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CBDT Chairperson Anita Kapur said she would like to bust the myth and “fear psychosis” that once people file their tax returns, they automatically come on the radar of the taxman and then they are tracked.

Ms Kapur, in an interview to PTI, said in cases of neatly filed electronic income tax returns (ITRs), the department has set a deadline of six months for refunds to be generated and sent to the taxpayer.

“We tell the taxpayers that in e-file returns we take a maximum of six months to process it if you have a clean return and no TDS mis-match. But then there is a misinformation campaign that we hold refunds. I will say we don’t hold refunds for small taxpayers,” said the chief of CBDT, the apex policymaking body of the I-T department.

“For large taxpayers, if it is a scrutiny case, then we have to hold it as per law till the scrutiny assessment is over but not for small taxpayers if their ITRs are all correct,” she said.

“We are not interested in holding up small returns.”

Ms Kapur said her second area of concern over which she would like to put the record straight is the version that taxman puts the cases of small and middle-category taxpayers on the scrutiny list which entails submission of additional documents and visits to the assessing I-T officer.

Citing an example, she said no tax inspector can just go to a person, like a fruit-seller, and say he/she has to file his I-T return or that his/her return is going to be scrutinized.

“We are told that people are scared that once tax department knows about them after they have done filing (of ITR) then they are tracked and followed and they stay on the radar of the I-T department. We want to tell the taxpayers that only in less than one per cent cases you will be asked to come to the tax department for scrutiny of your case.”

“And even this less than one per cent category is not discretionary selection by the assessing officer. It is a computer-based programme where risk parameters are fed in, algorithm is developed, and based on that cases get selected,” she said.

The CBDT chief said that when these parameters are built in, they are done in a manner that “in fact, small taxpayers don’t get selected and these parameters are to detect big tax evasion”.

“So, small taxpayers should not be scared of entering the department, doing e-filing and even manual filing,” she said.

This kind of a fear psychosis, Ms Kapur said, is totally “unwarranted”.

“Now, when we are holding out this assurance to you that only less than one per cent cases I am going to scrutinize then I am not looking at small taxpayer. The tax evasion probability of a small taxpayer is less and hence he is not selected for scrutiny.”

“So, if a small taxpayer is willingly paying his taxes, we assume that why would he want to evade taxes? For us, it’s a good situation. This is one way of doing things for the small taxpayer,” she added.

The US-based tech giant Apple will unveil its latest iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in India on October 16.

These phones were seized recently from young people in their late 20s who had come from Hong Kong and Singapore on separate flights, officials said.

Acting on intelligence inputs, customs officials intercepted them and seized the iPhones.

“All of them were carrying iPhone 6S and 6S Plus in their baggage. We have seized 182 devices from them,” said Vinayak Azaad, Additional Commissioner, Customs, at the IGI airport.

Some of the youths were offered money to smuggle in the devices, the official said.

The US-based tech giant Apple will unveil its latest iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus in India on October 16.

The company has not disclosed the price of its new products for the Indian market.

Apple had sold over 13 million units of these phones on the first three days of the launch on September 25.

The new iPhone models were available for sale on September 25 across the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and Singapore.

Incidentally, the seizure has been affected from the sector, that comprises Hong Kong and Singapore, infamous for gold smuggling.

“We maintain strict vigil on flights coming from Hong Kong, Singapore and other western and South Asian countries for gold smuggling. The officials have been sensitised on the possibility of smuggling of iPhones after the latest seizure,” Mr Azaad said.

He said the youths were detained and questioned to ascertain the end-use of the products to help unearth organised syndicates which might be behind it.

“There are chances of smuggling of iPhone 6S and 6S Plus ahead of their launch which is still 12 days away,” the official said.

File Photo: UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav

Mr Yadav has requested to declare Jhansi-Khajuraho, Lipulekh-Bhind and Dohri Ghat-Azamgarh-Jaunpur-Allahabad routes as national highways.

“The CM has written a letter to Union Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari in this regard,” an official spokesman said in a statement issued in Lucknow.

