Issues: Whether the Commissioner could withhold the refund under Section 54(11) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 when an anti-evasion investigation concerning alleged fraudulent input tax credit was pending.

Analysis: Section 54(11) permits withholding where the refund-generating order is subject to an appeal, further proceedings, or any other pending proceeding under the Act, and the Commissioner, after hearing the taxable person, forms an opinion that release would adversely affect revenue because of fraud or malfeasance. The expression concerning other pending proceedings extends beyond a formally instituted appeal and includes a pending statutory investigation. The anti-evasion investigation had commenced before the refund-withholding order and was supported by contemporaneous material indicating non-existent or cancelled suppliers, absence of established movement of goods, and absence of the claimant from the manufacturer's supply chain. Those circumstances bore directly on actual receipt of goods for input tax credit purposes and supported the requisite opinion of fraud or malfeasance. A subsequently issued show-cause notice merely crystallised the ongoing investigation; the absence of a pending appellate proceeding or separate judicial stay did not invalidate the statutory withholding.

Conclusion: The refund was validly withheld under Section 54(11); the issue was decided against the assessee.

Issues: Whether extraordinary writ jurisdiction could be exercised to quash an input-tax-credit adjudication order despite an available statutory appeal, on the asserted bar under Section 6(2)(b), variance from the show-cause notice, and denial of an effective hearing.

Analysis: Article 226 jurisdiction does not ordinarily substitute the statutory appellate process where the challenge requires examination of the adjudication record and disputed facts. The bar under Section 6(2)(b) depends upon identity of the precise subject matter, including the relevant tax period, transactions, invoices, ITC liability and allegations; a common supplier or general connection with ITC is insufficient. Whether the State and Central proceedings concerned identical liabilities required examination of their respective notices, orders and transaction-wise material. The impugned order disclosed an independent finding of ITC availment on goods-less invoices with reference to Section 16(2)(b), and therefore did not facially rest on a wholly new basis. The recorded grant of hearing opportunities, notwithstanding an apparent date discrepancy, and objections regarding evidence, limitation, clubbing of periods, replies and invocation of Section 74 required scrutiny of the underlying record in appeal.

Conclusion: An efficacious appellate remedy was required to be pursued because no ex facie lack of jurisdiction or undisputed breach of natural justice was established; all objections, including the applicability of Section 6(2)(b), remained open for appellate determination.

Issues: (i) Whether unfiled GST dues, interest and penalty for the pre-resolution-plan period were extinguished upon approval of the resolution plan, thereby barring later proceedings; and (ii) Whether the statutory appeal barred writ jurisdiction where the demands were initiated without jurisdiction.

Issue (i): Whether unfiled GST dues, interest and penalty for the pre-resolution-plan period were extinguished upon approval of the resolution plan, thereby barring later proceedings.

Analysis: Section 31(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 makes an approved resolution plan binding upon the Central Government and authorities owed statutory dues, while Section 238 gives the Code overriding effect. The GST liabilities concerned the period preceding approval of the resolution plan, and no claim was lodged during the corporate insolvency resolution process. The approved plan extinguished all pre-effective-date governmental claims, whether assessed or unassessed, unless specifically preserved. This accords with the clean-slate principle, under which a successful resolution applicant cannot be burdened with undisclosed or undecided pre-plan claims.

Analysis: The distinction between adjudication and recovery was inapplicable after extinguishment of the underlying claim. A show-cause notice and consequential demand proceedings under Section 73(9), including interest and penalty, amount to proceedings concerning that extinguished claim. Section 88 concerns liquidation and cannot revive a liability extinguished through an approved resolution plan; the general adjudicatory powers under the GST law remain subject to Sections 31(1) and 238 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee, the pre-resolution-plan GST dues, interest and penalty stood extinguished, and no subsequent proceedings for their determination or recovery could be initiated or continued.

Issue (ii): Whether the statutory appeal barred writ jurisdiction where the demands were initiated without jurisdiction.

