Issues: Whether redemption fine and penalty could be imposed for alleged misdeclaration arising from excess quantity and enhancement of the assessable value of imported goods.

Analysis: The supplier's invoice and packing list supported the declared quantity, and there was no evidence that the importer had ordered the excess goods or deliberately suppressed their quantity. The valuation adopted by the department was also inconsistent: although a comparable bill of entry reflected a different price, enhancement was made on the basis of assessment practice without specific contemporaneous import data or a stated valuation rule. The authorities had not established misdeclaration attracting confiscation. Further, redemption fine requires a determination of market price and margin of profit; neither was determined on the record.

Conclusion: The alleged excess quantity and enhanced value did not establish misdeclaration under Sections 111(l) or 111(m) of the Customs Act, 1962. The redemption fine and penalty under Section 112(a)(ii) were unsustainable.

Issues: (i) Whether examination-related services supplied to schools for voluntary Olympiad and talent-search examinations qualify for exemption under Entry No. 9(b) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST; (ii) Whether the extended limitation period under the proviso to Section 73(1) of the Finance Act, 1994 was validly invoked; (iii) Whether penalties consequential to the tax demand were sustainable.

Issue (i): Whether examination-related services supplied to schools for voluntary Olympiad and talent-search examinations qualify for exemption under Entry No. 9(b) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST.

Analysis: Entry No. 9(b) exempts services provided to an educational institution in relation to the conduct of examination. Its plain terms do not restrict the exemption to mandatory Board examinations or examinations forming part of the prescribed curriculum. The expression "relating to" has a broad scope and covers activities directly connected with examination, including preparation of question papers, supply of OMR sheets and other examination material, evaluation, tabulation and declaration of results.

Analysis: The schools identified participants, collected and remitted fees, supplied student details, conducted and supervised the tests at their premises, and forwarded answer sheets. The contractual and commercial relationship was therefore between the appellant and the schools; the students' ultimate benefit did not make them recipients of the service. Voluntary participation and promotional features did not alter the essential examination-related character of the services. Subsequent GST payment could not govern taxability under the earlier service-tax regime.

Conclusion: The services were exempt under Entry No. 9(b) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the extended limitation period under the proviso to Section 73(1) of the Finance Act, 1994 was validly invoked.

Analysis: The dispute concerned interpretation of the exemption entry. The appellant maintained regular accounts, disclosed receipts in financial statements and income-tax returns, and supplied information during investigation; the demand was based on its own records. There was no material establishing deliberate concealment, wilful misstatement, or intent to evade tax. Mere non-payment founded on an interpretational position does not establish suppression, particularly where divergent views existed on examination-related services.

Conclusion: Invocation of the extended limitation period was unsustainable. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether penalties consequential to the tax demand were sustainable.

Analysis: The penalties rested on the alleged suppressed non-payment of service tax. The tax demand failed on merits and the extended period was unavailable. The record also supported a bona fide belief regarding exemption in an interpretational dispute.

Conclusion: Penalties under Sections 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994, including the penalty on the director, were unsustainable. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Examination services supplied to educational institutions remain within the exemption notwithstanding that the examinations are optional or outside the prescribed Board curriculum, and no extended-period liability or consequential penal exposure arises on the facts.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption for services relating to conduct of examination by an educational institution covers all services having a direct and proximate nexus with that examination, without importing an unstated requirement that the examination be compulsory or curriculum-based.

Issues: (i) Whether service-tax demand on legal services received under the reverse charge mechanism was sustainable; (ii) Whether penalty for non-payment of such service tax was sustainable.

Issue (i): Whether service-tax demand on legal services received under the reverse charge mechanism was sustainable.

Analysis: Legal services supplied by an advocate or a firm of advocates to a business entity were taxable, and the recipient bore the entire tax liability under the reverse charge mechanism. However, the assessee was entitled to avail CENVAT credit of the tax payable on those input legal services for providing taxable output services. Payment of tax and availment of corresponding credit would therefore create a revenue-neutral situation. Applying the settled treatment of revenue neutrality in reverse-charge cases, the demand could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The service-tax demand was unsustainable on account of revenue neutrality, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether penalty for non-payment of such service tax was sustainable.

Analysis: Since the underlying service-tax demand was not sustainable, no interest or penalty could survive.

