Goods and Services Tax appeals require electronic filing, prescribed pre-deposit, and follow strict limitation and procedural rules.
First appeals under the GST regime allow persons aggrieved by adjudication orders to approach the First Appellate Authority for errors in classification, valuation, input tax credit, liability, registration and related disputes. Appeals are filed electronically within three months, with a limited 30-day condonation, require prescribed documents and a pre-deposit (admitted amounts plus 10% of disputed tax subject to cap) to stay recovery. The department may file appeals via authorised officers. The Appellate Authority may admit new grounds, permit withdrawals subject to approval, and after inquiry confirm, modify or annul orders in writing; orders affecting additional tax or credit require show-cause and compliance with statutory time limits. (AI Summary)

Summary assessment in GST allows immediate, evidence based tax determination with prior commissioner approval and possible conversion to regular proceedings.
Summary assessment permits a proper officer, with prior approval of the designated Commissioner, to determine tax liability immediately on evidentiary material without calling the taxpayer; it is a protective mechanism that can deem the person in charge of goods to be the taxable person where the liable person is unascertainable, and any withdrawn summary order must lead to regular determination proceedings, using prescribed forms and electronic summaries. (AI Summary)

Small GST taxpayers must check the portal fortnightly and act quickly to avoid time-barred notices and lost remedies.
Small taxpayers must monitor the GST portal regularly because missing uploaded communications can render proceedings time-barred. In Agrawal Enterprises the show cause notice uploaded in March 2024 was only noticed a year later; the appeal was dismissed as barred by limitation and the High Court declined to exercise Article 226 jurisdiction to condone the delay. Taxpayers relying on outsiders should check the portal fortnightly and promptly file replies, submissions, or appeals within statutory time limits to avoid loss of remedies. (AI Summary)

Turnaround strategies restore liquidity and reposition distressed companies through operational redesign, debt restructuring, and strengthened governance.
Restructuring targets root causes of distress-financial shortfalls, operational inefficiencies, market decline, or governance lapses-by optimizing cost structures, restoring liquidity through debt restructuring and asset monetisation, reengineering operations for efficiency, and realigning portfolios toward core, higher-margin activities. Execution depends on strengthened leadership and disciplined governance, while all measures must comply with insolvency, creditor, labour, tax, and regulatory constraints. Ongoing KPI-driven monitoring and adaptive reviews sustain the turnaround. (AI Summary)

Section 74 fraud-based GST proceedings require proven intent to evade; mere short payments or interpretation disputes do not suffice.
The remedial fraud-based tax provision applies only where facts establish an intention to evade tax; mere short payment or interpretational disputes do not suffice. Administrative guidance requires invoking the fraud route only after the revenue is convinced of deliberate evasion. Because transitional rules changed the limitation treatment for ordinary and fraud-based proceedings, taxpayers must map which periods and allegations legitimately fall within the fraud provision and insist that the revenue meet the burden of proof on intent. (AI Summary)

GST prosecutions: adjudication of tax liability does not bar criminal charges for fraudulent input tax credit or fake invoices.
Civil determination of tax, interest, penalty or recovery does not negate separate criminal culpability under Section 132 of the CGST Act for conduct showing mens rea-including fraudulent input tax credit claims, fake invoices, suppression to evade tax, falsified records, obstruction, or deliberate schemes to defraud revenue. Delay, pendency or outcome of adjudication and assertions of revenue neutrality do not alone justify quashing criminal proceedings at the threshold; such matters are for trial, and courts must not convert Section 482 proceedings into surrogate trials by testing the sufficiency of allegations. (AI Summary)

Cancellation of ITAT benches via e-notice board gives inadequate notice; parties require reasonable written notification.
Notices of bench cancellations and revised hearing dates posted only on the ITAT e-notice board frequently fail to provide adequate, timely notice; such generalized portal postings and late cause-list entries can deprive appellants, authorised representatives and departmental representatives of reasonable time to prepare or attend. To safeguard the principle of natural justice, tribunals should permit reasonable advance time and employ direct written communications (physical notice, email, SMS or equivalent) in addition to online postings. (AI Summary)

Machine-based levy on chewing tobacco, jarda and gutkha starts Feb 1 with capacity-based duty and strict compliance rules.
The board implemented a machine based levy for chewing tobacco, jarda scented tobacco and gutkha, establishing capacity determination rules, portal declarations of machine specifications, deemed production and provisional duty payment based on retail sale price pending physical verification, a thirty day verification order with hearing, monthly reporting and CCTV retention requirements, pro rata abatement for non operation, pre intimation and de sealing procedures, restrictions on duty free export, and mechanisms for duty adjustment, refund and payment of differential duty with interest. (AI Summary)

Goods in transit are governed by a primary transit code; confiscation is allowed only upon evidence-based intention to evade.
Panchhi Traders holds that after the 01-01-2022 amendments the transit regime is the primary statutory code for goods in movement and that confiscation is an exceptional, property-depriving power available during transit only upon formation of a concrete, evidence-based opinion of intention to evade. Routine or mechanical issuance of confiscation notices is impermissible; MOV forms and circulars operate only when statutory conditions of evasion are satisfied. (AI Summary)

Reasons to believe must precede inspection under GST; entry without recorded, material backed grounds is unlawful.
Inspection under Section 67 of the CGST Act permits entry, search and seizure only when a proper officer holds pre existing, recorded reasons to believe-based on tangible material and evaluated by an officer-that the contingencies in sub sections (a) or (b) exist. System generated assignments or post entry manufacture of belief do not meet the statutory threshold; reasons must be written, referable to material, disclosed to the affected person, and reach a threshold of reasonable certainty, failing which the inspection is jurisdictionally invalid. (AI Summary)