Analysis: Availability of an appeal under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 does not bar writ jurisdiction where the challenged action is without jurisdiction and contrary to binding insolvency law. The relevant facts were undisputed and the challenge raised a pure legal question concerning the authority to initiate proceedings for an extinguished claim.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee, writ jurisdiction was available notwithstanding the alternate statutory appeal.

Final Conclusion: An approved resolution plan conclusively extinguishes unfiled statutory claims relating to the pre-approval period and precludes subsequent tax-adjudication proceedings concerning those claims.

Ratio Decidendi: Statutory dues not lodged in the corporate insolvency resolution process and not preserved by an approved resolution plan are extinguished under Section 31(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and cannot thereafter be assessed, adjudicated or recovered notwithstanding general powers under fiscal legislation.

Issues: Whether the addition for cash deposits was sustainable despite the assessee's claimed opening cash balance supported by prior bank withdrawals.

Analysis: The cash-flow statement and bank records demonstrated the availability of cash in hand from withdrawals made from various bank accounts, which was subsequently re-deposited. No defect in the cash-flow statement was identified. The addition rested solely on an inference based on perceived normal human behaviour and the preponderance of human probabilities, notwithstanding the documented source of cash.

Conclusion: The cash deposits stood explained by the available opening cash balance; the addition was deleted.

Issues: Whether a timeframe for deciding applications for cancellation of duplicate Permanent Account Numbers should be prescribed.

Analysis: The grievance concerned the absence of a prescribed period for disposal of duplicate PAN cancellation applications and the resulting difficulties in accessing PAN-linked services. Since no representation seeking prescription of such timeframe had first been made to the CBDT, the matter was considered appropriate for consideration by that authority.

Outcome: The petitioner was granted liberty to submit a representation to the CBDT within two weeks, and the CBDT was directed to decide it within eight weeks of receipt and communicate its decision.

Issues: Whether the Tribunal could reject appeals for want of territorial jurisdiction despite their administrative transfer to the Delhi Bench.

Analysis: Rule 4 of the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963 and the situs of the assessees' business and Assessing Officer ordinarily connected the matters with Lucknow. However, the appeals had been transferred to the Delhi Bench by an administrative order of the President, and the appellate orders had been passed by the Delhi Commissioner (Appeals) pursuant to an order under Section 120 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. A Tribunal Bench cannot judicially nullify or disregard an administrative transfer order. The principle governing High Court jurisdiction under Section 260A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, following a transfer under Section 127, does not govern the place of hearing of appeals before the Tribunal after an administrative transfer.

Conclusion: The Tribunal's rejection of the appeals for lack of territorial jurisdiction was erroneous; the restored appeals shall be heard and decided on merits by the Delhi Bench.

Issues: (i) Whether gains from sale of shares and securities were taxable as capital gains or business income; (ii) Whether payments for purchases from a non-resident parent attracted withholding tax and disallowance under section 40(a)(i); and (iii) Whether an additional administrative-expense disallowance relating to exempt income could be made under Rule 8D(2)(iii) without recorded satisfaction.

Issue (i): Whether gains from sale of shares and securities were taxable as capital gains or business income.

Analysis: The factually identical prior rulings were followed. Consistent investment treatment, deployment of non-interest-bearing surplus funds, absence of trading activity, and the investment intention underlying the transactions supported capital-gains character; transaction volume alone did not convert the investments into business activity.

Conclusion: The gains are assessable as capital gains and not as business income, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether payments for purchases from a non-resident parent attracted withholding tax and disallowance under section 40(a)(i).

Analysis: Under section 195, withholding tax arises only where the non-resident payment is chargeable to tax in India. The payments were for imported materials supplied from outside India and had been accepted as international transactions without a transfer-pricing adjustment. The related chargeability and permanent-establishment aspects could not support a withholding disallowance on the purchase payments.

Conclusion: No tax was deductible at source on the purchase payments; consequently, no disallowance under section 40(a)(i) is permissible, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether an additional administrative-expense disallowance relating to exempt income could be made under Rule 8D(2)(iii) without recorded satisfaction.