Conclusion: Penalty was not sustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The confirmed liability arising from reverse-charge tax on the disputed legal services was annulled, with consequential relief available in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: Where tax payable under reverse charge is fully available to the same assessee as CENVAT credit, the resulting revenue-neutrality renders the tax demand and consequential penal liability unsustainable.

Issues: Whether premiums retained on lapse or repudiation of life-insurance policies for non-payment of premium or misdeclaration constitute consideration for a declared service of agreeing to tolerate an act under Section 66E(e) of the Finance Act, 1994.

Analysis: The insurance contract became void or lapsed upon the specified defaults, with no surrender value or benefit becoming payable where the policy was not revived. Retention of amounts already paid was an incident of the original insurance arrangement and not a distinct agreement under which the insurer undertook, for consideration, to tolerate a default or situation. A declared service under Section 66E(e) requires an independent contractual obligation specifically covering the act of refraining, tolerating, or doing an act, together with a necessary nexus and flow of consideration for that obligation. Treating the retained premium as consideration for a separate declared service would also result in double taxation.

Conclusion: The retained premiums are not taxable as consideration for agreeing to tolerate an act; the service-tax demand, interest, and penalties are unsustainable.

Issues: (i) Whether CGST authorities could invoke Section 74(1) to deny transitional credit on the basis that CENVAT credit validly carried in pre-GST returns was inadmissible under the erstwhile regime; (ii) Whether Krishi Kalyan Cess credit transitioned under Section 140(1) was admissible; (iii) Whether VAT credit on stock-in-trade transitioned under Section 140(6) could be denied without contrary material or specific findings.

Issue (i): Whether CGST authorities could invoke Section 74(1) to deny transitional credit on the basis that CENVAT credit validly carried in pre-GST returns was inadmissible under the erstwhile regime.

Analysis: Sections 142(6)(a) and 174(2)(e) preserve proceedings and remedies under the erstwhile enactments. The credit in question stood disclosed as closing balance in the pre-GST service-tax and VAT returns and had never been disputed under those laws. Section 140 permits carry-forward subject to GST eligibility conditions, but does not empower CGST officers to reassess the correctness of credit availed under the repealed regime. Verification of closing credit against particular invoices was also untenable because the closing balance is derived from opening balance, availment and utilisation. Proceedings for alleged wrong availment under the erstwhile regime could only be initiated under the applicable erstwhile law.

Conclusion: The Section 74(1) proceedings, insofar as they reassessed the admissibility of pre-GST credit under the erstwhile laws, were without jurisdiction and were decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether Krishi Kalyan Cess credit transitioned under Section 140(1) was admissible.

Analysis: Explanation 3 to Section 140 could not be applied to deny cess credit under Section 140(1) in the absence of operationalisation of the linked amendments to Explanations 1 and 2. The departmental circular confirmed that those amendments would not be notified. The jurisdictional High Court ruling governing the effect of these provisions remained operative, and the pending challenge against it did not justify denial in the absence of a stay.

Conclusion: Transition of Krishi Kalyan Cess credit was valid and was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether VAT credit on stock-in-trade transitioned under Section 140(6) could be denied without contrary material or specific findings.

Analysis: The required particulars for stock-in-trade VAT credit had been furnished, while the lower authorities recorded no specific defect or evidence disproving eligibility. The denial merely treated this credit as part of other disputed credits. Objections concerning invoice particulars and documents, not raised when the underlying credit was claimed, could not sustain denial at the transition stage.

Conclusion: The transitioned VAT credit on stock-in-trade was eligible and was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The transitional credits were legally available, and the demand, interest and penalty founded on their denial could not survive.

Ratio Decidendi: Transitional-credit provisions do not confer jurisdiction on GST authorities to reassess the admissibility of credit validly carried forward from the erstwhile regime; such disputes must be pursued under the saved provisions of the applicable erstwhile law.

Issues: Whether punitive action against an authorised courier was justified for alleged contravention connected with a consignment containing ingeniously concealed gold.

Analysis: The inquiry findings established that the masterminds of the smuggling had been identified and that no evidence implicated the authorised courier or showed its knowledge of the concealed gold. The declared goods did not disclose the concealment, which could be detected only through Customs X-ray examination; the courier lacked comparable facilities at the stage of receiving the cargo. The courier had acted bona fide and exercised due diligence to secure compliance. The separate proposed penalty under Section 112(a) and Section 112(b) of the Customs Act, 1962 had also been dropped.

