Issues: (i) Maintainability of the civil writ petitions challenging the ECIR and consequential measures under the PMLA; (ii) Availability of an alternative remedy before the Adjudicating Authority; (iii) Continuation of the ECIR after acceptance of the Cancellation Report in the original predicate FIR; (iv) Validity of the addendum incorporating an earlier FIR as an additional scheduled offence.

Issue (i): Maintainability of the civil writ petitions challenging the ECIR and consequential measures under the PMLA.

Analysis: An ECIR is an internal administrative document and is not equivalent to an FIR or the commencement of criminal prosecution. Measures concerning search, seizure, freezing and preservation of alleged proceeds of crime under Section 17 and Section 17(1A) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 belong to the civil or executive stream of the statutory scheme until a prosecution complaint is filed before the Special Court under Section 44. A challenge to the jurisdictional basis for continuation of such administrative action is amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

Conclusion: The civil writ petitions were maintainable, in favour of the petitioners.

Issue (ii): Availability of an alternative remedy before the Adjudicating Authority.

Analysis: The Adjudicating Authority's jurisdiction under Section 8 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 is confined to attachment, retention, freezing and related property measures. It does not extend to deciding whether the ECIR had a surviving jurisdictional foundation after extinction of its predicate offence or whether the later addendum was lawful. The alternative-remedy rule concerns discretionary entertainability and does not bar writ jurisdiction where the challenge is to the foundational legality of the administrative action.

Conclusion: The petitioners were not required to pursue the remedy before the Adjudicating Authority, in favour of the petitioners.

Issue (iii): Continuation of the ECIR after acceptance of the Cancellation Report in the original predicate FIR.

Analysis: Property can qualify as proceeds of crime only when it is derived or obtained from criminal activity relating to a subsisting scheduled offence. Acceptance of the Cancellation Report, coupled with dismissal of the protest petition, brought the original predicate FIR to an end. A pending challenge to that order, without any stay or order reviving the predicate investigation, does not preserve a live scheduled offence for PMLA action. Revival may be sought if a superior court subsequently revives the predicate investigation.

Conclusion: The ECIR and all consequential coercive action insofar as based on the original predicate FIR could not continue and were quashed, in favour of the petitioners.

Issue (iv): Validity of the addendum incorporating an earlier FIR as an additional scheduled offence.

Analysis: An addendum to an ECIR is not inherently impermissible because an ECIR is an administrative document. Its use remains subject to judicial review for legality, rationality, procedural fairness and proper exercise of statutory power. The earlier FIR had existed long before the ECIR and was known to the enforcement authority, yet was introduced only after the original predicate FIR had been cancelled. The two FIRs involved materially distinct allegations, properties, persons and transactions, and no sufficient same-transaction nexus was established. Introducing the earlier FIR to sustain an ECIR whose original foundation had ceased was illegal, procedurally improper and a colourable exercise of power.

Conclusion: The addendum and all coercive action taken pursuant to it were quashed, in favour of the petitioners.

Final Conclusion: A live scheduled offence generating proceeds of crime is indispensable to the exercise of powers under the PMLA; an extinguished ECIR cannot be sustained by retrospectively adding an unrelated earlier predicate FIR, though lawful fresh action or revival remains available where statutory requirements are met.

Ratio Decidendi: PMLA proceedings require a subsisting scheduled offence and identifiable proceeds of crime; once the predicate offence is judicially closed, an ECIR cannot continue or be revived through an arbitrary addendum unless the predicate proceedings are lawfully revived.

Issues: Whether CENVAT credit availed on inputs covered by the supplier's invoices could be denied for alleged non-receipt of goods, and whether the extended period of limitation was invocable.

Analysis: The appellant produced valid input invoices, stock records, vendor ledger accounts, bank statements and freight-payment details showing receipt, accounting and payment for the inputs. The Revenue relied solely on material purportedly recovered from the supplier, without corroborative evidence in the appellant's proceedings; moreover, the supplier was not made a co-noticee. The transactions had also been recorded in RG 23A Part I and reflected through ER-1 returns. These disclosures negated suppression and did not support invocation of the extended period.