Analysis: Section 14A(2) read with Rule 8D(1) requires recorded dissatisfaction, having regard to the accounts, with the correctness of the assessee's own expenditure disallowance before the Rule 8D formula may be applied. The assessment applied the formula without identifying expenditure relatable to exempt income or recording the requisite satisfaction despite the assessee's voluntary disallowance.

Conclusion: The additional administrative-expense disallowance under Rule 8D(2)(iii) is deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The recharacterisation adjustment, the withholding-tax purchase disallowance, and the incremental exempt-income expense disallowance do not survive.

Ratio Decidendi: A disallowance under Rule 8D(2) is permissible only after the assessing authority, upon examination of the accounts, records dissatisfaction with the assessee's computation as required by section 14A(2).

Issues: Whether referral commission, calculated as a percentage of sales made by the Indian group entity to referred customers, constituted fees for technical services under section 9(1)(vii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and Article 12(5)(b) of the India-Netherlands Tax Treaty.

Analysis: Article 12(5)(b) requires technical or consultancy services to make available technical knowledge, experience, skill, know-how or processes, or to involve development and transfer of a technical plan or design. The commission invoices, memoranda of understanding and sales reports established that the receipts were fixed-rate commission for referring potential customers, correlated to sales concluded by the Indian entity. No design, technical or consultancy service was provided, and no technology, knowledge, skill or know-how was transferred so as to enable the Indian entity to apply it independently in future.

Conclusion: The referral commission did not constitute fees for technical services under section 9(1)(vii) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 or Article 12(5)(b) of the India-Netherlands Tax Treaty; it was business income not taxable in India under Article 7 in the absence of a permanent establishment.

Issues: (i) Whether the writ petition was maintainable before the Delhi High Court despite objections as to territorial jurisdiction, alternative remedy and non-impleadment of the Kanpur office; (ii) Whether DEL orders based on pre-CIRP export-obligation defaults could continue after approval of the resolution plan.

Issue (i): Whether the writ petition was maintainable before the Delhi High Court despite objections as to territorial jurisdiction, alternative remedy and non-impleadment of the Kanpur office.

Analysis: A material part of the cause of action arose in Delhi because the competent headquarters there was seized of the representation and its inaction was challenged. The availability of an alternative remedy does not oust writ jurisdiction. The Kanpur office was also effectively represented through the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents.

Conclusion: The writ petition was maintainable before the Delhi High Court, and the preliminary objections failed.

Issue (ii): Whether DEL orders based on pre-CIRP export-obligation defaults could continue after approval of the resolution plan.

Analysis: Nine DEL orders were issued during the statutory moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, rendering adverse coercive action against the corporate debtor void ab initio. The government claim arising from the same export-obligation defaults was lodged as operational debt and was provided for at nil value in the resolution plan approved by the adjudicating authority. Under Section 31(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the approved plan bound governmental authorities and extinguished pre-CIRP claims not preserved in it. Continuance of DEL status, being a coercive mechanism to enforce those extinguished pre-CIRP liabilities, was incompatible with the clean slate principle. Verification of the credentials of the new management and action for any independent fresh default remained permissible in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The DEL orders were invalid and could not be continued against the corporate debtor after approval of the resolution plan.

Final Conclusion: Pre-CIRP government dues and coercive restrictions founded on them stand extinguished by an approved resolution plan and cannot burden the corporate debtor under its new management, without prejudice to action for independent fresh defaults.

Ratio Decidendi: An approved resolution plan binds governmental creditors and extinguishes pre-CIRP claims; a coercive administrative restriction imposed to recover or enforce such extinguished liabilities cannot subsist thereafter.

Issues: Whether amounts received from foreign entities as actual costs, without markup, constituted reimbursable expenses rather than consideration for a taxable service under the reverse charge mechanism.

Analysis: The Tribunal accepted the invoices separating taxable and non-taxable charges, supporting transport and clearance documents, and chartered-accountant certification showing that air freight, ocean freight and pure-agent charges were recovered at actuals without markup. The allegation of markup lacked documentary support. It was also noted that no review ground challenged the finding on invocation of the extended period of limitation. Under the service-tax valuation framework, actual reimbursable expenses demonstrably recovered without markup were distinguishable from consideration for taxable services.

