Issues: Whether a composite show-cause notice covering several financial years or tax periods is permissible under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis: The GST framework treats liability, returns, assessment, and recovery as referable to distinct tax periods and financial years. The statutory limitation for determination and recovery runs independently for each relevant financial year. Combining multiple years with separate due dates and limitation periods in one notice is inconsistent with this year-wise structure and impairs the taxpayer's ability to respond to each period separately. The dismissal in limine of a challenge to a contrary High Court view did not attract the doctrine of merger. Authorities within the Court's territorial jurisdiction were bound by the Court's earlier decisions holding against such consolidation.

Conclusion: A composite show-cause notice consolidating multiple financial years or tax periods is not permissible; the issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Whether a company incorporated as an unlisted public limited company may be treated as a private company under Section 179(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 merely because a director held substantial shareholding and the shares were not offered to the public; (ii) Whether the former director could be made personally liable for unrecovered tax dues without findings that the non-recovery was attributable to his gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty.

Issue (i): Whether a company incorporated as an unlisted public limited company may be treated as a private company under Section 179(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 merely because a director held substantial shareholding and the shares were not offered to the public.

Analysis: A company's public or private character is determined by its memorandum and articles of association and its statutory incorporation, not by concentration of shareholding or the fact that its shares are unlisted. Lifting the corporate veil to extend Section 179 to a public company requires stringent, exceptional circumstances, such as use of the company as a conduit to siphon income or create undisclosed assets for directors. The material did not establish that the assessee had diverted company funds or used its corporate structure to defraud the Revenue.

Conclusion: The company could not be treated as a private company merely on account of the assessee's substantial shareholding; this issue is in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the former director could be made personally liable for unrecovered tax dues without findings that the non-recovery was attributable to his gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty.

Analysis: Section 179(1) imposes liability only where tax dues of a private company remain unrecovered and the director fails to establish that such non-recovery was not attributable to gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty in relation to company affairs. Once the director provides an explanation, the authority must consider it and record findings linking the director's conduct to the failure of recovery. The assessee had placed material showing that his directorship was brief, that he did not manage the company or operate its accounts, and that subsequent transactions concerning its assets occurred after his resignation. The authority neither addressed this material nor recorded findings of siphoning of funds or of a causal connection between the assessee's conduct and non-recovery. Reliance on another director's statement concerning accommodation entries without putting that statement to the assessee also breached principles of natural justice.

Conclusion: In the absence of findings establishing that non-recovery was attributable to the assessee's gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty, liability under Section 179(1) could not be imposed; this issue is in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Section 179(1) cannot be invoked against a director of an incorporated public company on shareholding concentration alone, and personal recovery requires a reasoned finding connecting the director's conduct with the company's unrecovered tax dues.

Ratio Decidendi: Personal liability under Section 179(1) requires satisfaction of its statutory preconditions, including a finding that unrecovered tax is attributable to the director's gross neglect, misfeasance or breach of duty; corporate veil principles cannot convert a public company into a private company solely because of concentrated shareholding.

Issues: (i) Whether penalty for failure to deduct tax on rent paid to a Government company was sustainable despite the assessee's bona fide belief that the payment was exempt from deduction of tax at source; (ii) Whether penalty for failure to collect tax at source on scrap generated during construction activity was sustainable despite the assessee's bona fide belief that such scrap was outside the tax-collection provisions.

Issue (i): Whether penalty for failure to deduct tax on rent paid to a Government company was sustainable despite the assessee's bona fide belief that the payment was exempt from deduction of tax at source.

Analysis: The entire share capital of the recipient company was substantially held by the Government. Its character as an instrumentality of the State under Article 12 supported the assessee's bona fide understanding that payment to it was covered by the exclusion relied upon. This bona fide belief constituted reasonable cause for the default within the meaning of the penalty-relief provision.

Conclusion: The penalty for non-deduction of tax on rent was not leviable; the finding is in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether penalty for failure to collect tax at source on scrap generated during construction activity was sustainable despite the assessee's bona fide belief that such scrap was outside the tax-collection provisions.

Analysis: Scrap generated from construction activity through labour and materials was not regarded as arising from a manufacturing process for the relevant definition. The assessee's bona fide belief that the construction scrap was outside the tax-collection requirement constituted reasonable cause for the failure.

Conclusion: The penalty for non-collection of tax at source on construction scrap was not leviable; the finding is in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The penalties imposed for the tax-deduction and tax-collection defaults were deleted on account of reasonable cause arising from bona fide beliefs.

