to keep advertisers at bay. While DoT says it is "looking into the matter" of reinforcing Trai's powers, operators claim Trai is not even using whatever regulatory clout it has to check telemarketeers.

The regulator's unsolicited commercial communication norm makes it mandatory for every telemarketeer to register with DoT and upload its database of mobile phone numbers on www.ndncregistry.gov.in. An unregistered telemarketeer caught advertising will have its connection cancelled.

Trai also set up a National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR) in 2007, allowing mobile phone users to request that their numbers be made unavailable to telemarketeers.

deepti.b@livemint.com

Source: Live Mint By Deepti Bhaskaran and Ishita Russell Why you will have to live with SMS ads

Many investors believe that equities are fraught with risk while real estate is completely risk free.The reality is a little more nuanced

It was a Sunday morning. Madhav, 40, and his friend Somesh, 39, were having a discussion on investment options.

Somesh was of the view that real estate is the best form of investment. He stated that it gives the family a sense of security, a place to live in, and can also provide rental income. In addition, he argued, one can enjoy the use of the property while its price appreciates. He further said that an investment in real estate is totally safe since the price of real estate never drops. Madhav did not agree entirely and hence called me to join the discussion.

Not a 100 per cent safe investment

"I agree that real estate has some advantages. But it is not true that it is a totally safe investment option or that its price never drops," I said. Like other assets, I said, real estate too witnesses bull and bear cycles.

However, since the price of our apartment, unlike that of stocks, is not reported in the newspapers, we are unaware of the day-to-day price fluctuations. Due to this lack of information one lives under the illusion that the price of real estate is stable or has moved up.It is only when one actually tries to sell a property that one discovers its true value.

Points to remember

• It is not true that real estate is a completely safe option or that its price never drops
  
• Like other investment options, real estate also witnesses bull and bear phases
  
• Regulatory changes, among other factors, could cause a precipitous decline in the price of real estate
  
• Stocks are liquid, you can purchase them in small amounts, and the transaction costs are low due to absence of stamp duty
  
• With the introduction of index funds and exchange traded funds, investing in equities has become a no-brainer activity

* Unforeseen risks in realty

Source: The Indian Express INVESTMENT PLANNING - REAL ESTATE OR EQUITIES?

Justice Indermeet Kaur sought response from DLF group companies and one Sudipti Estates over the alleged transaction.

The court's direction came over a petition filed by one Kimsukh K Sinha alleging that he had paid around Rs 31 crore to people of Sudipti Estate.

He further claimed that Sudipti Estate is jointly owned by two DLF group companies -- DLF Home Developers Limited and DLF Estate Developers.