Intellectual property enforcement in India provides civil, criminal and administrative remedies to address and deter infringement nationwide.
India's IPR regime provides civil, criminal and administrative remedies across patents, trademarks, copyright, designs, geographical indications and related rights. Civil reliefs include injunctions (temporary and permanent), damages or account of profits, delivery up and destruction orders, and equitable remedies such as Anton Piller and Mareva orders. Criminal sanctions attach to willful, commercial-scale infringement under specific statutes, while administrative mechanisms-oppositions, rectifications and customs detention-prevent invalid registrations and stop imports of infringing goods. Enforcement effectiveness is hindered by procedural delays, capacity gaps and transnational digital infringement. (AI Summary)

GST rectification periods are excluded from appeal limitation where the rectification was bona fide and not delayed.
Time spent pursuing a bona fide rectification application under Section 161 of the CGST Act is to be excluded when computing the limitation period for filing an appeal under Section 107, provided the taxpayer has neither acted with mala fide intent nor caused inordinate delay; the limitation for appeal begins after the rectification decision. (AI Summary)

Prohibition on sale of expired food: remove, recall or destroy out of date products and comply with safety and disposal rules.
Expired packaged food must be segregated and removed from sale: retailers, manufacturers and food handlers must withdraw, return, or destroy out of date products and keep records; donation is limited to safe, in date food under authorised schemes. Regulatory duties under food safety and environmental rules mandate date labelling, recall procedures and authorised disposal; sale, relabelling or repackaging of expired food is prohibited and attracts penalties and licence consequences. (AI Summary)

Non-resident companies must show ongoing business connection to claim business deductions and carry forward depreciation.
A non resident must demonstrate it was carrying on business in India during the relevant period to claim business expenditure deductions and carry forward unabsorbed depreciation; absence of a permanent office or an executed contract alone does not preclude a finding of ongoing business connection, and periods of temporary inactivity may be a lull rather than a cessation where correspondence, tendering and other business efforts show continuity and nexus to claimed expenses. (AI Summary)

GST annual return exemption for small taxpayers: turnover up to Rs. 2 crore relieved from annual return filing.
Notification No. 15/2025-CT exempts registered taxpayers with aggregate turnover up to Rs. 2 crore from filing the annual GST return under Section 44(1) from FY 2024-25 onwards. Aggregate turnover includes taxable supplies, exempt supplies, exports and inter state supplies by the same PAN and excludes reverse-charge and non GST supplies. Eligible regular taxpayers need not file the annual reconciliation but must maintain records and continue filing monthly/quarterly GST returns and meet audit-based filing requirements if applicable. (AI Summary)

Legally binding air-quality targets can transform enforcement and reduce particulate pollution through stronger monitoring and institutional capacity.
India's persistent particulate pollution stems from diverse emission sources, seasonal meteorology, coal dependent energy and fragmented enforcement under voluntary NCAP targets. China's reductions resulted from binding national plans, performance accountability, industrial restructuring, energy transition, stricter transport standards and nationwide real time monitoring. Recommended reforms for India centre on establishing legally binding air quality targets, controlling gaseous precursors, strengthening pollution control institutions, expanding transparent monitoring, incentivising clean energy and coordinating regionally to address transboundary pollution. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit inadmissibility for securities-related expenses: buyback costs fall outside GST ambit and are not creditable.
ITC is not admissible on expenses for share buyback because shares are securities excluded from GST; Section 16(1) limits credit to goods or services used in business, and Sections 17(2)-(3) treat securities transactions as exempt, requiring reversal of any input or input service credit attributable to the buyback. (AI Summary)

India's skies remain yellow due to persistent PM2.5, fragmented governance, and seasonal burning; binding targets and monitoring urged.
Persistent high PM2.5/PM10 and secondary aerosol formation from vehicles, coal combustion, biomass and agricultural burning, construction dust, and informal industries, combined with Indo Gangetic Plain meteorology, produce a sustained yellow haze. Effective remediation requires binding targets with accountability, control of SO2/NOx/NH3 precursors, industrial modernisation, coal to clean energy transition, regional coordination, and expanded monitoring and transparency to enable targeted multi sectoral interventions. (AI Summary)

Pre-show cause consultation mandatory for high-value tax demands; omission renders notices procedurally invalid but reissuance permitted after compliance.
The Bombay High Court held that mandated pre-show cause consultation under CBIC circulars is a required procedural step before issuing high-value service tax show cause notices (except preventive/offence cases); failure to consult renders the resultant show cause notice procedurally invalid and susceptible to set-aside, although the department may reinitiate proceedings after complying with the consultation requirement and any delay caused by court proceedings or re-consultation is to be excluded for limitation calculations. (AI Summary)

Interest on delayed GST refunds accrues from the original refund application date even if initially rejected.
Interest on delayed GST refunds is payable from the expiry of sixty days after the date of the original refund application, even if the initial claim was rejected and later allowed on appeal; interest runs from the earliest valid application and not from any subsequent re application after appellate relief. (AI Summary)

e-Office communications: Issue Number accepted as equivalent to DIN for document verification via official portal.
Electronic communications issued through the e-Office that carry a verifiable Issue Number, when validated via the official verification portal, will be treated as authentic and equivalent to a DIN, eliminating the need to quote a separate DIN; communications outside the e-Office or without a verifiable RFN must still quote a DIN. (AI Summary)

