Ayodhya

In its application, the panel, comprising former apex court judge FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar and senior advocate and mediator Sriram Panchu, told the court that it had received written requests from two parties— one from the Hindu side, Nirvani Akhara, and the second from the Sunni Waqf Board -- for resumption of mediation.

On Wednesday, the Constitution bench questioned lawyers for Muslim parties on their claim that Hindus have all along prayed only at the Ram Chabutra (platform) in the outer courtyard of the disputed site, and that an idol was put in the central dome only in 1949.

Justice DY Chandrachud asked senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties, “Why is that the Ram Chabutra has become the focal point in this case? Why was Ram Chabutra set up at the same time as the railings [put up by the British in the 1850s after riots broke out between the Hindus and Muslims]? Did people think praying at the Ram Chabutra was akin to offering prayers to deity under the central dome? Why is the Ram Chabutra so close to the central dome?”

Dhavan replied, “It would be conjecture on the part of the judges to assume that Hindus went to the railings and prayed to a deity under the central dome. There is no contemporary evidence on record to suggest whether this happened out of animosity or faith. Till 1855, the only prayers by Hindus that took place at the disputed site was (at) Ram Chabutra.”

Dhavan cited statements of six witnesses saying that it was only in 1949 that the idol of Ram was installed under the central dome. The judges also said that the 1991 report by historians RS Sharma, M Athar Ali, DN Jha and Suraj Bhan relied on by the Muslim parties and which states that the disputed site wasn’t the birthplace of Ram was, at best “an opinion” . “At the highest, it would be an opinion,” justice DY Chandrachud said. decline in the number of smokers, with only about 10% of population smoking cigarettes in India. Actually the young population is being targeted as customers for ENDS,” said Preeti Sudan, Union health secretary.

The ordinance proposes an imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of ~1 lakh or both, for first time offenders. For repeat offenders, the term could extend up to 3 years and fine of ~5 lakh. Defaulting will be a cognisable offence, except for storage of the device.

Storage of e-cigarettes shall also be punishable with an imprisonment up to six months or fine up to ~50,000 or both. However, possession for personal use is not banned.

“For personal use, it’s not banned but over a period of time these products will stop being made available in India after the ban,” a health ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

Association of Vapers India (AVI), an organisation that represents e-cigarette users across the country, called the ordinance “regressive”.

“The government may be patting its back for banning e-cigarettes but this is a draconian move considering the risk to the health of millions of smokers. On one hand we talk about transitioning from a developing to developed nation but on the other we are closing our doors to new technology that has been embraced globally by governments and used by millions worldwide to quit smoking,” said Samrat Chowdhery, director, AVI.

Finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, who chaired the group of ministers that discussed the adverse health impact of the use of e-cigarettes or vaping, said that the group extensively referred to the data available from the United States on use of ENDS during their discussions.

About three million people in the US are regular users of e-cigarettes.

“The data available until yesterday reports seven deaths directly linked to use of e-cigarettes. There has been a 77.8% growth among school students (classes 10-12), and even surprising is that middle school students have become victims and taken to e-cigarettes and the growth increase among this section is about 48.5%,” Sitharaman said at a press briefing after a Cabinet meeting.

“It’s odourless but the smoke which is exhaled by the e-cigarette users contains very high level of residual nicotine that may be inhaled by people around standing as passive smokers. It has already caused a lot of concern in the US and other developed countries, so our Cabinet rightly thought to ban it for the sake of the health of our people,” she added.

As per estimates, at least 400 brands of e-cigarettes are available in India and there are 150 flavours to choose from. The e-cigarettes, however, are not yet manufactured in India.

“E-cigarettes got promoted initially as a way in which people can get out of the habit of smoking cigarettes but if you look at reports they suggest people are smoking as well as vaping. There are some who are getting into the habit because it is cool. You don’t even need a matchstick; it just has to be fully charged like your mobile phone,” Sitharaman said.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) earlier this year also recommended a ban after going through the data on ENDS.

“We received several representations from experts, including our apex research body, ICMR, that recommended banning ENDS. It’s not a question of more harmful or less harmful; it’s harmful. Period. Our next generations are going to go down the drain if it’s not controlled now,” said Sudan.