Ratio Decidendi: A bona fide and objectively supportable belief regarding non-applicability of tax-deduction or tax-collection obligations constitutes reasonable cause sufficient to preclude penalty.

Issues: (i) Whether addition based on alleged unrecorded cash purchases of coal, estimated from third-party search material, could be sustained by applying a net-profit rate; (ii) Whether addition for alleged under-invoicing of mill-scale sales could be sustained on a retracted statement and CCTV footage.

Issue (i): Whether addition based on alleged unrecorded cash purchases of coal, estimated from third-party search material, could be sustained by applying a net-profit rate.

Analysis: The alleged coal purchases were founded on material recovered in a third-party search without corroborative material connecting the purchases to the assessee. The books of account were not rejected, and no abnormality in production, consumption, input-output ratio, or recorded sales was established. Having found the alleged purchases themselves unsustainable, the residual net-profit addition rested only on speculation regarding possible outside-the-books coal trading.

Conclusion: The net-profit addition on alleged unrecorded coal purchases is deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether addition for alleged under-invoicing of mill-scale sales could be sustained on a retracted statement and CCTV footage.

Analysis: The statement suggesting under-invoicing was retracted, and the cash seen in CCTV footage was explained as cash recorded in the books and supported by the available cash balance. No independent evidence established under-invoicing or unaccounted sales. A statement without material substantiating its contents could not support an addition, and the estimation was founded on presumptions and surmises.

Conclusion: The addition for alleged under-invoicing of mill-scale sales is deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Additions founded on uncorroborated third-party material, a retracted statement, and speculative estimations cannot be sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: An income-tax addition cannot rest on a retracted statement or uncorroborated material without independent evidence substantiating the alleged unaccounted transaction or income.

Issues: (i) Whether the addition for labour and manpower services could be sustained as unexplained expenditure merely because the service provider did not comply with a third-party notice; (ii) Whether the addition for purchases subsequently returned could be sustained as unexplained expenditure where no payment or effective deduction was claimed.

Issue (i): Whether the addition for labour and manpower services could be sustained as unexplained expenditure merely because the service provider did not comply with a third-party notice.

Analysis: Under Section 69C of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the assessee substantiated the labour and manpower expenditure through invoices, ledger accounts, bank payments after tax deduction at source, audited accounts and GST records. The supplier's non-response to a notice under Section 133(6) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, particularly when it had been struck off, did not displace this documentary evidence. No further enquiry was undertaken and the evidentiary material was not controverted.

Conclusion: The addition for labour and manpower services was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the addition for purchases subsequently returned could be sustained as unexplained expenditure where no payment or effective deduction was claimed.

Analysis: The purchases were included in closing work-in-progress during the relevant year, producing a corresponding credit that neutralised their effect on taxable income. The goods were returned in the succeeding year, no payment was made, and the related GST input credit was reversed. The entries and subsequent return established that no expenditure giving rise to unexplained expenditure under Section 69C of the Income-tax Act, 1961, remained claimed.

Conclusion: The addition for the returned purchases was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Documented expenditure cannot be treated as unexplained solely because a third party fails to respond, and purchase entries having no effective income-tax impact after return of goods do not warrant an unexplained-expenditure addition.

Ratio Decidendi: An addition for unexplained expenditure requires the Revenue to displace the assessee's substantiating evidence; third-party non-compliance alone is insufficient, particularly where the transaction has no effective deduction or tax impact.

Issues: Whether rebate under Section 87A is available against tax payable on short-term capital gains taxable at special rates under Section 111A.

Analysis: Section 87A grants rebate from income-tax computed on total income and, for the applicable period, contains no exclusion for tax attributable to short-term capital gains. Section 111A similarly imposes no express restriction on the rebate. The express limitation under Section 112A(6) for long-term capital gains demonstrates that a restriction on special-rate income must be specifically enacted. Section 115BAC(1A) regulates tax computation under the concessional regime and does not curtail the independently available rebate. The proposed prospective amendment could not create a restriction under the unamended provision applicable to the year in question.

Conclusion: The assessee is entitled to rebate under Section 87A on tax payable on short-term capital gains taxable under Section 111A; the allowance of rebate of Rs. 8,331 is sustained, in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether rebate under Section 87A is available against tax payable on short-term capital gains taxable at special rates under Section 111A where the assessee has opted for the regime under Section 115BAC(1A).