Conclusion: Denial of CENVAT credit was unsustainable on merits and barred by limitation; the demand relating to such credit was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether CENVAT credit on services used for setting up a manufacturing plant remains admissible after omission of the expression "setting up" from the definition of input service with effect from 01.04.2011.

Analysis: Rule 2(l) of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 contains a principal definition covering services used directly or indirectly, in or in relation to manufacture, besides inclusive and exclusion clauses. Setting up a factory has a direct nexus with manufacture because manufacture cannot commence without the facility. Deletion of "setting up" from the inclusive clause does not restrict services that independently fall within the principal clause. Credit is unavailable only where the particular service is covered by an exclusion clause. The record required service-wise verification of whether the disputed services were used for excluded construction, civil structure, foundation, or support-structure activities.

Conclusion: Services used for setting up a factory are eligible input services under the principal clause of Rule 2(l) after 01.04.2011, unless the particular service falls within an applicable exclusion clause.

Issues: Whether equipment moved from the Domestic Tariff Area to a Free Trade Warehousing Zone after completion of one petroleum contract and subsequently cleared into the Domestic Tariff Area under a fresh essentiality certificate for another contract qualifies as re-imported goods entitled to exemption under Serial No. 5 of Notification No. 45/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017.

Analysis: The concessional import benefit under Notification No. 50/2017-Customs is conditional upon the equipment being deployed for the petroleum operation certified under the relevant essentiality certificate. Condition No. 48 of that notification provides a specific mechanism for transfer of equipment to another specified person for a subsequent eligible petroleum operation, subject to prescribed undertakings and customs safeguards. That express mechanism cannot be displaced by an implied alternative route through a Free Trade Warehousing Zone yielding an additional fiscal benefit.

Analysis: The statutory fictions under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 regarding the customs treatment of Special Economic Zones and clearance into the Domestic Tariff Area operate for their prescribed purposes and do not create a universal re-import exemption. Re-import requires not merely identity of goods but continuity between the outward movement and their return. Equipment warehoused in a Free Trade Warehousing Zone after completion of one contract, and later cleared only upon securing a new domestic contract and a fresh essentiality certificate, is not returned in reversal of the earlier transaction. The original certified deployment is a closed transaction and the later clearance is founded on a distinct transaction. Rule 48(3) of the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006 does not apply where the Free Trade Warehousing Zone merely holds the owner's goods without procuring them.

Conclusion: The subsequent clearance of the equipment from the Free Trade Warehousing Zone into the Domestic Tariff Area is a fresh import and not a re-import under Serial No. 5 of Notification No. 45/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017; the claimed exemption is unavailable against the assessee.

Issues: (i) Whether referral charges received for facilitating vehicle loans and insurance policies constitute taxable Business Auxiliary Service; (ii) Whether penalty for suppression could be sustained despite payment of the service-tax liability before issuance of the show-cause notice.

Issue (i): Whether referral charges received for facilitating vehicle loans and insurance policies constitute taxable Business Auxiliary Service.

Analysis: Section 65(105)(zzb) of the Finance Act, 1994 covers Business Auxiliary Service. The agreements with banks and the insurer showed that the assessee promoted and marketed their lending and insurance services by informing dealers and customers about the available facilities and facilitating customer referrals. The referral charges were consideration for that promotional activity.

Conclusion: The referral charges are taxable as Business Auxiliary Service, against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether penalty for suppression could be sustained despite payment of the service-tax liability before issuance of the show-cause notice.

Analysis: Section 73(3) of the Finance Act, 1994 requires the Department to refrain from issuing a notice where the short-paid tax liability is discharged before notice. The entire liability had been paid before the show-cause notice, and uncertainty regarding taxability accounted for the non-disclosure of referral income under Business Auxiliary Service in the returns.

