Appointment of Administrator governs sale, claims verification and structured refunds to investors under securities recovery regulations.
Regulations authorize appointment of an Administrator-an insolvency resolution professional empanelled by the Board-to execute attachment, valuation, sale and recovery processes under securities recovery provisions, including opening an interest-bearing escrow account under Recovery Officer control, engaging independent experts for claim verification and valuation, inviting and ascertaining investor claims, and effecting repayments in a prioritized distribution from sale proceeds while maintaining independence, confidentiality and reporting obligations. (AI Summary)

TDS deductor registration required under GST; online five-step process ensures registration and issues GSTIN to deductors.
Deductors required to collect TDS under GST must register online as TDS deductors using TAN, obtain a TRN via OTP verification, and complete Form GST REG-07 in five tabs-Business Details, DDO Details, Authorised Signatory Details, Office Address Details and Verification-submitting with DSC or EVC so the proper officer can issue a GSTIN. (AI Summary)

Advance rulings jurisdiction: AAR may reject applications outside statutory scope or when precluded by pending proceedings.
The AAR is limited to questions within section 97(2) and admission requirements of section 98(2); applications by improper parties, questions outside the CGST Act (including certain import levies, Foreign Trade Policy, or non CGST notifications), procedural clarifications of administrative notifications, or matters subject to pending proceedings are not maintainable and may be rejected at admission. (AI Summary)

Extra-judicial confession: may support conviction if voluntary, reliable, and corroborated by cogent circumstances.
Extra-judicial confession is an admission made outside court that is inherently weak and must be scrutinised for voluntariness, truthfulness and reliability. If proved in the accused's exact words and found voluntary, it can be acted upon, but it ordinarily requires corroboration or a chain of cogent circumstances to inspire judicial confidence; the rule of prudence does not demand independent corroboration for every detail, only that the confession and attendant evidence collectively support its credibility. (AI Summary)

Failure to pass on GST rate reduction: profiteering found, refund and statutory penalties pursued under CGST compliance.
Investigators found that the respondent increased basic retail prices by an amount equal to the GST rate reduction despite access to Input Tax Credit, constituting profiteering under Section 171; incorrect invoicing was also found. Remedies prescribed included refund with interest to the identifiable purchaser, deposit of remaining unidentifiable-consumer amounts into the Consumer Welfare Fund with interest, and initiation of penalty and interest proceedings under the CGST framework, with recovery provisions for noncompliance. (AI Summary)

Passing on GST rate reduction must reach each recipient; cross-subsidising via other packs is not permitted.
Whether a reduction in tax rate must result in a commensurate reduction in price to each recipient was examined where a seller kept the cum-tax MRP unchanged for a smaller packaged commodity by raising its base price while reducing prices of larger packs. The authority rejected allocation of benefit across distinct packaged commodities, relied on Legal Metrology rounding rules limiting arbitrary MRP fixation, found non compliance with Section 171, quantified profiteering for the smaller pack, and required monetary settlement with interest. (AI Summary)

Due date for partners' income tax returns should match firms' tax audit due date; 'working partner' wording causes filing errors.
Explanation 2 to section 139(1) treats a "working partner" of an audited firm as subject to the same 30 September due date as the firm; the article contends that the qualifier "working" is inappropriate because partners' taxable incomes and ability to file correctly depend on finalised audited accounts regardless of whether remuneration was paid. It urges substituting "partner" for "working partner", and calls for a CBDT circular and ITR utility amendment to remove software warnings that disallow the second due date when no remuneration is entered. (AI Summary)

SEZ compliance: Amendment aligns SEZ rules with GST and tightens approvals, procurement, export verification and NFE rules.
The Amendment integrates GST into SEZ provisions, replaces obsolete duty-entitlement definitions, and revises procedural and filing requirements: Form A1 for co-developer proposals, forwarding through the jurisdictional Development Commissioner, and Approval Committee notifications. Developer obligations now include regulator office space and expanded professional certification for returns. Unit applications are simplified and require GST registration. Sector- and product-specific controls address biotechnology, IT, used-clothing and gems and jewellery. Procurement, export verification, drawback claims, utilization, and waste procedures are updated, and a revised five-year Net Foreign Exchange calculation, renewal, regularization and exit regimes are introduced alongside new Forms F1, F2 and L. (AI Summary)

FSSAI registration thresholds determine license type; online FLRS application with multi-year validity and document requirements.
Registration and licensing for food businesses is administered through an online Food Licensing Registration System (FLRS), allowing Food Business Operators to apply for registration, state or central licences or import licences according to turnover-based eligibility and to track applications by reference number. Applications are subject to a departmental processing period capped at seventy-five working days, after which the registration or licence certificate is emailed to the applicant. Eligibility maps to turnover bands and applicants must submit prescribed identity, address, firm and premises documentation along with business particulars. (AI Summary)

Reverse Charge Mechanism may apply to SEZ units or developers, but authoritative clarifications present conflicting guidance.
Applicability of the Reverse Charge Mechanism under sections 9(3) and 9(4) to SEZ units/developers is disputed: one view, based on IGST import definitions and post 2018 SEZ rule alignment, holds that RCM can apply to SEZ units/developers, requiring cash discharge of tax with subsequent ITC and refund claims; an alternative administrative clarification records that RCM is not applicable in the circumstances addressed by that clarification. (AI Summary)