Analysis: Section 87A grants rebate with reference to tax liability on total income and does not distinguish between income chargeable at normal rates and short-term capital gains chargeable at special rates. Neither Section 111A nor Section 115BAC(1A) contains an express exclusion denying the rebate on such gains. Section 115BAC(1A) governs the applicable tax-rate regime and does not impliedly curtail the independent rebate available under Section 87A. The consistent Tribunal decisions supporting this interpretation remained undisplaced by any contrary jurisdictional High Court or Supreme Court decision.

Conclusion: The assessee is eligible for rebate under Section 87A on tax payable on short-term capital gains chargeable under Section 111A; the finding is in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether the accused was entitled to bail pending investigation into alleged evasion of customs and anti-dumping duty through false country-of-origin certificates.

Analysis: The investigation substantially depended upon documentary material, including certificates of origin, correspondence, bills of lading and records requiring cross-border verification. The accused had remained in custody for more than 37 days and had already been remanded to DRI custody twice. The dispute concerning the genuineness and effect of the original and subsequently revised certificates required further verification and could be investigated through attendance and production of documents. Continued incarceration was not necessary where the apprehension of tampering could be addressed by appropriate safeguards.

Conclusion: The accused was entitled to release on bail pending completion of investigation.

Issues: Whether delay in filing a statutory appeal could be condoned where sufficient cause was established and the mandatory pre-deposit had been made.

Analysis: The delay was attributed to the serious illness of the person entrusted with attending to the business affairs, supported by medical material. The pre-deposit requirement had been complied with before the appeal was filed. Treating the appeal as barred solely on limitation, without giving effect to the demonstrated sufficient cause and substantial compliance with the pre-deposit requirement, was found to be unduly technical and to render the statutory appellate remedy illusory.

Conclusion: The delay was condoned in favour of the assessee; the appellate dismissal was quashed, and the appeal was directed to be admitted and decided on merits.

Issues: Whether rejection of the appeal as time-barred without considering the grounds in the delay-condonation application was sustainable.

Analysis: The stated reason treated acceptance of an appeal beyond the prescribed period as rendering the statutory limitation provisions ineffective. That approach did not address the specific explanation tendered for the nine-day delay or demonstrate consideration of the delay-condonation application. A determination on limitation must deal with the material submissions and disclose reasons.

Conclusion: The rejection of the delay-condonation request without consideration of the petitioner's stated grounds was unsustainable; the limitation issue must be determined afresh through a reasoned order after hearing the petitioner.

Issues: (i) Whether Papad Khar is classifiable under Heading 2501 or Heading 2102, or under tariff item 28362090, and its applicable GST rate; (ii) Whether Papad Khar qualifies for GST exemption as an ingredient used in exempt papad or under the stated exemption entries.

Issue (i): Whether Papad Khar is classifiable under Heading 2501 or Heading 2102, or under tariff item 28362090, and its applicable GST rate.

Analysis: Heading 2501 applies to salt and pure sodium chloride within the limited processing permitted by Chapter 25. Papad Khar is manufactured by mixing sodium chloride with sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, followed by solidification, breaking and drying. Its composition and manufacturing process therefore do not satisfy the requirements for common salt, rock salt, or other products of Heading 2501.

Analysis: Heading 2102 is confined to yeasts, inactive single-cell micro-organisms and prepared baking powders. Papad Khar is neither yeast nor prepared baking powder: its alkaline carbonate and bicarbonate composition, utility and effect in preparing crisp traditional snacks are materially different. Its functionally active constituents are sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, bringing it within the carbonate heading. Entry 35 of Schedule II to Notification No. 09/2025-Central Tax (Rate) applies to the product.

Conclusion: Papad Khar is not classifiable under Heading 2501 or Heading 2102. It is classifiable under tariff item 28362090 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and is liable to GST at 18%; the finding is against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether Papad Khar qualifies for GST exemption as an ingredient used in exempt papad or under the stated exemption entries.

Analysis: Exemption of a finished product does not, by itself, extend to its raw materials or processing ingredients. Under the value-added tax framework, inputs and finished goods are independently classified and taxed according to their respective specific tariff entries and rate notifications. Papad Khar is not covered by the claimed exemption entries.

Conclusion: Papad Khar does not qualify for GST exemption under the claimed entries or on the ground that papad is exempt; the finding is against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The product remains taxable as an inorganic carbonate preparation under the applicable Schedule II rate entry.

Ratio Decidendi: A product must be classified according to its composition, manufacturing process and functional character under the applicable tariff entry; exemption of a finished product does not automatically extend to its inputs.