Conclusion: Penalty under Section 78 of the Finance Act, 1994 is unsustainable and is set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Service tax remains payable on the referral charges, while the surviving penalty liability is removed.

Ratio Decidendi: Referral activity undertaken under agreements to promote banks' lending and insurers' services constitutes Business Auxiliary Service; where the tax liability is fully discharged before the show-cause notice, penalty cannot be sustained under the pre-notice payment framework.

Issues: Whether, after the commencement of the GST regime, tobacco and tobacco products remained subject to central excise duty and NCCD; whether the saving of the Central Excise Act, 1944 through Section 174 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was unconstitutional; and whether Section 136 of the Finance Act, 2001 stood impliedly repealed.

Analysis: The legal challenges were already governed by earlier writ and appellate decisions that had attained finality. The additional grounds did not warrant reopening those settled questions; grounds not covered by the earlier decisions could be pursued before the statutory appellate authority against the order in original.

Conclusion: The requested declarations concerning excise duty, the saving clause, and implied repeal were not granted; unrelated grounds against the order in original remained available for consideration in the statutory appeal.

Issues: (i) Whether the selected and rejected companies were functionally comparable for benchmarking the international transaction of provision of software development services; (ii) Whether delayed trade receivables could be subjected to a separate notional-interest adjustment after benchmarking the software development services transaction under TNMM; (iii) Whether the total income in the computation sheet and demand notice required correction to conform to the assessed income.

Issue (i): Whether the selected and rejected companies were functionally comparable for benchmarking the international transaction of provision of software development services.

Analysis: The assessee was characterised as a captive contract software development service provider performing a limited role in the software development lifecycle, without significant intangibles, while the associated enterprise performed conceptualisation, research and development, marketing, customer contracting and price negotiation. Comparables performing diverse and complex end-to-end digital product engineering functions, or having multiple revenue streams without reliable segmental information, were unsuitable. Conversely, companies deriving revenue from software development services and performing functions aligned with the assessee's profile were suitable. A company having related-party transactions exceeding the 25% filter applied in the benchmarking exercise was also unsuitable.

Conclusion: Rheal Software Pvt. Ltd., Kals Information Systems Pvt. Ltd., Great Software Laboratory Pvt. Ltd. and Toxsl Technologies Pvt. Ltd. shall be included as comparables. Celstream Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Orchasp Ltd. shall remain excluded. Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd., Robosoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and I D S Infotech Ltd. shall be excluded, while Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd. and Nintec Systems Ltd. shall remain included. The comparability of Brain Teclabs Pvt. Ltd. is remitted for verification of its annual report and financials, with inclusion if the applicable filters are satisfied. The finding is partly in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether delayed trade receivables could be subjected to a separate notional-interest adjustment after benchmarking the software development services transaction under TNMM.

Analysis: The outstanding receivables arose solely from the software development services transaction and were closely linked to that transaction. Under TNMM, reasonably accurate adjustments are required for material differences between the tested transaction and uncontrolled comparables. Delayed receivables affect working capital and, consequently, the profitability comparison. Once working-capital adjustment is computed on the selected comparables, the receivables impact stands incorporated in the profitability analysis.

Conclusion: Working-capital adjustment shall be computed and granted for the software development services transaction; no separate notional-interest adjustment on delayed receivables is warranted thereafter. The finding is in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether the total income in the computation sheet and demand notice required correction to conform to the assessed income.

Analysis: The computation sheet and demand notice reflected income higher than that determined in the assessment order. The discrepancy required correction using the figures determined in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The total income and consequential demand shall be correctly recomputed using the proper assessed-income figures. The finding is in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The transfer-pricing benchmark is to be recalculated after revising the comparable set and granting working-capital adjustment, with consequential correction of the assessed income and demand; the limited verification concerning Brain Teclabs Pvt. Ltd. remains pending before the transfer-pricing and assessing authorities.

Ratio Decidendi: Where delayed receivables are inextricably linked to a service transaction benchmarked under TNMM, a working-capital adjustment subsumes their profitability effect and precludes a separate notional-interest adjustment.