Conclusion: The amounts received from foreign entities were reimbursable expenses and were not liable to be treated as consideration for a taxable service under the reverse charge mechanism.

Issues: (i) Whether an encumbrance recorded in a sale notice and sale certificate may be removed from the encumbrance certificate without payment of the secured dues; (ii) Whether the statutory priority of secured creditors over government dues overrides the mandatory sale procedure governing known encumbrances; (iii) Whether the secured creditor became functus officio after issuance and registration of the sale certificate; (iv) Whether a departmental attachment recorded in the encumbrance certificate constitutes an encumbrance.

Issue (i): Whether an encumbrance recorded in a sale notice and sale certificate may be removed from the encumbrance certificate without payment of the secured dues.

Analysis: Rules 9(6) to 9(10) of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 require disclosure of known encumbrances in the sale certificate. Rule 9(7) requires deposit of the amount necessary to discharge such encumbrances, and Rule 9(9) permits delivery free from known encumbrances only upon that deposit. A purchaser acquiring property with express notice of statutory encumbrances cannot obtain removal of the recorded entries without their discharge.

Conclusion: Removal of the recorded departmental encumbrance without payment of the disclosed statutory dues is impermissible. This issue is against the appellant bank and the auction purchaser.

Issue (ii): Whether the statutory priority of secured creditors over government dues overrides the mandatory sale procedure governing known encumbrances.

Analysis: Statutory priority under Section 26E of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 and Section 31B of the Recovery of Debts and Bankruptcy Act, 1993 enables secured creditors to realise secured debts in priority to government dues. That priority does not dispense with mandatory compliance with Rules 9(6) to 9(10) of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002, particularly the obligation to settle disclosed encumbrances before delivery of the property free from them.

Conclusion: Secured-creditor priority does not override the mandatory procedure for discharge of known encumbrances. This issue is against the appellant bank's claimed relief.

Issue (iii): Whether the secured creditor became functus officio after issuance and registration of the sale certificate.

Analysis: Issuance and registration of a sale certificate do not by themselves terminate the secured creditor's statutory rights where its entire debt remains unrecovered and recovery proceedings concerning the borrower continue.

Conclusion: The secured creditor had not become functus officio, and the objection to maintainability fails. This issue is in favour of the appellant bank.

Issue (iv): Whether a departmental attachment recorded in the encumbrance certificate constitutes an encumbrance.

Analysis: An attachment imposing a legal burden on property and restricting its transfer, further mortgage, or charge is an encumbrance. Its entry in the encumbrance certificate gives notice of the restriction, and its effect is consistent with the concept of a charge under Section 100 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

Conclusion: The departmental attachment is an encumbrance that must be discharged in accordance with Rule 9(7). This issue is against the appellant bank and the auction purchaser.

Final Conclusion: A sale expressly made subject to known statutory encumbrances remains so burdened until the prescribed amounts are deposited and the encumbrances are discharged; statutory priority cannot be used to erase those recorded burdens without compliance with the mandatory sale rules.

Ratio Decidendi: A secured creditor's statutory priority over government dues does not dispense with mandatory compliance with Rules 9(6) to 9(10) of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 for discharge of known encumbrances before delivery of property free from them.

Issues: Whether a notice issued under Section 153C for assessment year 2010-11 was within the applicable limitation period.

Analysis: The satisfaction note was recorded in assessment year 2024-25. Under Section 153A read with Section 153C, the extended ten-year period, applicable where escaped income exceeds Rs. 50 lakh, could extend only up to assessment year 2015-16 when computed backwards from assessment year 2024-25. Assessment year 2010-11 consequently fell outside the permissible period.

Conclusion: The notice for assessment year 2010-11 was time-barred and invalid.

Issues: (i) Whether the predicate allegations disclosed scheduled offences under the PMLA; (ii) Whether the attached properties could be retained as value equivalent to proceeds of crime notwithstanding claimed licit sources or pre-dating acquisition; (iii) Whether the confirmation order was non-speaking; (iv) Whether use of guideline or current market value invalidated the attachment; and (v) Whether valid reasons to believe existed for attachment and adjudication.

