1. Gujarat Congress to Move Apex Court Against Separate Rajya Sabha By-Polls
A day after the Election Commission (EC) announced the date of by-elections to the Rajya Sabha in three states, including Gujarat, state Congress president Amit Chavda on Sunday, 16 June, said the party will move the Supreme Court against its notification of separate polls for the two Upper House seats from the state.
The EC has declared by-elections for six Rajya Sabha seats, which have fallen vacant, on July 5. Two of the six seats are from Gujarat – vacated following the elections of Amit Shah and Smriti Irani to the Lok Sabha.
Chavda said, “In 2017, Amit Shah and Smriti Irani were elected to the Rajya Sabha. After that in 2019, both were elected from their respective Lok Sabha seats. We had our concerns that Constitutional laws might get disregarded and power (be) misused by the ruling BJP government to influence the Election Commission to not hold the by-elections together.”
(Source: Indian Express)
2. Man Sells Ayurvedic Tonic That Has Alcohol Without Licence, Held
A man was arrested for allegedly selling an “ayurvedic tonic with alcohol content in it” without licence, in Khambalia town of Devbhumi Dwarka on Saturday, 15 June. Police also seized bottles of the tonic, Bilvasava, worth Rs 1.10 lakh from the house of the accused, Chirag Lohana, in Khambalia.
Bilvasava tonic is prepared with jaggery, Indian Bael fruit pulp, water, camphor, clove and black pepper among other ingredients. One needs a licence to manufacture the tonic for sale. Chemists who sell it also need to have a licence.
According to the police, Lohana has been selling Bilvasava in 375-ml bottles for several months without licence. There was huge demand of the tonic among the residents and he had sold over 3,000 bottles in the past one month, they said.
Police took cognisance of the case after a few local activists approached them with complaints against Lohana.
(Source: Indian Express)
3. One Dead as Tree Falls on Autorickshaw in Ahmedabad
According to reports from Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), it received nine complaints of tree falling or getting uprooted, following the rains under the impact of Vayu cyclone.
A 24-year old women Salambanu lost her life when a tree fell on the rickshaw in which she was travelling along with her family. The incident occurred in Kankaria locality near Best High School. She was taken to L J Hospital. Her family members demanded that no post mortem should be conducted on her body.
In an another incident a tree fell on a rickshaw in Vadaj but no one was injured in the incident. AMC sources said they had received nine complaints for felling of trees due to rains. Teams were sent to these locations to clear the roads.
(Source: DNA)
4. Extend GST Annual Return Deadline: Tax Practitioners
Tax practitioners from Gujarat have written to central and state governments that it is not possible to file GSTR-9, the annual return of GST within the set deadline of 30 June and so the deadline for filing the return should be extended.
There are close to 6.7 lakh registered traders in Gujarat, of which only a handful of them have filed returns and the rest are not able to file returns because the auto-computation leads to erroneous entries, leading to over taxation of the dealers.
While the form has a provision to increase the tax liability, there is no provision for rectification if a businessmen want to avail tax refund, which he failed to earlier.
In a letter to union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and as well as to authorities of Central GST (CGST) and State GST (SGST), Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association said that the utility for filing of the return was available just about a month ago and it is not possible for the businessmen or the tax practitioners to get used to it.
(Source: DNA)
5. Gujarat Education Board Offers Maths to Non-Science Students
In accordance with the system followed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has decided to offer mathematics as an option to non-science students of senior secondary classes from this year.
After much deliberation, the state board has accepted the recommendation of its executive committee, which has been approved by the state government. It was a demand from students and parents alike to allow non-science students to opt for the subject.
“Since other boards like CBSE have not restricted mathematics to only the science stream, it was decided that we should also allow the students who are willing to take the subject in classes XI and XII,” confirmed Anju Sharma, Principal Secretary (Higher & Technical Education).
(Source: Indian Express)
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