Conclusion: The authorised courier had not wilfully contravened its regulatory obligations and was not liable to punitive measures under Regulation 14; the finding dropping the proceedings warranted no interference.

Ratio Decidendi: An authorised courier cannot be subjected to punitive action for concealed contraband absent evidence of knowledge, wilful contravention, or failure to exercise due diligence, particularly where the concealment was not reasonably detectable.

Issues: (i) Whether appointment of a liquidator without considering the Committee of Creditors' unanimous recommendation was sustainable; (ii) Whether the IBBI communication dated 18.07.2023 justified bypassing the recommended insolvency professional; (iii) Whether the objection concerning the appellant's Authorisation for Assignment could sustain the appointment; (iv) Whether progress by the incumbent liquidator and the asserted absence of creditor objection warranted refusal of relief.

Issue (i): Whether appointment of a liquidator without considering the Committee of Creditors' unanimous recommendation was sustainable.

Analysis: Section 34 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 treats continuation of the resolution professional as liquidator as the default, subject to the specified grounds for replacement. The unanimous and repeatedly affirmed recommendation of the sole Committee of Creditors member was material to selection of the liquidator. The impugned order referred to the relevant Committee meeting only for fixation of fees and did not acknowledge or address its recommendation of the appellant.

Conclusion: The appointment made without consideration of the Committee of Creditors' unanimous recommendation was unsustainable, in favour of the appellant.

Issue (ii): Whether the IBBI communication dated 18.07.2023 justified bypassing the recommended insolvency professional.

Analysis: The power under Section 34(4) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 permits replacement on grounds relating to a particular resolution professional and cannot be transformed into a general exclusion of erstwhile insolvency resolution professionals from appointment as liquidators. In any event, the communication targeting an outgoing interim resolution professional or resolution professional did not apply because the appellant had never held either office in the corporate debtor.

Conclusion: The communication did not furnish a valid basis for appointing another liquidator in place of the appellant, in favour of the appellant.

Issue (iii): Whether the objection concerning the appellant's Authorisation for Assignment could sustain the appointment.

Analysis: The eligibility objection was not part of the reasoning in the impugned order. The material concerning the appellant's AFA was contested, and the appellate record did not permit a conclusive determination of its validity. Regulation 7A of the IBBI (Insolvency Professionals) Regulations, 2016 nevertheless required verification before the appellant assumed charge.

Conclusion: The AFA objection could not sustain the impugned appointment; the appellant's current AFA must be verified by the Adjudicating Authority before assumption of charge.

Issue (iv): Whether progress by the incumbent liquidator and the asserted absence of creditor objection warranted refusal of relief.

Analysis: The incumbent's actions were routine statutory liquidation steps, while realisation of assets had remained stayed shortly after his appointment. Those acts were neither irreversible nor sufficient to override the sole financial creditor's unequivocal, repeated recommendation of the appellant. The completed steps could be adopted by the incoming liquidator, and the incumbent was entitled to appropriate costs and fees for work genuinely performed.

Conclusion: Neither the progress made nor the asserted absence of objection justified retaining the incumbent liquidator, in favour of the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The liquidator's appointment was required to conform to the unanimously expressed commercial decision of the Committee of Creditors, subject to verification of the proposed liquidator's subsisting regulatory authorisation and preservation of valid steps already undertaken.

Ratio Decidendi: A liquidator cannot be appointed by disregarding a unanimous Committee of Creditors recommendation on the basis of a general communication that is outside the confines of Section 34(4) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 or factually inapplicable to the recommended professional.

Issues: (i) Whether service tax was leviable on construction and sale of residential flats, substantially undertaken before 01.07.2010, under Construction of Residential Complex Service; (ii) Whether the extended limitation period, interest and penalties could be sustained.

Issue (i): Whether service tax was leviable on construction and sale of residential flats, substantially undertaken before 01.07.2010, under Construction of Residential Complex Service.

Analysis: Composite construction agreements did not contain a statutory mechanism for segregating goods and service components during the relevant period. The settled position concerning builders' construction for prospective purchasers before 01.07.2010 did not permit the proposed levy on composite consideration. The construction was also for individual purchasers' personal use, attracting the exclusion from the meaning of residential complex, supported by the applicable departmental clarification.

Conclusion: The service-tax demand on the construction activity was unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the extended limitation period, interest and penalties could be sustained.

