FM may announce EPF tax rollback in LS today

Govt hopeful of passage of real estate Bill in Budget session, says Naidu

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will make a statement on the issue of tax proposals for Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Jaitley is likely to announce rollback of his Budget announcement to levy tax on 60 per cent of EPF withdrawal. The proposal had attracted strong criticism from the salaried class, forcing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and ask Jaitley to put the proposal on hold.

Apart from this, the government is to introduce a Bill to further amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968 and the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971 in the Lok Sabha.

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The government has also listed the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, the National Waterways Bill and Whistle Blowers’ Protection Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The Aadhaar Bill has not been listed for discussion in the Lok Sabha for Tuesday.

The government is hopeful that the Congress will support not only the Aadhaar Bill, despite its objections on it being presented as a money Bill, but also the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the real estate Bill would become a ‘reality’ during the ongoing Budget session of Parliament. “I am holding discussion with all stakeholders,” he informed domestic and global investors at the ‘Happening Haryana’ conclave in Gurgaon.

In a related development, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Narendra Modi government of ‘crushing’ the weak and the poor who demand their rights.

He also said Union ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were free to carry out personalised attacks against him, but they should not “crush the poor and the weak for whom I speak”.

Jaitley had recently taken a dig at Gandhi over the latter’s speech in the Lok Sabha, saying: “The more I hear Rahul Gandhi, the more I start wondering how much does he know — when will he know.”

The PM, without referring to the Congress vice-president by name, too had taken potshots at him during his speech in the Lok Sabha.