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Maha Cabinet clears amendments for removal of presidents of municipal councils, municipal panchayats & industrial towns

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Mumbai, April 15: The Maharashtra Cabinet, chaired by the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Tuesday approved the amendment to the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Municipal Panchayats and Industrial Towns Act, 1965, empowering the members to remove the presidents of Municipal Councils, Municipal Panchayats and Industrial Towns.

As the state legislature is not in session, the state government will issue an ordinance.

Earlier, for the removal of the president from office, a proposal with the signatures of fifty percent of the elected members needed to be sent to the District Collector. After that, action was taken at the government level to remove the president from office. Instead, now the elected members will be given the power to remove the president from office.

Accordingly, a proposal with the signatures of two-thirds of the elected members will be sent and based on which the District Collector will have to hold a special meeting within ten days and take a decision through voting.

In a related development, the Cabinet also approved to harmonise the rules for leasing real estate of municipal corporations and properties in municipal councils, municipal panchayats and industrial towns. It was also decided to issue a notification regarding new rates, Rules were framed on November 6, 2023, regarding the lease, renewal and transfer of immovable property of Municipal Corporations in the state.

Accordingly, uniformity will be brought in the transfer of properties in all urban local bodies in the state. For this, Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Towns (Transfer of Immovable Property) (Amendment) Rules 2025 will be framed on the lines of the Municipal Property Transfer Rules. The properties of the Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayat, and Industrial Town have been classified as residential, educational, charitable, and public, commercial, and industrial.

According to the revised rules, the lease rate of properties for residential, educational, charitable, and public use will not be less than 0.5 percent of the current market value (ready reckoner).

The Cabinet also approved the provision for the lease rate for properties for commercial and industrial use, which will be less than 0.7 per cent of the market value. The valuation, lease rate and security deposit of these properties will be determined by a five-member committee headed by the District Collector of the respective districts. Objections and suggestions will be invited regarding these rules, and then a final notification will be published.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet also cleared the Abhay Yojana for property tax dues in Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayat, Industrial Township areas by waiving penalties. The government release said that there is a provision to impose a penalty of 2 per cent per month on the arrears of property taxes in the municipal council, municipal panchayat and industrial town areas.

Due to this, the total arrears of the property holders increase, and the amount of the penalty often exceeds the original tax amount. Since the penalty amount is more than the original tax amount, property holders are reluctant to pay the tax.

As a solution to this, the Abhay Yojana will be implemented by waiving the penalty on the arrears of property tax. There is no provision for such a penalty waiver in the previous Act. The Cabinet approved the inclusion of such a provision in the Act.

National

Market volatility over Greenland issue to continue due to ‘few sticking points’: Report

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New Delhi, Jan 24 : Investors are likely to remain on edge over the proposed US framework on Greenland, and near-term volatility related to this issue can continue, a report has said.

The report from Bank of Baroda said that market participants are awaiting more details that could determine whether negotiations succeed or unravel.

“Going ahead, investors are likely to await more details of the deal, as there are a few sticking points which can derail the negotiations. Hence, some volatility can be expected,” the report said.

Several analysts expect the arrangement to resemble an update of the existing security agreement between the US and Denmark, which was signed in 1951, the report noted.

Further negotiations will follow in due course which will cover areas such as US military presence in Greenland, as well as use of its mineral resources and sovereignty, said Aditi Gupta, Economist, Bank of Baroda.

US President Donald Trump has framed Washington’s interest in Greenland as driven by national security concerns, but the island’s largely unexplored mineral wealth including oil, gas and rare earth elements is of interest to US, the report said.

“The announcement of a framework deal between the US and NATO has helped to soothe investors’ nerves, however the details of the deal are still fuzzy,” it added.

Geo-political tensions escalated and markets went into turmoil after the US President intensified rhetoric to annex Greenland and threatened economic measures against European countries that oppose US plans. In response, several European nations, including France, Germany, Sweden amongst others increased military deployment in Greenland, further escalating tensions.

Trump had announced a 10 per cent additional tariff on goods from the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Netherlands and Finland from February 1, 2026. The rate was expected to increase to 25 per cent by June 1, 2026.

Later, he backed off from his threat of imposing tariffs on European countries along the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

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Crime

Two Held With ₹68 Lakh Cash Near India-Myanmar Border In Mizoram; Heroin Worth ₹78 Lakh Seized

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Aizawl: Two persons were arrested with Rs 68 lakh in cash near the India-Myanmar border in east Mizoram’s Champhai district, officials said on Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, the Assam Rifles intercepted a vehicle at Zote village on August 11, they said.

Upon thorough checking, Rs 60 lakh in cash was recovered from two persons in the vehicle.

The duo, identified as Joseph Lalthansanga and Vanlalruati, could not state any proper reason why they were carrying such a huge amount of cash. They were subsequently handed over to the police for legal action, officials said.

In another operation, the Assam Rifles recovered 94.6 gram of heroin, worth Rs 78 lakh, from the village on Wednesday.

The drugs were handed over to the Excise and Narcotics Department, officials said.

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National

India’s AI Tech Spending Projected To Reach Rs. 92 Thousand Crore By 2028: Report

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India’s AI technology spending is projected to grow at an annualised rate of 38 per cent from 2023 to reach $10.4 billion (approximately Rs. 92 thousand crore) in 2028, a report said on Thursday.

Around 40 per cent of organisations in India have already implemented agentic AI, and close to 50 per cent are planning to use the technology within the next 12 months, IDC InfoBrief and UiPath said in a joint report.

In 2025, AI investments are focused on building the foundational infrastructure required to power transformative, high-value use cases.

According to the report, the adoption is surging, fueled by a tech-savvy workforce, expanding digital infrastructure, and government-backed initiatives.

Organisations’ spending on enterprise automation, multilingual AI models, and agentic deployments is driving this momentum further.

The benefits are already visible, as 80 per cent of Indian companies say agentic AI boosts productivity, while 73 per cent say it improves decision-making, the report said.

According to the report, agentic AI is gaining strong traction across the manufacturing, retail and wholesale, healthcare, and life sciences industries, which heavily rely on data and repetitive decision-making cycles.

“Agentic automation is rapidly redefining business operations across India. While enterprises in this region are embracing the full potential of AI agents to streamline workflows and autonomously execute complex business processes, trust and security remain barriers to widespread implementation,” said DebDeep Sengupta, Area Vice President, South Asia, UiPath.

Our agentic automation platform directly addresses these challenges, breaking down barriers to enterprise AI adoption by enhancing security and compliance, improving accuracy and reliability for agentic outcomes, Sengupta added.

About 69 per cent of Indian organisations are using agentic AI to enhance productivity, 59 per cent to drive personalised customer engagement, while 57 per cent apply it to risk and fraud detection, highlighting how agentic AI is being applied across front and back-office functions, the report highlighted.

“Becoming an AI-fueled business is no longer an option in today’s unpredictable climate. For many organisations, it’s fast becoming a strategic necessity,” said Deepika Giri, Associate Vice President, IDC Asia/Pacific.

Across the region, organisations are embracing agentic AI and agentic automation at scale, Giri added.

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