Issue (i): Whether the predicate allegations disclosed scheduled offences under the PMLA.

Analysis: The charge sheet included offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 3 and 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. These offences fall within the relevant parts of the Schedule to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The fact that alleged mining-law violations were not themselves scheduled offences did not displace the scheduled offences disclosed in the predicate proceedings.

Conclusion: The predicate allegations disclosed scheduled offences and furnished a valid basis for proceedings under the PMLA.

Issue (ii): Whether the attached properties could be retained as value equivalent to proceeds of crime notwithstanding claimed licit sources or pre-dating acquisition.

Analysis: Section 24 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 placed the burden on the appellants to establish licit sources. The claimed granite-quarrying income, agricultural income, interest, cash holdings and real-estate income remained unsupported by reliable documentary material and were not substantiated by the income-tax returns produced. Independently, the attachment was of property representing the value equivalent of proceeds of crime under Section 2(1)(u). For such equivalent-value attachment, the independent source and the date of acquisition of the substitute properties were immaterial.

Conclusion: The attached properties were liable to attachment as value equivalent to proceeds of crime.

Issue (iii): Whether the confirmation order was non-speaking.

Analysis: The confirmation order addressed the rival material concerning the predicate offences, quarrying licences, claimed sources of income, absence of reliable evidence for the acquisitions, recorded reasons to believe, and the applicable standard for attachment. It contained findings responsive to the material objections raised.

Conclusion: The confirmation order was a speaking order and was not vitiated for want of application of mind.

Issue (iv): Whether use of guideline or current market value invalidated the attachment.

Analysis: Section 2(1)(zb) defines value with reference to the fair market value on the date of acquisition, or the date of possession where acquisition date cannot be determined. Guideline value or current market value was therefore not the proper statutory measure. However, the alleged proceeds of crime were quantified from the value of illegally extracted granite rather than from the valuation of the attached properties. The valuation error did not affect the legal basis for attachment, particularly where the attached assets represented only a fraction of the alleged proceeds.

Conclusion: The use of guideline or current values was erroneous but did not invalidate the attachment.

Issue (v): Whether valid reasons to believe existed for attachment and adjudication.

Analysis: The recorded reasons linked the scheduled offences and alleged proceeds of crime to the listed assets, and identified the risk of their transfer, disposal or encumbrance frustrating confiscation proceedings. The reported sale of certain attached properties reinforced the apprehension of alienation. Section 5(1) required material supporting a prima facie belief, not conclusive proof. A separate communication or recording of reasons was not required under Section 8(1) before the adjudicatory process was commenced.

Conclusion: The reasons to believe under Section 5(1) were legally sufficient, and no separate requirement under Section 8(1) was breached.

Final Conclusion: The statutory prerequisites for attachment of assets as value equivalent to alleged proceeds of crime were satisfied, and the confirmed attachment remains legally sustainable notwithstanding the valuation error.

Ratio Decidendi: Property equivalent in value to proceeds of crime may be attached under the PMLA irrespective of its independent source of acquisition or whether it was acquired before the predicate offence.

Issues: Whether CENVAT credit of service tax paid on Business Support Services received from a group company is admissible.

Analysis: Business Support Services comprising common corporate and operational support provided to group entities were taxable services, and the service tax charged through invoices had been paid and accepted by the revenue authorities. Allocation of the provider's expenses among group entities, without a separate profit element, did not alter the character or taxable value of the services. The services had a direct nexus with the recipient's manufacturing business. Where the service provider's tax assessment had not been revised, credit could not be denied by recharacterising the invoiced services at the recipient's end. Identical disputes for earlier and subsequent periods had also been decided consistently on this basis.

Conclusion: CENVAT credit of the service tax paid on the Business Support Services was admissible; its disallowance and the consequential demand and penalty were unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether sale outside the factory of electricity generated from bagasse attracts the 6% payment obligation under Rule 6(3) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004.

