Karnataka HC directs Google India, executives to furnish 50% of FEMA penalties as bank guarantee
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court has directed Google India and three of its senior executives to deposit 50 per cent of the penalties imposed, for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations, as bank guarantees.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier levied a penalty of Rs 5 crore on Google India, along with a combined penalty of Rs 45 lakh on the three officials.
The case pertains to alleged violations of section 6(3)(d) of FEMA, involving transactions worth Rs 364 crore.
According to the ED, the violations relate to payments made by Google India to Google Ireland as distributor fees and for the acquisition of equipment from Google US.
The agency contended that Rs 363 crore, payable to Google Ireland, remained unpaid for over four years until May 2014, while payment for Rs 1 crore worth equipment sourced from Google US remained unsettled for more than seven years until January 2014.
The ED classified these as commercial loans, which would require prior approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Google India, however, contested these allegations, asserting that the transactions in question were not foreign exchange borrowings.
The company emphasized that there were no loan agreements, deferred payments, or interest involved, and claimed adherence to an RBI circular issued on July 1, 2014.
Earlier, on January 11, 2019, the Appellate Tribunal for FEMA in Delhi had granted a stay on the penalties, citing that Google India's appeal appeared to have merit. The ED subsequently filed second appeals challenging the stay.
A division bench comprising Justices V Kameshwar Rao and S Rachaiah observed that the tribunal's stay was based only on a preliminary view.
They have now instructed Google India and the concerned officials to provide bank guarantees for half the total penalties within two weeks.
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Five railway staffers injured as van headed to Rajdhani Express fire site overturns in MP
Ratlam (MP) (PTI): Five railway staffers were injured, one of them critically, when their van carrying repair equipment to the site of a Rajdhani Express fire overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district on Sunday, officials said.
The blaze erupted in an AC coach of the Delhi-bound Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express between Vikramgarh Alot and Lunirichha stations under the Kota division of the railways in Ratlam at 5.15 am.
It disrupted the movement of several trains on the Mumbai-Delhi route, as per the officials.
A van carrying necessary equipment to Alot overturned on the way when a cow suddenly strayed into the middle of the road, they said.
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Five railwaymen were injured, one of them critically, the officials said.
The incident took place when the van carrying essential equipment for overhead electric line repair, among other things, was on its way to Alot from Shyamnagar in Ratlam, West Central Railway's chief public relations officer Harshit Shrivastava told PTI.
The injured persons were rushed to the hospital and were subsequently referred to Kota in Rajasthan, officials said.
No casualties were reported in the train fire.
