Right to issue deficiency memo lapses after statutory scrutiny period, preserving refund timelines and interest entitlement.
Rule 90(2) requires the proper officer, within 15 days of filing a refund application, to acknowledge the application in Form GST RFD-02 or communicate deficiencies in Form GST RFD-03; failure to do so results in the application being treated as complete for counting statutory timelines, limits the officer's ability to raise belated deficiencies, and engages the interest and provisional refund consequences under the refund code. (AI Summary)

Appointment of arbitrators: party agreement governs selection, failing which designated institutions or courts make appointments under the statutory scheme.
Appointment of arbitrators is based on party agreement on procedure and number but, where parties fail to appoint, the statute permits appointment by courts or institutions designated by courts. Amendments reassign appointment authority from the earlier specified judicial office to higher courts or their designees and introduce arbitral institutions and an Arbitration Council of India to grade institutions, maintain panels in ungraded jurisdictions, and set standards for infrastructure, arbitrator calibre and performance. (AI Summary)

System driven disclosures under Regulation 7(2) automate reporting of covered persons' securities transactions and public dissemination.
System driven disclosures under Regulation 7(2) require listed companies to provide PAN or demat identifiers of promoters, promoter group members, designated persons and directors to a designated depository, which shares the information across depositories; depositories must supply daily consolidated transaction data to stock exchanges (including on market trades, off market transfers, pledges, transmissions and corporate actions) so that when a disclosure trigger under Regulation 7(2) is met, the exchanges disseminate the system generated disclosure separately from regular filings. (AI Summary)

Rules of Origin verification: preferential duty claims may be suspended pending origin checks and require importer due diligence.
Importers must declare country of origin in the bill of entry, maintain prescribed origin information and supporting documents in Form-I, and exercise reasonable care; customs may mark preferential claims inapplicable for defective or ineligible certificates, requisition Form-I information, seek verification from the issuing country if importers fail to furnish adequate information, suspend preferential treatment pending verification with provisional clearance against security, deny claims if origin criteria are unmet, and impose compulsory verification or sanctions for repeated failures or willful misstatements. (AI Summary)

E commerce compliance requires enhanced transparency and grievance redressal to protect online consumers' rights under the new rules.
The Rules regulate all digital sale or supply of goods and services, require e commerce entities (including foreign entities systematically offering to local consumers) to appoint a resident nodal contact, publish comprehensive identity, pricing, payment, return/refund and grievance details, obtain explicit consumer consent for purchases, and prohibit price manipulation, arbitrary discrimination and unfair trade practices. Marketplace platforms must secure seller undertakings, disclose seller and ranking information, maintain records to identify repeat infringers, and comply with intermediary obligations for immunity; inventory sellers bear liability when they guarantee authenticity. (AI Summary)

Anti-profiteering obligation requires suppliers to pass GST rate reductions and input tax credit benefits through price reductions.
Section 171 imposes an anti profiteering obligation requiring commensurate price reductions when tax rates fall or when benefits of Input Tax Credit are availed. The designated Authority may examine compliance, identify registered persons who failed to pass on benefits, order price reductions, direct return of unpassed amounts with interest, require deposits into the specified fund if recipients are unidentifiable, and impose penalties or cancel registration. (AI Summary)

National Court of Appeal proposal reallocates appellate workload to reduce pendency and reserve Supreme Court for constitutional matters.
Proposal for a National Court of Appeal to absorb most appeals from High Courts, tribunals and quasi judicial bodies through regional benches, reserving the Supreme Court primarily for constitutional and public law questions. The proposal addresses pendency and access issues, contemplates appointment standards for NCA judges, jurisdictional boundaries with High Courts, and case management mechanisms including clustering unsettled legal issues for possible referral to the Supreme Court. (AI Summary)

Appointment of Registered Valuers: resolution professional must appoint only registered valuers or face disciplinary sanctions.
Resolution professionals must appoint two registered valuers to determine fair value and liquidation value through physical verification and internationally accepted valuation standards; ineligible appointees include relatives, related parties, recent auditors and partners/directors of the professional's insolvency professional entity. Only IBBI-registered valuers may be appointed and use of unregistered valuers or acceptance of valuation work before registration constitutes regulatory violations attracting disciplinary measures and exclusion of payments from the CIRP estate. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit allocation: residual IGST may be apportioned to balance CGST and SGST, avoiding unnecessary cash outflow.
The order of utilisation of input tax credit determines application of IGST, CGST and SGST balances; after rule changes taxpayers may now allocate residual IGST in any proportion between CGST and SGST. Portal suggestions may default to an earlier sequencing that exhausts IGST toward CGST first, so taxpayers must edit suggested set-offs in returns where lawful to avoid CGST accumulation and unnecessary cash outflows. Practical steps include editing return entries to distribute IGST residuals, using central credits against IGST liabilities where appropriate, and employing permitted payment-adjustment procedures to reclassify tax payments. (AI Summary)

