As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not in favour of taking up the much-talked-about Direct Taxes Code Bill at this juncture, which aims to “rationalise” the tax structure and levy a higher income tax rate of 35 per cent on the “super-rich” (defined as those earning Rs 10 crores or more a year), the matter was not taken up at Thursday’s meeting of the Union Cabinet.
Though the Prime Minister’s Office officially denied that Dr Singh had said anything to his Cabinet colleagues on the bill, it had made it clear in the afternoon itself that the proposal would not come up for discussion at the meeting on Thursday.
Sources in the government said the Prime Minister, after consulting Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had indicated he was not in favour of the bill in the present form at this juncture.
The Cabinet, meanwhile, approved a bill on a Judicial Appointments Commission, that will decide on the appointment of judges of the Supreme