Some projects under the Smart Cities Mission would not be able to meet the June 30 deadline and the respective state governments would be responsible for completing them thereafter, Union Housing and Urban
A 111-year-old law is one of the key options the government could invoke to handle the challenges arising out of the possible denotification of three Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Goa. Last week, the inter-ministerial Board of Approvals had recommended starting talks with the Goa government on denotifying the three SEZs following strong local protests in Goa last year, creating a precedent that is being closely watched by potential investors in India and abroad. This is because the process of denotification itself is complex and could be long-drawn. The SEZ Act, 2005, does not have specific provisions for denotification. The Act, however, has provisions empowering the central government to issue policy directions to the Board of Approvals (under subsections 5 and 6 of Section 9). This power is derived from the General Clauses Act of 1897, an umbrella law covering all Acts and government notifications passed by the Centre. Section 21 of this Act empowers the government to add, amend, vary or rescind sections in notifications, orders, rules or bylaws issued by it. This means the central government is, on reading the two laws together, empowered to override the SEZ Act to account for measures like denotification. The other two denotification routes are amendment of the SEZ Act through Parliament and through a presidential ordinance. The latter has been ruled out since Parliament is in session and there is nothing to stop the developers of the three SEZs from going to court if the government waits for the session to end. An amendment of the SEZ Act will not only need approval from the commerce ministry, but also may provoke political opposition from the Congress itself. For this reason, the government is unlikely to follow this route. There are, however, some aspects of the denotification that the government cannot escape
Economy on the move: The President, Ms Pratibha Patil, the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr P.R. Dasmunshi, arriving to attend the first day of the Budget Session at Parliament House in the Capital on Monday.
>> In a non-binding report, the European Parliament has given more time to car manufacturers for reducing CO2 emissions from tailpipes. Manufacturers should reduce the emissions to 125 grammes
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Two years ago, Parliament passed the food safety act. Till date the union health ministry has not notified the law in full, nor has it formulated rules under the act. Instead, the ministry has now signed an agreement with the <font class="UCASE">us</font> to draw up standards for import and export of food and medicine.
The budget session of Parliament will begin on February 25 with President Pratibha Patil addressing the joint session of both Houses at 11 am, it was officially announced here on Monday. While railway minister Lalu Prasad will present the rail budget for 2008-09 on February 26, finance minister P Chidambaram will present the general budget on February 29. The three-month session will witness a total 35 sittings with a break from March 21 to April 14. The session will end on May 9. TNN
Moves are afoot to ring in reforms in the fertiliser sector. A Group of Ministers (GoM) on fertilisers headed by the agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, has given its in-principle nod to the Department of Fertilisers' proposal to have an independent regulator for the sector. J. Sreedhara Sarma, Secretary, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, told Business Today that the "
Starting 2012, greenhouse gases from civil aviation will be included in the eu emissions trading scheme, according to a recent agreement by the European Environment Council. The agreement
The European Commission has proposed tighter emission caps on cars, to be enforced with steep fines. The plan will fine manufacturers for every gramme of co2 emitted beyond the limit, with
Tigers or tribals?