He said that widening of these routes would help in development of infrastructure facilities and removing bakwardness.

The Chief Minister has referred to a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 8 in which it was requested to declare four important routes as national highways and develop them as four lane.

Indrani Mukerjea was arrested in August and has been lodged at Mumbai jail since September 7.

On Friday afternoon, Ms Mukerjea, 43 — a former media executive arrested in August for allegedly murdering her daughter Sheena Bora three years ago — collapsed after allegedly swallowing a combination of pills for depression and epilepsy.

But doctors today said that lab reports show there was no overdose. They told reporters that she is conscious now. “Her condition is good, we will observe her for 24 to 48 hours and then discharge her,” said TP Lahane, dean of JJ Hospital.

While a hospital lab said there were signs of an attempted overdose, results from a forensic lab said the opposite, causing significant confusion.  As it is, jail officials are unable to explain how Ms Mukerjea, who had been prescribed pills after being arrested, had managed to accrue the stash that led to her collapse.

Ms Mukerjea, who is married to former media mogul Peter Mukerjea, is charged with killing her daughter along with an ex-husband, Sanjeev Khanna, and a former driver. She founded broadcasting group INX Media with Mr Mukerjea in 2007.

“Some trains have been cancelled, some re-scheduled and some regulated between Ambala Cantonment and Chandigarh railway station due to non-interlocking work between the two stations,” officials said.

The trains have been cancelled, re-scheduled and regulated for six hours, the officials said.

The trains which stands cancelled, included Himalayan Queen, Ekta Express, Shatabdi Express and Jan Shatabdi Express.

While 20 trains have been re-scheduled, seven trains have been regulated passing through Ambala Cantonment junction, officials said.

These included Amritsar-Badra Express, Kalka-Bandra Express, Chandigarh-Jaipur Intercity, Amritsar-New Delhi Express, Shan-e-Punjab, Pathankot-New Delhi Express and Saharsa-Amritsar Express, the officials said.

In view of the work going on between the two stations, many commuters are facing hardship.

“We want a total repoll in all booths in both Bidhannagar and Asansol corporations in view of the rampant corrupt practices and violence,” CPI(M) politburo member Mohd Salim said in Kolkata.

“The whole election process has been rendered a farce. The State Election Commission has the responsibility to hold the election in free and fair manner, but it has failed in its duty,” Salim said.

He also demanded re-election at Bally under Howrah Municipal Corporation.

“The Left Front will sit together and decide on the next course of action,” he said when asked what the Front would do if the SEC turned down its demand for holding fresh polls.

State BJP president Rahul Sinha also demanded re-election in all booths of Bidhannagar and most booths in Asansol.

“Votes were looted in all booths with the ruling party unleashing terror among genuine voters,” he said.

The polls in these two municipal corporations are considered important as these are the last key elections in the state before it goes to Assembly polls next year.

While the opposition parties have alleged that large number of outsiders had been brought in to intimidate and scare off genuine voters, the ruling Trinamool Congress has denied any such activity by the party.

“As the ruling party we will never want any breach of peace,” Partha Chatterjee, TMC secretary-general, has said and accused CPI(M) of trying to create disturbances during the polls.

A number of journalists covering the elections were also manhandled and a few of them had to be hospitalised.

Leaders of both opposition and the ruling party visited the injured journalists in hospitals this morning.

The idea was that the pigeons will be released when the rockets burst and fly off – making for a grand spectacle during the visit of state Congress chief N Raghuveera Reddy.

But the rockets went up and the pigeons fell dead, roasted in the intense heat when the crackers burst high up.

In the video, the pigeons were seen being stuffed into paper cones fixed atop rockets. A cardboard lid was put on it and sealed tight. The rocket was then lit.

An NGO – People For Animals has filed a complaint with the police and an FIR has been lodged against the state Congress unit citing cruelty to animals. Cruelty to animals carries a punishment in India.

The local Congress unit is yet to comment on the matter.