The Death Penalty: In Defence of the Abolitionists

"As if one crime of such nature, done by a single man, acting individually, can be expiated by a similar crime done by all men, acting collectively."

-       Lewis Lawes,

(Warden of Sing Sing prison in New York in the 1920s and 30s)

Introduction

Do away with the Death Penalty?

On the dais of the District Court at Ratnagiri, one will find the statue of Late Shri Mancharje Pestanji Khareghat, who served in that Court as District Judge from 1895 to 1900 and again from 1904 to 1910. During his time the death sentence could only be awarded by a judge of the High Court. When Shri Khareghat was offered an elevation to the High Court, he declined on the ground that he could not, and would never be, a party to the death sentence. It is for this reason that the Ld. District Court Judge is still well known among Judges and senior members of the Bar.

Value of FSI and TDR not to be included in Land Value u/s 50C of IT Act

Generally, the provisions of Indian tax laws provide that transfers of immovable property must be at a fair valuation. However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (‘ITAT’), Mumbai Bench, has ruled, in Income-tax Officer v. Shri Prem Rattan Gupta, that the value of TDR and FSI cannot be the subject mattter of section 50C of the Income Tax Act, 1961.