Rectification power under Section 161 cannot justify recalling appellate orders merely because an SLP is pending.
Section 161 permits correction of errors apparent on the face of the record limited to manifest clerical or patent mistakes, not reconsideration of adjudicated issues. The Allahabad High Court explained that pendency of an SLP without a stay is a subsequent event and does not make an appellate order erroneous or recallable, stressed that rectification is not review, and reaffirmed the finality of appellate orders except for correction of obvious errors. (AI Summary)

Blocking of electronic credit ledger without recorded reasons breaches natural justice, requiring a timely post decisional hearing.
Blocking an electronic credit ledger under Rule 86A requires the Commissioner or an authorised officer to record in writing the reasons to believe that the credit is ineligible or fraudulently availed; absence of such recorded reasons and failure to provide a prompt post decisional hearing contravenes principles of natural justice. The court required the revenue to grant a full post decisional hearing within a prescribed period, conditioned any continued restriction on a bank guarantee, and prohibited encashment of that guarantee until after the hearing process concluded. (AI Summary)

GST provisional attachments and recovery taken while appeal period remained open raise procedural and accountability concerns.
The article identifies procedural irregularities where provisional attachment and recovery actions were executed while the statutory three-month appeal period after adjudication remained open, noting that Section 79 becomes relevant only after that period and that mandatory pre-deposit rules and statutory caps were not adequately considered; it calls for review of the timing of recovery, the propriety of filing Special Leave Petitions, and administrative accountability for officials. (AI Summary)

Setting up an SEZ unit in India offers duty and tax incentives but requires approvals, bonding, and ongoing compliance.
SEZ units gain exemptions from customs duty, income tax benefits, and zero-rated GST but must meet eligibility (export focus, permitted activities, positive Net Foreign Exchange), register locally (PAN, IEC), secure developer consent, and apply via Form-F with a project report. After Unit Approval and issuance of a Letter of Approval, units must bond premises with Customs, obtain GST, and execute a Bond-cum-Legal Undertaking (Form-H). Ongoing compliance - Softex filings, performance reports, stock registers, NFE maintenance, and duty payment on DTA sales - is required and LoAs are renewable in five-year blocks. (AI Summary)

Back to Town endorsement shift: gate preventive officers now verify and endorse shipping bills, enabling faster export gate-out.
Authority to endorse Back to Town export consignments at gate-out is transferred from Port Superintendents to Gate Preventive Officers, who must verify Shipping Bill details, make a manual BTT endorsement on the Shipping Bill, and forward a fortnightly list of such containers and Shipping Bills to the Boarding Officer for cross-verification against Export General Manifests, creating an audit trail while other BTT provisions remain unchanged. (AI Summary)

Doctrine of proportionality: restoration of GST registration permitted after taxpayer completes outstanding tax, interest, late fees and compliance.
The court applied the doctrine of proportionality to restore GST registration where the taxpayer had paid all outstanding tax, interest and late fees and made an additional remedial contribution, conditioning restoration on prompt payment of any further liabilities communicated by the revenue and continued compliance, while recognising that cancellation powers remain for conduct meeting established cancellation criteria. (AI Summary)

Special Valuation Branch assessments ensure declared import values reflect true value; provisional deposits and Investigation Reports guide duty adjustments.
SVB assessment examines whether declared transaction value reflects true value for duty where importer and supplier relations or special arrangements may influence price. Upon referral the assessing officer makes provisional assessment and may require an Extra Duty Deposit and bond; SVB issues Annexure B, expects a reply within 60 days, investigates (document review, meetings, inter-agency inputs) and prepares an Investigation Report recommending acceptance or modification of value. IRs are binding across ports for that importer-supplier pairing; acceptance leads to finalisation and refund of EDD, rejection leads to SCN, hearing, and adjudication. (AI Summary)

E invoicing threshold reduced, expanding mandatory electronic invoicing and affecting B2B and export compliance obligations.
Effective 1 October 2025, GST amendments revise rates for selected goods and services, permit ITC on mandated CSR spending while clarifying fit-out treatment, redesign GSTR-3B for mandatory auto-population from GSTR-2B with integrated IFF for quarterly filers, reduce the mandatory e-invoicing turnover threshold for B2B and export supplies, change place-of-supply rules for OIDAR and SaaS to recipient billing address, omit provisional ITC for missing invoices in favour of GSTR-2B validation, and enable e-way bill blocking where returns are pending. (AI Summary)

GST refunds attract mandatory interest if not paid within 60 days, even when delay arises from technical system errors.
Interest under Section 56 of the CGST Act is mandatorily payable where a refund is not made within sixty days of the refund application; the entitlement is compensatory and arises by lapse of the statutory timeline, and administrative or technical system errors do not negate interest unless taxpayer fault is affirmatively established. (AI Summary)