Kochi: Police on Saturday arrested Kerala Youth Congress workers who held a beef festival ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in the coastal city.

The festival took place near the Southern Naval Command’s air terminal where Modi is expected to arrive and inaugurate the state’s first metro line.

As the Youth Congress workers were arrested while they were cooking and serving beef.

Ever since the Centre launched new rules regarding cattle sale and slaughter, Kerala has witnessed numerous such protests and even the state assembly held a special session earlier this month to pass a resolution against it.

(IANS)

New Delhi: The government has made quoting of biometric identity number Aadhaar mandatory for opening of bank accounts as well as for any financial transaction of Rs 50,000 and above.

Existing bank account holders have been asked to furnish the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) by December 31, 2017, failing which the account will cease to be operational, according to a revenue department notification.

The government in Budget 2017 has already mandated seeding of Aadhaar number with Permanent Account Number to avoid individuals using multiple PANs to evade taxes.

The notification issued amending the Prevention of Money- laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, mandated quoting of Aadhaar along with PAN or Form 60 by individuals, companies and partnership firms for all financial transactions of Rs 50,000 or above.

Tightening the rules for small accounts, which can be opened without having officially valid KYC documents, the amendment said such accounts – which can have maximum deposit of Rs 50,000, can be opened only at bank branches which have core banking solution.

It can also be opened at a branch where it is possible to manually monitor and ensure that foreign remittance are not credited to such account and stipulated limits on monthly and annual aggregate of transactions and balance are not breached, the amended PMLA rules said.

Such small account shall remain operational initially for a period of 12 months and thereafter for a similar period if the account holder provides evidence that he or she has applied for officially valid identification documents.

“The small account shall be monitored and when there is a suspicion of money laundering or financing of terrorism or other high risk scenarios, the identity of claim shall be established through the production of official valid documents,” it said.

The amendment makes it mandatory for individuals, companies and partnership firms to quote Aadhaar along with PAN or Form 60 for all financial transactions of Rs 50,000 or above with effect from June 1.

Post June 1 if a person does not have an Aadhaar number at the time of opening of account, then he has to furnish proof of application of enrolment for Aadhaar and submit the Aadhaar number to the bank within six months of opening of the bank account.

“In case the client, eligible to be enrolled for Aadhaar and obtain a PAN… does not submit the Aadhaar number or the PAN at the time of commencement of an account based relationship with a reporting entity, the client shall submit the same within a period of 6 months from the date of the commencement of the account based relationship.

“Provided that the clients… already having an account based relationship with reporting entities prior to date of this notification, the client shall submit the Aadhaar number and PAN by December 31, 2017,” the notification said.

So far, as per the PMLA Rules it is mandatory to provide PAN number or Form 60 to banks while opening of accounts or for high value transactions.

For companies opening bank accounts, Aadhaar number of managers, or employees holding an attorney to transact on the company’s behalf will have to be provided.

Commenting on the development, Nangia & Co Managing Partner Rakesh Nangia said: “With the amendment, obtaining Aadhaar and PAN have gained paramount importance, since the banks are now required to report Aadhaar and PAN in respect of each of its clients’ at the time of account opening and in case of existing accounts at the time of making transactions worth Rs 50,000 or more”.

The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) forms the core of the legal framework put in place by India to combat money laundering and generation of black money.

The PMLA and rules impose obligation on reporting entities like banks, financial institutions and intermediaries to verify identity of clients, maintain records and furnish information to Financial Intelligence Unit of India (FIU-IND).

As per Rule 9, every reporting entity shall at the time of commencement of an account-based relationship, identify its clients, verify their identity and obtain information on the purpose and intended nature of the business relationship.

In all other cases, identity should be verified while carrying out transaction of an amount equal to or exceeding Rs 50,000, and in any international money transfer operation.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: In a major embarrassment for the ruling Congress in Karnataka, its no-confidence motion against Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankara Murthy of the BJP was defeated by one vote on Thursday.

Thirty-six lawmakers voted in support while 37 opposed the motion, which was moved by Congress member V.S. Ugrappa.

Council Deputy Chairman Marithibbe Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular put the motion to vote in the 75-member council, where the Congress has 33 members, BJP 23, JD-S 13, and the Independents are five. The BJP members include the Council Chairman.

At present one seat is vacant in the upper house of the state legislature.

“The Congress leaders did not take JD-S leaders into confidence before deciding to move the no-confidence motion against Murthy. So, we decided to vote against it,” JD-S Karnataka unit President H.D. Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

Congress’s Karnataka unit chief G. Parameshwara had met JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Tuesday evening to seek his party’s support for the motion but the former Prime Minister advised the Congress leader to discuss it with Kumaraswamy.

“No Congress leader consulted me till today (Thursday) morning. Congress leaders offered through the media the Chairman’s post to the JD-S in lieu of support but did not convey it to me,” Kumaraswamy said.

He accused the Congress of attempting to divide the JD-S by creating confusion on the issue.

“It has become a habit for national political parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, to use JD-S for their vested interests,” Kumaraswamy, son of JD-S supremo Deve Gowda, said.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre on pleas challenging its controversial notification banning the sale and purchase of cattle at animal markets for slaughter.

A vacation bench comprising Justices R K Agrawal and S K Kaul issued notice to the Centre and asked it to file response within two weeks on two separate petitions challenging the notification.

The apex court fixed the matter for hearing on July 11.

Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that intention behind bringing the notification was to have a regulatory regime on cattle trade across the country.

He also told the apex court that the Madras High Court has recently granted interim stay on the notification.

One of the petitioners, who has approached the apex court challenging the notification, has claimed in his plea that the provisions in the notification were unconstitutional as they violated the fundamental rights including freedom of conscience and religion and right to livelihood.

The Centre had on May 26 banned the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter through an Environment Ministry notification — ‘Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017’ under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

(PTI)

Rohtak: A court here today issued a non-bailable warrant against yoga guru Ramdev in a case over his remarks made last year against those refusing to raise the slogan of ‘Bharat mata ki jai’.

The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Goyal issued the NBW against Ramdev and fixed August 3 as the next date of hearing in the case.

On May 12, the court had issued a bailable warrant against Ramdev. “The order follows Ramdev’s failure to appear before the court yet again today. He also failed to appear despite summons and a bailable warrant,” counsel for the complainant in the case O P Chugh said.

Ramdev had made the remarks at a Sadbhawana Sammelan here in April last year, which was called to promote peace in the city that witnessed violence during the Jat quota stir. He had said that but for the rule of law he would have “beheaded” lakhs of people for refusing to chant ‘Bharat mata ki jai’.

On March 2, Goyal had issued summons to Ramdev after a complaint was filed by Congress leader and former Haryana minister Subhash Batra seeking registration of an FIR against the yoga guru.

The ACJM had then directed Ramdev to furnish Rs 1 lakh personal surety during the execution of warrant and also to appear in court on June 14.

(PTI)