Analysis: Bagasse is agricultural waste or residue and is not the outcome of manufacture. Rule 6 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 consequently does not apply to electricity generated from bagasse. The settled position consistently excludes electricity wheeled to a State electricity distribution authority from the requirement to pay 6% of its value.

Conclusion: No amount under Rule 6(3) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 is payable on electricity generated from bagasse and cleared outside the factory.

Issues: Whether the Deputy Commissioner could block input tax credit exceeding the pecuniary limit prescribed under the Commissioner's administrative order.

Analysis: The Commissioner's administrative order prescribed a pecuniary limit of Rs. 1 crore for blocking input tax credit. The personal affidavit acknowledged that input tax credit exceeding that limit had been blocked and was subsequently unblocked. Exercise of statutory power requires adherence to the jurisdictional limits fixed by the competent administrative authority.

Conclusion: The Deputy Commissioner had no pecuniary jurisdiction to block input tax credit exceeding Rs. 1 crore.

Issues: Whether rejection of an appeal for non-response to a notice could be sustained when the appellant asserted that the delay was caused by circumstances beyond control and fell within the condonable period.

Analysis: The appeal was filed beyond the ordinary limitation period but within the period in which delay could be condoned under Section 107(4). The asserted medical circumstances preventing a response to the notice were not shown to be ungenuine. A fair opportunity was therefore required for the appellant to explain the delay and for the appellate authority to consider that explanation after hearing the appellant.

Conclusion: The appellant was entitled to an opportunity to establish sufficient cause for the delayed appeal; the rejection without such consideration could not stand.

Issues: (i) Whether failure to pay part of the invoiced consideration within 180 days contravened the second proviso to Section 16(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017; (ii) Whether a financial/commercial credit note for a value discount permitted retention of input tax credit under the Board clarifications; and (iii) Whether invocation of Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and imposition of penalty were sustainable, and what interest liability survived.

Issue (i): Whether failure to pay part of the invoiced consideration within 180 days contravened the second proviso to Section 16(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis: The second proviso required a recipient availing input tax credit to pay the supplier the value of supply and tax within 180 days, failing which proportionate credit was required to be added to output tax liability with interest. The ledger established that part of the invoice value remained unpaid beyond 180 days. No contemporaneous agreement or evidence established that the discount had been agreed and the reduced consideration settled within that period.

Conclusion: The 180-day payment condition was breached in respect of the unpaid value until its subsequent waiver, against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether a financial/commercial credit note for a value discount permitted retention of input tax credit under the Board clarifications.

Analysis: A financial/commercial credit note did not reduce the original transaction value or the supplier's tax liability, and the supplier had borne tax on the undiscounted invoice value. The Board clarifications provided that the recipient need not reverse input tax credit attributable to a discount settled through such a note. Section 168(1) made these directions binding on departmental officers, and the later clarification was beneficial and clarificatory of the earlier circular. Upon waiver of the unpaid balance, no further consideration remained payable by the recipient; the third proviso to Section 16(2) and Rule 37(4) consequently enabled retention or re-availment of the credit.

Conclusion: The recipient was entitled to retain the input tax credit based on the original invoices after accounting for the financial/commercial credit note, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether invocation of Section 74 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and imposition of penalty were sustainable, and what interest liability survived.

Analysis: Section 74(1) required fraud, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts with intent to evade tax. Detection in audit alone did not establish suppression where the unpaid balance and its write-back were recorded in the audited accounts, and the view that reversal was unnecessary was bona fide. Section 75(2) required the matter to be treated as one under Section 73(1) where the ingredients of Section 74 were not established. Nevertheless, proportionate credit had remained unreversed after expiry of 180 days until receipt and accounting of the credit note, attracting interest under Section 50 for that intervening period.

Conclusion: The Section 74 charge and penalty were unsustainable, in favour of the assessee; interest on proportionate credit for the intervening period remained payable, against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The commercial settlement preserved the credit entitlement but did not retrospectively extinguish interest arising from retention of proportionate credit during the earlier period of non-payment.