Issues: Whether reassessment proceedings and the consequential tax demand for the pre-resolution-plan period could survive after approval of a resolution plan when the Revenue had not lodged its claim in the corporate insolvency resolution process.

Analysis: Approval of the resolution plan under Section 31(1) bound all stakeholders, including governmental authorities. Claims not forming part of the approved plan stood extinguished, and no proceedings in respect of such claims could be initiated or continued. Since the Revenue had not submitted its claim in the insolvency process, the reassessment and demand relating to the relevant pre-resolution-plan period could not continue.

Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings and consequential demand did not survive; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Whether the addition for alleged bogus or unaccounted purchases under Section 69C, based solely on third-party parallel tally data without independent corroboration, was sustainable; (ii) Whether denial of cross-examination regarding the third-party statement and seized material violated principles of natural justice.

Issue (i): Whether the addition for alleged bogus or unaccounted purchases under Section 69C, based solely on third-party parallel tally data without independent corroboration, was sustainable.

Analysis: The alleged purchases rested exclusively on parallel tally data recovered in a search of a third party. No independent verification, transport documents, purchase invoices, proof of delivery, payment evidence, or other material connecting the assessee with the alleged cash purchases was produced. The assessee consistently denied the purchases and furnished an affidavit, sales invoices, e-way bills, ledger accounts and bank records showing regular sale transactions with the concerned party. The books of account and business results were not disputed.

Conclusion: The addition under Section 69C for alleged bogus or unaccounted purchases was unsustainable and was deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether denial of cross-examination regarding the third-party statement and seized material violated principles of natural justice.

Analysis: The third-party statement and seized tally material were relied upon without affording the assessee an opportunity to cross-examine or confront the underlying details, despite requests. Such denial deprived the assessee of an effective opportunity to test the material forming the basis of the addition.

Conclusion: Denial of cross-examination violated principles of natural justice and independently rendered the addition unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The alleged purchase transaction lacked reliable evidentiary support and could not sustain an unexplained-expenditure charge.

Ratio Decidendi: An unexplained-expenditure addition cannot rest solely on uncorroborated third-party search data where the assessee's contrary evidence remains unrebutted and cross-examination of the relied-on material is denied.

Issues: (i) Whether a notice under Section 148A(b) granting less than seven days to respond validly supports reassessment; (ii) Whether penalty based on the reassessment addition survives after deletion of that addition.

Issue (i): Whether a notice under Section 148A(b) granting less than seven days to respond validly supports reassessment.

Analysis: Section 148A(b) requires a minimum opportunity of seven days for response. The notice allowed only five effective days, or six days even on including the date of issue. The minimum period is mandatory; non-compliance invalidates the notice and vitiates the reassessment founded on it.

Conclusion: The notice under Section 148A(b) and the consequential reassessment under Section 147 were void ab initio; the reassessment addition was deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether penalty based on the reassessment addition survives after deletion of that addition.

Analysis: The penalty under Section 271AAC(1) was dependent upon the quantum addition, which had been deleted on the legal validity of the reassessment proceedings.

Conclusion: The penalty was unsustainable and deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Invalidity of the statutory notice nullified the reassessment and removed the foundation for the related penalty.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice issued without affording the mandatory minimum response period under Section 148A(b) is invalid and renders the consequential reassessment void ab initio.

Issues: Whether depreciation could be included in the assessee's operating cost while being excluded from the operating cost of comparable companies for computing the operating profit to operating cost margin under the Transactional Net Margin Method.

Analysis: The Transactional Net Margin Method requires a like-for-like comparison of operating margins. The depreciation treatment adopted for the assessee and the comparables was inconsistent, producing an anomalous comparison. When depreciation was excluded consistently from operating cost, the assessee's profit level indicator was 5.94%, exceeding the arm's length margin of 4.59%, and its operating revenue exceeded the computed arm's length price.

Conclusion: The international transactions were at arm's length and the transfer-pricing adjustment was deleted.

Issues: Whether rebate under section 87A is available against tax payable on short-term capital gains chargeable at special rates under section 111A where the assessee is governed by section 115BAC(1A) and total income does not exceed the prescribed threshold.

Analysis: Section 87A, as applicable for the relevant assessment year, grants rebate from income-tax computed on total income to an eligible resident individual under section 115BAC(1A). Neither section 87A nor section 111A contains an express exclusion of tax on short-term capital gains taxable at special rates. The specific restriction in section 112A(6) demonstrates that an exclusion is applied where the statute expressly provides for it. Section 115BAC(1A) governs computation under the concessional regime and does not curtail an independent rebate unless expressly restricted. The subsequent restriction proposed for a later assessment year is prospective and does not govern the relevant year.