Analysis: The assessee was registered and filed statutory returns, while the dispute arose from an unsettled and interpretational question concerning the taxable entry and departmental clarification. Mere non-payment in those circumstances did not establish deliberate suppression or wilful misstatement with intent to evade tax. As the substantive demand failed, consequential interest and penalties could not survive; the bona fide interpretational dispute also warranted the statutory penalty protection.

Conclusion: Invocation of the extended period was invalid, and the consequential interest and penalties were unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The confirmed service-tax liability and its consequential fiscal imposts were annulled; payment of the late fee is to be verified and adjusted if established.

Ratio Decidendi: A composite pre-01.07.2010 construction transaction cannot be subjected to the proposed service-tax levy where the legal framework did not provide for segregation of goods and service value; an interpretational dispute without deliberate suppression cannot justify the extended limitation period or penalties.

Issues: (i) Whether the sub-contractor's earthwork and site-formation activities qualified as works contract service eligible for exemption under Serial No. 29(h) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012; (ii) Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked for the service-tax demand.

Issue (i): Whether the sub-contractor's earthwork and site-formation activities qualified as works contract service eligible for exemption under Serial No. 29(h) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012.

Analysis: Serial No. 29(h) exempts works contract services supplied by a sub-contractor to a contractor supplying exempt works contract services. The main contractor's work relating to construction of dams and canals for the State Government was undisputedly exempt; the sole question was whether the appellant supplied works contract service. Under Section 65B(54) of the Finance Act, 1994, the relevant requirement is that property in goods involved in executing the contract is leviable to tax as a sale of goods, not that goods must be separately supplied, billed, or actually subjected to VAT. The contract was composite, requiring the appellant to provide machinery, labour, fuel, lubricants, spares and other materials for excavation and earthwork. Goods used and consumed in execution may pass in an altered form by accretion and constitute a deemed sale. Non-payment of VAT because of an available exemption, and subsequent reimbursement of VAT deducted by the main contractor, did not alter the works-contract character of the activity.

Conclusion: The activities were works contract services and qualified for exemption under Serial No. 29(h) of Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked for the service-tax demand.

Analysis: The dispute involved interpretation of exemptions applicable to Government dam and canal works, the nature of works contract service, and the VAT treatment of goods used in execution. The appellant could reasonably hold a bona fide belief that no service tax was payable. The managing director's statement concerning absence of transfer of goods reflected an interpretation of the arrangement and was not cogent evidence of deliberate suppression or intent to evade tax. The finding that the managing director lacked complicity or active planning to evade tax also undermined the allegation of intentional suppression by the company. No independent positive evidence established suppression with intent to evade.

Conclusion: The extended period was not invocable; the demand was time-barred, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The service-tax demand failed both because the subcontracted activity was exempt works contract service and because the extended limitation period was unavailable; consequential penalties could not survive.

Ratio Decidendi: A composite subcontract requiring use of goods in execution is a works contract where property in those goods passes in any form by accretion, and non-payment of VAT under an exemption does not negate its character as a deemed sale; a bona fide interpretative dispute without positive evidence of intent to evade precludes invocation of the extended limitation period.

Issues: (i) Whether the appellant's labour contract constituted taxable manpower recruitment or supply service rather than job work or a manufacturing contract; (ii) whether the extended limitation period, demand based on Form 16A receipts, and penalty were sustainable.

Issue (i): Whether the appellant's labour contract constituted taxable manpower recruitment or supply service rather than job work or a manufacturing contract.

Analysis: The work order, read as a whole, appointed the appellant as a labour contractor, described the activities to be performed by labour, required submission and payment of labour bills, and required compliance documentation concerning the workers' PF and ESIC contributions. Payment calculated per metric tonne did not alter the essential nature of the arrangement as labour supply. The contract contained no output-quality standards, production benchmarks, or consequences for failure to achieve them that would indicate an independent job-work contract. The appellant's unretracted investigation statement also confirmed that it acted as a labour contractor. Section 9D of the Central Excise Act, 1944 did not require exclusion of the appellant's own statement in the circumstances, since the appellant had failed to avail repeated hearing opportunities.

Conclusion: The activity was taxable manpower recruitment or supply service, and the service-tax demand was sustainable, against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the extended limitation period, demand based on Form 16A receipts, and penalty were sustainable.

Analysis: The appellant knew that it provided labour-supply service but did not disclose and pay tax on that taxable activity. In the absence of complete records from the appellant, the receipts reflected in Form 16A could be relied upon; the appellant did not establish that those receipts related to any non-taxable activity. These facts justified invocation of the extended period and the penalty for non-payment of service tax.