The ordinance becomes effective after the President of India signs it. The owners of existing stocks of e-cigarettes on the date of commencement of the ordinance will have to suo motu (on their own) declare and deposit these stocks with the nearest police station.

“We hope to take this matter up in the next session of Parliament,” said Sitharaman.

Some experts welcomed the move.

“E-cigarettes and other forms of ENDS are like ticking bombs for the youth of a developing economy like ours. It’s good to nip the menace in the bud,” says Dr Ravi Mehrotra, CEO, Indian Cancer Research Consortium, (ICMR-DHR).

But others pointed out that cigarettes pose a bigger threat than e-cigarettes.

Trade Representatives of ENDS (TRENDS) in India criticised the move. “Since e-cigarettes do not contain tar, they are proving to be a much safer alternative for smokers. India has one of the highest smoking populations in the world. This decision by the government is strange – it’s like saying we will remove the safer product from the market, and allow the more dangerous one to be sold,” said Praveen Rikhy, convenor, TRENDS.

The difficult part will be to implement the ban.

“The enforcement agencies will have to be alert because chances of spurious products entering the market through illegal channels become high and do more harm,” says Dr SK Arora, additional director, health, Delhi government, who used to head the state’s anti-tobacco cell.

Congress leader Ajay Maken on Wednesday asked the government why cigarettes and ‘paan masala’ should not be banned in the country if it can ban e-cigarettes, saying: “We want to ask the government if it will ban other cigarettes in the country too.” spell out the Indian naval posture in the coming years, including the requirement for an expeditionary force. The Doval committee will also answer whether the Indian Navy requires more aircraft carriers worth billion of dollars or development of air bases in any of the 611 islands under India in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to venture deep across the Indian Ocean or the Persian Gulf, even the South China Sea. For instance, the tri-service Andaman and Nicobar Islands Command could easily project Indian might into the South China Sea with the existing air bases being upgraded and naval bases being equipped with jetties to handle larger warships. The A & N Command sits on the mouth of Malacca Straits with Banda Aceh in Indonesia a mere 163km away as the bird flies from Campbell Bay in Nicobar.

Although the Indian Navy has been calling itself an expeditionary force in the new millennium on paper, the NSS will define where there is any need to keep ~20,000 crore carriers without any distant enemy in near future.

With the CDS expected to take over all tri-service structures including Special Operations, Cyber and Space Commands, the NSS will also define the role of stand-off and anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons in future wars, keeping in mind the Indian doctrinal posture. of the indirect tax practice at PWC India, said interest is charged in cases of delayed payment of tax or reversal of credits in certain cases.

“The proposed differential interest rate system seems to be a measure to curtail extent of tax evasions/delayed payment (as interest rate would be higher post a specified period of time) as well as a method of {inducing an} increase in revenue collections,” he said, adding that the move would also raise expectations of the industry to get a higher rate of interest in case of a delay in refunds by the government.

Experts sounded a note of caution on the proposed differential interest rate regime.

“This would not be the first time that the government is considering levying differential interest rates on delayed payments,” said Mekhla Anand, a partner at the law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. “An interest rate corresponding to the period of delay was introduced under the erstwhile service tax regime as well. However, this experiment was rolled back in 2016 and a uniform interest rate was introduced again.” The differential tax was rolled back due to operational reasons, officials quoted above said.

The government would be required to amend the law to put in place a differential interest rate regime, said Vishal Raheja, deputy general manager of the tax research and consulting firm Taxmann.

“Currently, there is cap of maximum 18% interest for delayed payment of GST. If the government wants to impose higher rate of interest for delay exceeding three months, there would be requirement of amendment to GST Act,” he said.

Experts said the move to charge interest on net instead gross amount of GST was a relief to businesses. “Currently, the interest on delayed payment is charged on gross GST amount. In terms of the Finance Act, 2019, the GST legislations have already been amended to levy interest on the net tax liability only i.e. the amount which is paid by debiting the electronic cash ledger after setting off the input tax credit. However, this amendment has not yet been operationalised,” said Anand.

Raheja said, “This amendment is very logical as it is very harsh to charge interest even if a taxable person has ITC [input tax credit] balance in credit ledger.”