Ind AS implementation errors cause recurring revenue, lease, and financial instrument misstatements in statutory audits.
Audits repeatedly find failures in Ind AS implementation: absent enforceable contracts, misidentification of performance obligations, ignored variable consideration, timing errors in revenue recognition, off balance sheet lease treatment instead of recognising Right of Use assets, misuse of short term exemptions and wrong discount rates, misclassification of financial instruments under the business model and SPPI test, and omission of Expected Credit Loss provisions. Remedies emphasise training, documented judgments, contract review, technology adoption, and auditor focus on judgmental areas. (AI Summary)

Input Tax Credit distribution: same month rule found ultra vires, reinforcing vested ITC rights and limits on rule making.
The High Court held that Rule 39(1)(a) of the CGST Rules, insofar as it mandates same month distribution of Input Tax Credit, is ultra vires Section 20 of the CGST Act because the parent statute only delegated power to prescribe the manner of distribution, not to impose a substantive time limit that could extinguish a lawfully availed vested ITC; the Court also found procedural defects in the audit and rejected extended limitation where returns disclosed particulars. (AI Summary)

Tobacco taxation restructured: excise restored and increased, capacity based duty for packed chewing tobacco, GST reclassification implemented.
The Central Excise (Amendment) Act, 2025 and related notifications (effective 1 February 2026) restore and increase excise duty on tobacco products to maintain tax incidence post-cess, classify chewing tobacco, jarda and gutkha produced by packing machines under a capacity based special excise regime with rules for capacity determination, and amend GST schedules to place biris at 9% and multiple tobacco products and inhalation goods at 20%, while omitting the 14% Schedule VII entries; duty proceeds are to be redistributed to states per Finance Commission recommendations. (AI Summary)

Seat of arbitration is determined by parties' expressed intention in the principal contract, fixing supervisory jurisdiction and applicable law.
The seat of international commercial arbitration is to be ascertained from the parties' intention in the contractual matrix: a mother agreement containing a clear arbitration clause and choice of governing law fixes the juridical seat and curial law, and subsequent ancillary contracts do not displace that choice absent clear novation. The juridical seat determines supervisory courts and exclusion of domestic Part I, and an arbitral tribunal seated in the chosen jurisdiction that has rendered a final award precludes parallel proceedings and re litigation on the same subject matter. (AI Summary)

Show cause notice consolidation invalid: single SCN covering multiple financial years under GST lacks jurisdiction.
A show cause notice consolidating multiple financial years for GST assessment is a jurisdictional defect and void; authorities must not club distinct assessment years in one SCN. A writ petition is maintainable at the SCN stage where proceedings are without jurisdiction, and local High Court precedent binds authorities in that state. The department may issue fresh notices only in strict conformity with the legal requirements for separate tax periods and limitation. (AI Summary)

Anti dumping duties under customs law neutralise injurious foreign pricing while industrial policy builds domestic manufacturing capacity.
The statutory Anti Dumping Duty framework under the Customs Tariff Act and the 1995 Rules prescribes petitioned investigations, tests for dumping, injury and causation, provisional and final duties, exceptions and appeal routes, and anti absorption measures to prevent exporter price manipulation; enforcement and recovery proceed under the Customs Act through import levy, recovery of short levy, confiscation and penalties for wilful mis declaration. (AI Summary)

GCCs in India face stricter FEMA rules: 15 month export realisation, EDF filing for all service exports, and AD oversight.
The 2026 FEMA Export and Import Regulations require export proceeds to be realised within 15 months, mandate EDF declarations for all service exports, and expand the monitoring and compliance responsibilities of Authorised Dealers, including routing of advances through the same AD, AD discretion on third party payments, set off rules across goods and services, SBLC or guarantee requirements for advance imports, and AD published SOPs governing transaction handling and reporting. (AI Summary)

GSTAT must be constituted with judicial primacy, secure tenure, and transparent selection to safeguard tribunal independence.
The Supreme Court held that Sections 3-7 of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021, which reintroduced executive-dominated appointment, tenure and service regimes for tribunals, are unconstitutional because they replicate provisions previously invalidated; tribunal appointments must conform to earlier judicial directions and parent statutes, and a National Tribunals Commission must be established to secure tribunal autonomy and protect judicial primacy in composition and tenure. (AI Summary)

Pre-deposit rules under FEMA may be waived or varied where payment causes undue hardship, using alternative securities to protect recovery.
Section 19(1) and the second proviso of Rule 10 permit the Appellate Tribunal to require pre deposit of penalties but also to dispense with such deposit where compliance would cause undue hardship, and to impose alternative conditions (such as indemnity bonds or guarantees) to safeguard realisation; an NPA classified appellant with no liquid assets may prima facie satisfy the undue hardship threshold and the tribunal must not convert discretionary safeguards into mandatory minima that render the right of appeal illusory. (AI Summary)

Inter-unit excise valuation dispute: whether transfers are revenue-neutral when recipient units avail CENVAT credit remains open after appeal admitted.
The central legal question is whether excise duty can be sustained on inter-unit transfers where recipient sister units avail CENVAT credit, rendering the transaction revenue-neutral. The Tribunal set aside demands and penalties after finding duty paid on such transfers was fully creditable to recipient units, but the Revenue's appeal was admitted by the Supreme Court with delay condoned and the key legal question left open for further examination of Rule 8/Rule 9 valuation principles and the effect of revenue neutrality on demand sustainability. (AI Summary)