Conclusion: Invocation of the extended limitation period, computation of demand using Form 16A receipts, and penalty under Section 78 of the Finance Act, 1994 were sustainable, against the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The confirmed service-tax liability, interest, and Section 78 penalty remained enforceable.

Ratio Decidendi: The true character of a service arrangement is determined from the contract read as a whole; payment measured by output does not displace its character as manpower supply where the contractual obligations and surrounding evidence establish supply of labour.

Issues: Whether Cenvat credit is admissible on services, inputs and capital goods used for maintenance and operation of a fly ash pond and for loading, unloading and transportation of fly ash to the manufacturing unit, notwithstanding that such services were rendered outside the factory premises.

Analysis: Rule 2(l) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 covers services used directly or indirectly in or in relation to manufacture and includes procurement and inward transportation of inputs. Fly ash was an undisputed raw material for cement manufacture. The pond-related maintenance and extraction activities, as well as loading, unloading and freight for bringing fly ash to the factory, had a direct nexus with manufacture. The definition does not require that every eligible input service must be performed within the factory premises. The post-1 April 2011 omission of setting-up services from the inclusive portion does not exclude services otherwise covered by the principal part of the definition.

Conclusion: Cenvat credit on the disputed fly ash pond-related services, inputs, capital goods, and inward movement services is admissible. The issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A service used directly or indirectly in relation to manufacture qualifies as an input service under Rule 2(l) even when performed outside the factory, unless specifically excluded.

Issues: Whether the substituted proviso to Section 107(6) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, effective from 01.10.2025, requiring a ten per cent pre-deposit for appeals against penalty-only orders, applies to adjudicatory proceedings initiated by a show-cause notice before that date.

Analysis: The right of appeal is a substantive right that vests with the commencement of the lis and includes the appellate forum and conditions governing exercise of that right. A subsequently introduced pre-deposit that materially burdens access to the appellate remedy cannot apply to a vested appellate right unless the amending enactment expressly or by necessary implication so provides. The lis commenced when the show-cause notice asserted quantified personal penalty liability and required an answer; subsequent replies, hearing, adjudication order, and filing of appeal were connected stages of the same proceeding. The substituted proviso introduced, for the first time in respect of the penalty-only order concerned, a mandatory ten per cent deposit as a condition precedent to filing an appeal. Neither Section 129 of the Finance Act, 2025 nor the substituted proviso contains an express transitional command or necessary implication applying that onerous condition to proceedings initiated before its commencement. The expression "no appeal shall be filed" specifies the stage of compliance where the substituted proviso applies, but does not determine its temporal applicability to an already vested appellate right.

Conclusion: The substituted proviso to Section 107(6) does not apply to appeals arising from the pre-01.10.2025 show-cause notice; the appeals are governed by the pre-amendment appellate regime, and no ten per cent deposit of the disputed penalties is required as a condition of filing them. This is in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether an appeal under Section 54 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, challenging only the additional amount, solatium and statutory interest awarded by the Reference Court, attracts ad valorem court fee under Section 8 of the Court Fees Act, 1870.

Analysis: Section 8 computes court fee on an appeal relating to land-acquisition compensation according to the difference between the amount awarded and the amount claimed by the appellant. The additional amount under Section 23(1-A), solatium under Section 23(2), and interest under Section 28 are mandatory and inseparable constituents of compensation, forming a composite decretal award. By virtue of Section 26(2), the Reference Court award is a deemed decree, and an appeal under Section 54 seeking exclusion or reduction of any quantified statutory component seeks modification of that decree. Section 8 contains no exemption for appeals confined to statutory additions; strict construction of a fiscal statute cannot justify supplying such an exemption by casus omissus.

Conclusion: An appeal seeking reduction or exclusion of the additional amount, solatium or statutory interest attracts ad valorem court fee under Section 8 of the Court Fees Act, 1870; payment of a fixed court fee is insufficient.

Issues: Whether, after the DGFT issued a final duty-paid regularization letter for imports under an EPCG authorization, confiscation under Section 111(o) of the Customs Act, 1962, consequential redemption fine, and penalty under Section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 could be sustained.