Deductions from salary: catalogues allowable salary deductions and statutory conditions for recent assessment years.
Permissible deductions from salary are catalogued by reference to operative statutory provisions: the standard deduction, entertainment allowance rules for government employees, professional tax, and Category-wide deductions under Chapter VI-A (Sections 80C-80U) including life insurance and provident fund contributions, medical insurance and treatment deductions, disability relief, interest on education and housing loans (subject to specified conditions), charitable donation relief, and rent-related relief, each subject to their qualifying conditions, ceilings and documentary requirements when computing taxable salary or net total income. (AI Summary)

Brand name taxability: packaging changes cannot sever brand association for GST where retail presentation preserves branding connection.
Goods marketed and sold in a branded retail environment remain brand-associated and taxable where packaging, presentation, store-exclusive sale, website references and billing continue to establish a connection with the retailer's trade name; omission of registered trademarks or addition of a "Marketed by" legend does not, by itself, negate brand association and entitlement to an exemption, and generic descriptors used without changing the surrounding marketing environment will be treated as a brand name. (AI Summary)

Parliament's power to levy a compensation cess upheld; levy permissible alongside GST and no set off of prior cess allowed.
The article explains that the Supreme Court upheld the Compensation to States Act, 2017 as within Parliament's legislative competence, finding the power to levy a compensation cess consistent with the constitutional GST amendment and Article 270. The Court held the compensation cess to be a distinct impost permissible alongside GST and rejected the claim that it amounted to double taxation. It further held that Clean Energy Cess paid earlier is not available as a set off against Compensation Cess because the two levies serve different purposes and the statute provides no credit. (AI Summary)

Transport allowance exemption withdrawn after reintroduction of standard deduction, removing salary exemption except for specified disability cases.
Transport allowance exemption for salaried individuals has been withdrawn effective from the specified assessment year following reintroduction of the standard deduction, implemented by an amendment to the Income-tax Rules that omits the relevant entries governing exempt allowances and applies from the commencement date in the notification to that assessment year and subsequent years. (AI Summary)

Appeal fees determined by Assessing Officer's computed income as on appeal verification date, reducing fees after valid recomputation.
For appeals against orders of the Commissioner (Appeals), the fee under section 253(6) is determined by the total income as computed by the Assessing Officer and verified in Form 36; the operative figure is the AO's computation as on the date the appeal memo is signed. Where the AO has validly recomputed and reduced income before verification (by rectification, re computation or giving appellate effect), that reduced figure should determine the fee, and successive computations may be annexed to Form 36 to clarify fee liability. (AI Summary)

Anti profiteering: developers must pass Input Tax Credit benefits to flat buyers, with refunds and interest required.
The Authority concluded there was contravention of the statutory anti profiteering obligation where the developer failed to pass Input Tax Credit benefits to buyers after GST introduction, and directed the developer to pass the ITC benefit to all identifiable buyers, refund or reduce amounts due to each buyer with interest from the date of receipt of excess amounts, and to be issued a show cause notice for penalty proceedings, with state tax authorities tasked to monitor implementation. (AI Summary)

OTP charges hinder cashless adoption; exempt basic savings accounts and treat OTPs as mandatory no charge SMS to protect inclusion.
Banks' imposition of fees for routine net banking services, especially OTP charges and transfer processing, disproportionately burdens senior citizens, low income and basic savings account holders and threatens adoption of cashless payments. The author urges that OTP delivery be treated as part of a Mandatory SMS service free of charge for vulnerable account types and calls for regulatory advisory and supervisory action to require exemptions and ensure banks' fee policies support financial inclusion and a cashless transition. (AI Summary)

Intangible asset recognition: concessionaire's right to operate and collect toll treated as depreciable commercial right under tax law.
The Tribunal held that a concessionaire's capital expenditure to construct and operate a BOT highway, coupled with the exclusive right to operate the facility and collect tolls during the concession, constitutes an intangible asset in the form of a commercial right. Although legal ownership remained with the Government, the Tribunal treated the capitalised costs funding the revenue bearing facility as creating a depreciable intangible under section 32(1)(ii), and rejected the argument that the right only crystallised at agreement execution or that the asset value should be limited to pre construction costs. (AI Summary)

Public Interest Litigation expands access to justice, enabling courts to address systemic public harms while deterring frivolous petitions.
Public Interest Litigation permits individuals, groups or public-spirited persons to invoke writ jurisdiction (Article 32 in the Supreme Court, Article 226 in High Courts, and section 133 CrPC before magistrates) to remedy collective harms and enforcement gaps where state failure or mis-governance exists. PILs are normally directed at public authorities though private parties may be impleaded where state responsibility is implicated. Courts demand bona fides, may initiate suo motu proceedings, and can impose costs for frivolous or politically motivated PILs while using structural remedies and committees to address systemic issues. (AI Summary)

Director Identification Number surrender procedure clarifies application, documentation, certification and processing requirements for deactivation.
The document sets out the statutory basis and administrative procedure for surrendering a Director Identification Number by filing Form DIR 5 with prescribed reasons (such as multiple DINs, fraud, death, unsound mind, insolvency or lack of company association), required personal particulars, attachments (identity/address proof, affidavits, court orders or death certificate), optional professional certification by specified practitioners, a filing fee, and non STP processing that changes the DIN status to surrendered and, upon approval, deactivates the DIN. (AI Summary)