Conclusion: Rebate under section 87A is available against tax on short-term capital gains taxable under section 111A for the relevant assessment year. The finding is in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Validity of reassessment initiated on information flagged through the Insight Portal; (ii) Whether sale proceeds from shares, supported by contract notes, demat records and banking channels, could be treated as unexplained money and alleged accommodation entries.

Issue (i): Validity of reassessment initiated on information flagged through the Insight Portal.

Analysis: Information from the departmental Insight Portal was confronted through notice under section 148A(b). The response was considered before an order under section 148A(d) was made and notice under section 148 was issued. Portal-based information could validly initiate enquiry, and the record demonstrated independent application of mind rather than borrowed satisfaction or mechanical action.

Conclusion: The reassessment initiation was valid, against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether sale proceeds from shares, supported by contract notes, demat records and banking channels, could be treated as unexplained money and alleged accommodation entries.

Analysis: The purchases and sales were through recognised brokers and stock exchanges, recorded in the demat account, supported by contract notes and bank statements, and subjected to securities transaction tax. The assessee was also shown to be a regular investor in shares. No evidence established cash exchange, fabrication of documents, or a nexus between the assessee and alleged entry providers. The allegation rested on investigation-wing material and presumption without independent corroboration; suspicion, however strong, could not substitute legal evidence.

Conclusion: The sale proceeds could not be treated as unexplained money or accommodation entries, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the reopening fails, while the addition based on the alleged bogus long-term capital gain is deleted.

Ratio Decidendi: Where documented share transactions through recognised exchanges, demat accounts and banking channels remain unrebutted, an addition for alleged accommodation entries cannot rest solely on suspicion or uncorroborated investigation material.

Issues: (i) Whether additions for alleged unexplained loan investments and consequential interest could rest solely on uncorroborated deleted excel files; (ii) Whether alleged cash purchases reflected in an excel worksheet could be treated as unexplained expenditure; (iii) Whether WeChat screenshots justified treating figures multiplied by 100 as unaccounted turnover; (iv) Whether alleged sundry-debtor balances in an unverified excel file could be assessed as unexplained money or unaccounted turnover; (v) Whether cash rent expenditure was substantiated; and (vi) Whether the alleged excess stock was satisfactorily reconciled.

Issue (i): Whether additions for alleged unexplained loan investments and consequential interest could rest solely on uncorroborated deleted excel files.

Analysis: Sections 69 and 69A require cogent material establishing that the entries represented transactions of the assessee. The excel files did not identify actual loan transactions, contained inconsistencies, and were not supported by bank records, books, cash records, loan documentation, assets, or independent enquiries from identified parties. The statutory presumption arising from search material was rebuttable; mere recovery of deleted electronic data, without corroboration and verification, could not substitute proof.

Conclusion: The additions for peak loan amounts and consequential interest were unsustainable and remained deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether alleged cash purchases reflected in an excel worksheet could be treated as unexplained expenditure.

Analysis: For additions under Section 69C, the alleged expenditure had to be established through reliable material. Although a few bank-payment entries in the worksheet resembled entries in the regular ledger, the invoice numbers, amounts, and other material particulars did not reconcile, and no supplier verification, confirmation, delivery evidence, stock record, or other corroborative material was produced. Selectively relying on favourable entries while ignoring material inconsistencies amounted to impermissible cherry picking.

Conclusion: The alleged unexplained-expenditure additions were deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether WeChat screenshots justified treating figures multiplied by 100 as unaccounted turnover.

Analysis: The employee's statement described the recorded figures as actual cash receipts and payments and did not support a coded denomination or multiplication by 100. The larger and smaller diary images differed in dates, entries, and totals, with no complete seized diary or independent material establishing a common basis. However, the figures actually recorded in the diary workings were connected with the assessee's business and could be treated as unaccounted sales. Only the profit embedded in such turnover, rather than its entirety, was taxable.

Conclusion: The multiplication by 100 was rejected; the addition was restricted to gross profit at 8% on unaccounted turnover of Rs. 5,90,370, partly in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether alleged sundry-debtor balances in an unverified excel file could be assessed as unexplained money or unaccounted turnover.