Provisional attachment of bank accounts must protect revenue and be based on credible nexus, not shut down business.
Provisional attachment under the GST Act permits the Commissioner to attach property, including bank accounts, during specified pending proceedings only when he is of the opinion that attachment is necessary to protect revenue; this subjective satisfaction must rest on credible materials, a rational nexus to recovery, and be exercised sparingly-attachment of accounts with debit or nil balances or where it merely ruins business without securing revenue is inappropriate. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit reconciliation: GSTR 2B centralises supplier reported credits, altering ITC claim timing and compliance for taxpayers.
GSTR 2B is a static, monthly auto drafted Input Tax Credit statement derived from supplier filed GSTR 1, GSTR 5 and GSTR 6 and ICEGATE import data, published on the twelfth day of the succeeding month to assist taxpayers in reconciling supplier reported credits with their books and preparing GSTR 3B; it includes supplier wise and document level details, identifies certain non available credits based on limited parameters, and creates timing and reconciliation challenges where supplier filings fall outside the defined extraction window. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit eligibility: conditions for invoice possession, receipt, tax payment, return filing and specified blocked supplies.
Eligibility for input tax credit requires possession of prescribed tax invoices or debit notes, receipt of the goods or services, actual payment of tax to the government (including via admissible ITC), and filing of required returns. Transitional entitlement exists for inputs held on registration or when an exempt input becomes taxable, subject to time limits and invoice dating rules. Administrative amendments restrict self claimed credit where supplier invoice uploads are missing, and certain categories of supplies are expressly blocked from credit with narrowly defined exceptions and attribution rules for plant and machinery. (AI Summary)

Goods and Services Tax reform drives economic recovery by simplifying indirect taxes and boosting compliance and consumption.
GST is described as a central fiscal mechanism that simplified indirect taxation by removing overlapping levies and eliminating cascading taxes, thereby reducing manufacturing costs and consumer prices, stimulating demand and production, and strengthening control over unreported transactions through audit and compliance; digital GST-compliant billing solutions are noted as facilitating adherence to the regime. (AI Summary)

Retrospective amendment of tax laws may validate past demands but must not impair vested rights or be arbitrary.
Retrospective amendments may validate past tax recoveries or cure drafting defects and are permissible when they correct omissions, clarify ambiguous provisions, or alter the legal basis on which prior judicial decisions were rendered. Such amendments must be reasonable, corrective or declaratory in nature, and adhere to the principle of fairness; they cannot lawfully deprive vested rights, impose new liabilities, or criminalize pre-amendment conduct absent clear legislative intent, and measures that do so are presumptively prospective and subject to constitutional challenge. (AI Summary)

Assignment of leasehold right treated as service, subject to GST and input tax credit allowed on transfer fees.
Assignment of a leasehold right is a taxable supply of services under Schedule II and does not amount to sub leasing; it is classifiable as Other Miscellaneous Services and attracts GST. Tax paid on transfer fees connected to permitting the assignment is admissible as input tax credit against the GST liability on the assignment. (AI Summary)

Free reserves: revaluation gains may support security valuation and net worth for lending, though excluded from distributions.
Revaluation gains are excluded from free reserves for distribution purposes where unrealised or notional, and revaluation reserves are excluded from net worth in some statutory calculations; however, for borrowing and security valuation, fair market value including ascertainable, reasonably permanent revaluation appreciation may be considered by lenders as augmenting a borrower's net worth and security coverage, while realised gains and actual liability remissions are generally available as free reserves. (AI Summary)

Input tax credit for financial institutions: monthly partial credit option or apportionment for mixed taxable and exempt supplies available.
A person qualifying as a financial institution and engaged in supplying services by way of accepting deposits or extending loans or advances may either follow ordinary apportionment for mixed taxable and exempt supplies or elect a monthly partial credit option to claim a fixed portion of eligible input tax credit with the balance lapsing; the election is irrevocable for the remainder of the financial year. The statutory definition of financial institution is adopted from the Reserve Bank of India Act and includes specified non banking financing activities. (AI Summary)

MSME support measures: liquidity, regulatory relief and export promotion to stabilise and rebuild small enterprise capacity.
The article identifies MSME vulnerabilities-limited finance, technological obsolescence, informality and infrastructure gaps-and endorses digitalised credit appraisal and pandemic-era policy responses: liquidity provision, repayment relief and NPA forbearance. It summarises institutional supports (NSIC, SIDO), regulatory reliefs including MSME Form-1 and the Companies Fresh Start Scheme (CFSS), and promotes export facilitation, e commerce adoption, infrastructure investment and targeted measures for women entrepreneurs and incubation to rebuild MSME resilience. (AI Summary)

Delegated legislation limits: subordinate rules cannot exceed parent statute or curtail statutory tax rights.
Delegated legislation under the GST scheme must remain within the scope and standards prescribed by the parent statute: it may prescribe procedural and administrative mechanisms but cannot enlarge statutory meanings, create substantive tax obligations, or deny accrued statutory rights. Instruments that exceed delegated power, conflict with the enabling Act, or curtail essential legislative functions are liable to be struck down as ultra vires while valid severable portions may survive. (AI Summary)

Anticipatory bail: an assessee under GST inquiry may seek pre arrest relief subject to protective conditions.
Where a person reasonably apprehends arrest for a non bailable offence, the High Court or Court of Session may grant anticipatory bail after considering factors like the gravity of the accusation, antecedents, risk of flight and motive of accusation; the Court may impose conditions such as availability for interrogation, non tampering with witnesses or evidence, and restrictions on travel. A High Court applied these principles to hold that an assessee facing inquiry under the CGST framework may seek anticipatory bail and that the tax statute does not bar such relief, granting conditional pre arrest bail while protecting investigative interests. (AI Summary)