Analysis: The imports under the EPCG authorization stood regularized by the DGFT through its final duty-paid regularization letter after payment of the duty foregone and interest. The fulfilment or regularization of export obligation under the EPCG scheme falls within the licensing authority's domain. Once the DGFT regularized the imports, Customs could not sustain a contrary finding that the notification conditions had been breached so as to justify confiscation and penal consequences. The duty demand and interest were not challenged, and the duty foregone was required to be determined with reference to the assessable value declared in the relevant bill of entry rather than the licence value.

Conclusion: Confiscation, consequential redemption fine, and penalty under Section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 are unsustainable and stand set aside; the unchallenged customs duty and interest demand remains undisturbed.

Issues: Whether an investment recorded in the partnership firm's books and funded through identifiable partners' capital accounts can be treated as unexplained investment under section 69.

Analysis: Section 69 applies only to investments not recorded in the assessee's books of account. The immovable-property investment was recorded in the firm's regular books, with the corresponding source reflected through the capital accounts of identifiable partners. No defect in the books was identified and the books were not rejected. Doubts regarding the financial capacity or source of funds of individual partners required examination in their respective assessments and could not render the firm's recorded investment unexplained.

Conclusion: The addition for unexplained investment under section 69 was unsustainable and was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Correct employee-cost quantitative filter for software development services; (ii) Eligibility of the selected companies as comparables for software development services; (iii) Sustainability of the transfer-pricing adjustment on interest attributable to outstanding trade receivables; (iv) Grant of working-capital adjustment.

Issue (i): Correct employee-cost quantitative filter for software development services.

Analysis: The relevant segment comprised software development services. The applicable employee-cost-to-sales filter was required to follow the 50% to 80% range.

Conclusion: The employee-cost filter shall be applied at 50% to 80% of sales and the computation shall be made afresh, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Eligibility of the selected companies as comparables for software development services.

Analysis: Cybage Software Private Limited, Orion India Systems Private Limited and Athena Global Technologies Limited lacked segmental data. Nihilent Limited had undergone an extraordinary amalgamation event. Orion India Systems Private Limited was also engaged in computer programming and consultancy activities rather than the relevant software development services segment.

Conclusion: Cybage Software Private Limited, Nihilent Limited, Orion India Systems Private Limited and Athena Global Technologies Limited shall be excluded from the comparable set, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Sustainability of the transfer-pricing adjustment on interest attributable to outstanding trade receivables.

Analysis: Outstanding trade receivables constitute an international transaction under Explanation (c) to Section 92B. However, the Comparable Uncontrolled Price method adopted through an SBI lending-rate-based LIBOR benchmark lacked supporting segmental comparable material or trends.

Conclusion: The adjustment for interest on outstanding trade receivables is deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Grant of working-capital adjustment.

Analysis: The working-capital impact on the assessee's pricing and profitability requires examination while determining the arm's length price.

Conclusion: The working-capital adjustment shall be considered afresh in accordance with law, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The transfer-pricing determination requires fresh computation using the prescribed employee-cost filter and revised comparable set, with deletion of the receivables-interest adjustment and fresh consideration of working-capital adjustment.

Ratio Decidendi: An interest adjustment on outstanding receivables cannot be sustained merely because they are international transactions where the selected Comparable Uncontrolled Price method is unsupported by segmental comparable evidence.

Issues: Whether the assessment for a covered year under a unilateral advance pricing agreement could retain the original transfer-pricing adjustment without considering the modified return filed in accordance with that agreement.

Analysis: The unilateral advance pricing agreement covered the relevant assessment year, and the modified return had been filed while the assessment proceedings were pending. Section 92CD(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 requires completion of such pending assessment in accordance with the agreement after taking the modified return into account. The withdrawal of objections concerning the covered transactions did not justify retaining the adjustment determined under the original transfer-pricing order. The assessee had complied with the agreement's requirements.

Conclusion: The assessment for the relevant year must be completed by the Assessing Officer/Transfer Pricing Officer in accordance with the unilateral advance pricing agreement and the modified return filed by the assessee.

Issues: Whether the cancelled GST registration should be restored subject to compliance with the conditions governing revival of registration.

Analysis: The matter was treated as covered by the adopted framework for revival of cancelled GST registrations. That framework requires filing pending pre- and post-cancellation returns and payment of tax, interest, penalty, fine and fees in cash; input tax credit cannot be used for such payments and may be utilised only after departmental scrutiny and approval.

Conclusion: The cancellation of GST registration was set aside, and restoration was directed subject to compliance with the prescribed conditions and consideration of the representation.