Analysis: The file contained incomplete debtor details, was described as relating to a different business name, and had no corresponding Tally data, ledgers, invoices, bank records, sales records, or stock records. Matching a small number of contact names and associating the file name with a shop number did not establish ownership of all entries. No alleged debtor was examined despite the availability of statutory means for independent verification. The electronic file was therefore an uncorroborated and incomplete document incapable of proving undisclosed transactions.

Conclusion: The entire addition based on alleged sundry-debtor balances, including the estimated gross-profit addition, was deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (v): Whether cash rent expenditure was substantiated.

Analysis: The claimed rent expenditure lacked rent receipts, ledger support, landlord confirmation, proof of payment, and a substantiated bifurcation of the amount claimed. The assertion that the amount was recorded in the books was not supported by cogent and verifiable evidence.

Conclusion: The disallowance of cash rent expenditure was sustained, against the assessee.

Issue (vi): Whether the alleged excess stock was satisfactorily reconciled.

Analysis: The trial balance was furnished after the search, and no satisfactory reconciliation or supporting evidence explained the difference between the physical stock found and the stock reflected in the books.

Conclusion: The addition for unexplained investment represented by excess stock was sustained, against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Uncorroborated electronic worksheets and screenshots, without reliable linkage to actual transactions and adequate independent verification, could not sustain the impugned additions; only the evidenced diary workings supported taxation of the embedded profit element, while the separately unsupported rent and stock claims remained disallowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Unverified loose papers or electronic records cannot alone support an income-tax addition where their authorship, ownership, and transactional nexus are disputed and the Revenue fails to obtain independent corroborative evidence.

Issues: (i) Whether the debit freezes and provisional attachment orders of bank accounts complied with the statutory conditions under Section 110(5) of the Customs Act, 1962; (ii) Whether the extension orders of provisional attachment were valid without a prior hearing and recorded reasons.

Issue (i): Whether the debit freezes and provisional attachment orders of bank accounts complied with the statutory conditions under Section 110(5) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: Section 110(5) permits provisional attachment only during proceedings under the Customs Act, upon the proper officer's opinion that attachment is necessary to protect revenue or prevent smuggling, with prior approval of the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner and by a written order. Given the coercive nature of the power, these statutory preconditions require strict compliance. The attachment orders issued in October 2025 without the Commissioner's approval, and the debit freezes for which no written order, reasons, or competent approval were shown, failed to meet those requirements. However, the subsequent written attachment orders issued after approval of the Commissioner and recording the basis of the opinion were compliant.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee insofar as the unapproved provisional attachment orders, their consequential extensions, and the unsupported debit freezes were invalid and quashed. Against the assessee insofar as the compliant subsequent provisional attachment orders were sustained.

Issue (ii): Whether the extension orders of provisional attachment were valid without a prior hearing and recorded reasons.

Analysis: The proviso to Section 110(5) requires the competent authority to record reasons in writing for extension and communicate it before expiry of the original attachment period. The statutory scheme requires a pre-decisional hearing before extension. The extension orders were made without notice or an opportunity of hearing and did not disclose reasons. The later attempt to provide a hearing and issue a fresh order during the pendency of the writ proceedings could not cure the defect.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee; the extension orders were invalid and set aside.

Final Conclusion: The pending adjudication proceedings remain unaffected, and the department may pursue fresh protective measures strictly in accordance with the statutory scheme.

Ratio Decidendi: A provisional attachment or its extension under Section 110(5) of the Customs Act, 1962 is valid only upon strict fulfilment of the prescribed safeguards, including competent prior approval, a written and reasoned order, and a pre-decisional hearing for extension.

Issues: Whether denial of EPCG concessional-duty benefit, confiscation of the imported vehicle, and consequential duty, redemption fine and penalties were sustainable for alleged breach of export obligation and actual-user conditions.

Analysis: The EPCG authorisation and Notification No. 97/2004-Customs dated 17.09.2004 required fulfilment of export obligation through use of the imported capital goods and compliance with the actual-user condition. The materially identical dispute concerning the other imported vehicles had already been resolved on the basis that allegations of non-fulfilment before expiry of the prescribed period were premature, substantial undisputed foreign-exchange earnings satisfied the actual-user test, and vehicle-registration or insurance allegations did not establish breach of EPCG conditions. The imported Honda CR-V was registered as a tourist taxi, and the DGFT subsequently issued an EODC/redemption letter for the relevant EPCG authorisation. The earlier non-production of EODC resulted from its delayed issuance by the DGFT despite the appellant's timely applications and supporting documents.

Conclusion: The denial of concessional-duty benefit and the consequential duty demand, confiscation, redemption fine and penalties were unsustainable.