Ratio Decidendi: A financial or commercial credit note that leaves the supplier's original tax liability unchanged and settles unpaid consideration permits the recipient to retain or re-avail input tax credit, though statutory interest remains payable for the period during which proportionate credit was retained after the 180-day limit.

Issues: (i) Whether the appellate authority's failure to address the cited precedent and statutory amendment affected its conclusion; (ii) Whether the resort building and civil structures qualified as plant and machinery under Section 17(5)(d), including under the unamended functionality test; (iii) Whether the resort was constructed on the assessee's own account despite its accommodation, event and photo-shoot activities; (iv) Whether any balance input tax credit fell outside Section 17(5)(d); and (v) Whether the interest and penalty were sustainable.

Issue (i): Whether the appellate authority's failure to address the cited precedent and statutory amendment affected its conclusion.

Analysis: Sections 75(6) and 107(12) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 require reasoned orders that address the points for determination and the basis of decision. The cited precedent, the retrospective amendment and the claim concerning residual credit ought to have been addressed by the appellate authority. However, Section 113(1) permitted complete adjudication of the issues on the existing record after both sides were heard, and all contentions were determined afresh.

Conclusion: The omission did not invalidate the conclusion, and no prejudice was caused to the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the resort building and civil structures qualified as plant and machinery under Section 17(5)(d), including under the unamended functionality test.

Analysis: Section 124 of the Finance Act, 2025 retrospectively substituted "plant and machinery" for "plant or machinery" in Section 17(5)(d) from 01.07.2017. Explanation 1 to Section 17 expressly excludes land, buildings and other civil structures from plant and machinery. The resort building and associated civil structures consequently cannot qualify for the exception. Even under the earlier wording, the functionality test did not extend to hotel or resort buildings, which remain premises in which the hospitality business is conducted rather than the business apparatus.

Conclusion: Input tax credit on goods and services used to construct the resort building and its civil structures was blocked, against the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether the resort was constructed on the assessee's own account despite its accommodation, event and photo-shoot activities.

Analysis: Section 17(5)(d) applies even where construction inputs are used in the course or furtherance of business. Construction on own account includes a building used as the setting for the taxable person's own business, whereas construction intended for sale, lease or licence to another stands differently. The resort was used to provide the assessee's accommodation, restaurant and event services; no evidence identified any portion as constructed for sale, lease or licence to a third party. Section 155 placed the burden of proving credit eligibility upon the assessee.

Conclusion: The resort was constructed on the assessee's own account, and the construction-related credit was blocked, against the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether any balance input tax credit fell outside Section 17(5)(d).

Analysis: Section 17(5)(d) does not bar credit on every purchase made for establishing a resort; applicability depends on the nature and purpose of each item, rather than its accounting classification. Credit on the invoice-wise items identified by the assessee as electrical equipment, air-conditioners and expensed purchases had already been allowed. No further invoice, supplier, category or evidence established that the remaining credit related to movable assets or qualifying plant and machinery rather than construction of civil structures.

Conclusion: No part of the balance input tax credit was shown to fall outside Section 17(5)(d), against the assessee.

Issue (v): Whether the interest and penalty were sustainable.

Analysis: Under Section 50(3) and Rule 88B(3), interest arises only on wrongly availed and utilised input tax credit, measured by the extent to which the electronic credit ledger balance falls below the disputed credit. Interest was confined to the extent of actual utilisation, with no interest imposed where the ledger balance remained sufficient. Section 73(8) relieved penalty only upon payment of tax and interest within thirty days of the notice; otherwise, Section 73(9) required the prescribed penalty.

Conclusion: The interest and penalty were correctly computed and sustained, against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The retrospective statutory exclusion of buildings and civil structures from plant and machinery, together with construction on own account and failure to establish any additional eligible item, sustained the denial of the disputed credit and the consequential liabilities.

Ratio Decidendi: From 01.07.2017, Section 17(5)(d) excludes input tax credit on goods and services used to construct a building or civil structure on the taxable person's own account, because such property cannot qualify as defined plant and machinery merely because it is used to provide taxable hospitality services.