TDTSSIA seeks RAC for direct taxes

Tiruchirapalli, Apr 11: Tiruchirapally District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association(TDTSSIA) today decided to approach the Union Finance Ministry, seeking constitution of Regional Advisory Council (RAC) for 'Direct Taxes' to redress grievances of micro and small Industrialists on a periodic basis, according to its President S Sridharan.

In a statement here, he said the Micro and Small Scale Industries were not comfortable with the recent changes that warrant mandatory deduction of income tax at source, e-filing of returns on a quarterly basis and the necessity to obtain PAN for transacting with customers. Mr Sridharan said the problem arises in the event of making payment to non-assessees, since the deduction cannot be made at source. Under such circumstances, the penalty of Rs 100 per day imposed for non-filing of e-returns, would leave a demoralising effect. In case of nil returns, a consolidated annual declaration must be permitted, he added.

The stringent penalty of 300 per cent for tax evasion was against natural justice. Discretionary power must be given to the appellate authorities to consider cases where tax evasion was unintentional. As far as long-term capital gains was concerned, the unexpected restriction of income to Rs 50 lakh in a financial year had put in a fix those in a transition stage. Fixing of market value based on the residential areas for sale of adjoining agricultural land would cause difficulties for transaction of sale amongst agriculturists, he added.

He said the mandatory audit for units registering a turnover of over Rs 40 lakh per annum that has been in existence for more than two decades must be enhanced to Rs five crore, considering the inflationary impacts. It will encourage assesses to make self-declaration through optimising IT tools without having to depend on auditors, he added.

Director of National Institute of Technology, Calicut, G.R.C. Reddy, has observed that research makes teaching vibrant. Speaking at a function here yesterday, Dr Reddy said though all NITs, particularly those in the southern States, have registered tremendous progress in the spheres of teaching and research, there was still a long way to go. He called for knowledge sharing among faculties of NITs. Dr. Reddy favoured even patronage for NITs and IITs.

Later in his informal chat with newsmen that the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) will start seven new courses in the coming academic year. The courses included an undergraduate programme, B.Tech in biotechnology, and five postgraduate courses, three M.Tech. courses and two M.Sc Tech. programmes, and one PG diploma in civil engineering (Construction Management). The M.Tech. courses are in nanotechnology, signal processing and telecommunications. The MSc Tech. programmes are in photonics and polymer science,he added.

He said while the B.Tech. programme will have 30 seats, of which 15 will be reserved for students who studied 10+2 or Plus Two in Kerala and qualified the All India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE),the M.Tech. and M.Sc Tech. programmes will have 18 seats each, of which five seats in each course will be reserved for sponsored candidates.The institute will be starting a Master of Business Administration (MBA) course. Only engineering graduates will be admitted to this course which will have 30 seats,he added.

UNI