BJP MP Baijayant Panda to head 31-member select committee to examine I-T Bill
New Delhi (PTI): The select committee of the Lok Sabha, which will examine the Income-Tax Bill, 2025, was constituted on Friday, with BJP MP Baijayant Jay Panda appointed as chairman of the panel.
The committee will have 31 MPs, including 17 from the ruling National Democratic Alliance. The NDA MPs include 14 from the BJP and one each from the TDP, JD(U), and the Shiv Sena.
The opposition parties have 13 MPs, including six from the Congress, two from the Samajwadi Party and one each from the DMK, the TMC, the Shiv Sena (UBT), the NCP (SP) and the RSP. One MP, Richard Vanlalhmangaiha, is from the Mizoram's ruling Zoram People's Movement.
Besides Panda, the BJP's members include Nishikant Dubey, P P Chaudhary, Bhartruhari Mahtab and Anil Baluni.
Opposition MPs include Deepender Singh Hooda of the Congress, Mahua Moitra of the TMC, Supriya Sule of the NCP (SP) and N K Premachandran of the RSP.
The panel is mandated to submit its report by the first day of the Monsoon session. The ongoing Budget Session will conclude on April 4 and the Monsoon session may commence in the third week of July.
While introducing the Bill in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged Speaker Om Birla Birla to refer the draft law to a select committee of the House.
The much-anticipated Bill will replace terminologies such as "assessment year" and "previous year" with the easier-to-understand "tax year" as part of a move to simplify language while removing provisos and explanations.
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Conspiracy afoot to 'tarnish' image of Dharmasthala: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Aug 14 (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said there was a “conspiracy” to tarnish the image of Dharmasthala.
His comments come amid an ongoing investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into serious allegations of mass burials in the revered temple town in Dakshina Kannada district.
“A conspiracy is being hatched to destroy hundreds of years of legacy. It is not correct to tarnish someone just like that. It has all happened due to one complainant,” he said.
Noting that some Congress MLAs have called for action against those involved in the slander campaign at the legislature party meeting, he said, “ I have told them that action must be taken against those who are indulging in a slander campaign. The CM has also said that action must be taken against such people.”
“I have information on this case. Religious feelings should not be hurt in any manner. Culprits must be punished,” he told reporters, according to a release from his office.
Responding to a question, Shivakumar said the Congress party will not allow the image of any religious place to be tarnished.
“We see everyone equally when it comes to religion,” he added.
The SIT, formed by the state government, is probing claims of mass murder, rape, and mass burials in Dharmasthala over the past two decades.
The complainant, a former sanitation worker whose identity has not been revealed, alleged that between 1995 and 2014 he was forced to handle bodies—including women and minors—and that some showed signs of sexual assault. He has given a statement before a magistrate.
As part of the probe, the SIT has been conducting exhumations at multiple locations identified by the complainant-witness in the forested areas along the banks of the Netravathi River in Dharmasthala, where some skeletal remains have been found at two sites so far.