Issues: Whether penalty for concealment or furnishing inaccurate particulars could be sustained for Assessment Year 2014-15 when the shortfall in investment claimed for capital-gains exemption was not taxable in that year.

Analysis: The statutory scheme treats unutilised capital gains intended for investment in a new residential house as taxable only when the prescribed investment period expires or when non-investment becomes ascertainable. At the time of filing the return, the assessee remained within the permitted investment period. The eventual shortfall became apparent only upon the later acquisition of another property, while the period for filing a revised return for the relevant year had expired. Accordingly, the shortfall could not be assessed in Assessment Year 2014-15.

Conclusion: The amount was not taxable in Assessment Year 2014-15; therefore, no concealment of income or furnishing of inaccurate particulars arose for that year, and the penalty under section 271(1)(c) was unsustainable.

Issues: Whether revisionary jurisdiction under section 263 could be invoked where the Assessing Officer had considered the disclosed material concerning computation of capital gains and accepted the assessee's explanation.

Analysis: Revision under section 263 requires the assessment order to be both erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue. The record established that the assessee had furnished the relevant information and supporting material during scrutiny, and that the Assessing Officer had consciously accepted the explanation after verification. A revision cannot rest merely on a different view as to the extent of inquiry or the computation that ought to have been adopted, unless the assessment view is unsustainable in law.

Conclusion: The assumption of revisionary jurisdiction under section 263 was impermissible; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether revision of the assessment for alleged inadequate inquiry into depreciation, foreign-agent commission and employment deduction claims was valid.

Analysis: Revision under Section 263 requires an assessment order to be both erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue. The assessment record reflected inquiries and verification by the Assessing Officer, including verification of the claim supported by Form 10DA. No flaw in the assessee's explanations or defect in the verification undertaken was identified. The findings were factual and disclosed due application of mind; consequently, no substantial question of law arose.

Conclusion: The revision under Section 263 was unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether the pending statutory appeals against the reassessment proceedings for the relevant assessment years required time-bound disposal in view of the grounds concerning sanction and document identification number requirements.

Analysis: The pending appeals included grounds that the sanction for one assessment year was granted by an incorrect authority and that the approval for the other assessment year lacked a mandatory Document Identification Number. These grounds, along with the additional grounds, required consideration in the statutory appellate proceedings; no adjudication on their merits was made.

Outcome: The statutory appellate authority was directed to decide both appeals within 12 weeks.

Issues: Whether the assessment order allowing deduction on interest from advances to members was erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue so as to permit revision.

Analysis: The interest of Rs. 87.52 crore was shown as interest on advances to members, while the deduction was restricted to the assessee's gross total income of Rs. 41.31 crore. The record did not support the premise that interest from fixed deposits with a non-cooperative bank had been claimed as deductible, nor did it justify allocation of expenditure for restricting the deduction. The assessment order therefore contained no error warranting revisional jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The revisional order was without jurisdiction, and the assessment order was not erroneous or prejudicial to the interests of the Revenue.

Issues: Whether refund arising after assessment under Section 201 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and appellate orders can be withheld by requiring Form 26B or by referring to outstanding demands against the assessee or related TANs, without an order under Section 245 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: Sections 200A and 201 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 operate in distinct fields: Section 200A concerns processing and adjustment of TDS statements at the CPC level, while Section 201 concerns TDS assessment. Rule 31A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 and Form 26B facilitate the former process and do not govern a refund crystallised upon assessment or pursuant to an appellate order. A refund so determined is a vested and crystallised right, payable with applicable interest. Withholding or adjustment of such refund is permissible only through a legally passed order under Section 245 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. No such order existed.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee; Form 26B cannot be compulsorily required for refund arising under Section 201 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 or appellate orders, and the refund cannot be withheld absent a valid order under Section 245 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Issues: (i) Whether a subsequent FIR not referred to in the PAO, reasons to believe, or original complaint could support confirmation of the PAO; (ii) Whether clubbing the subsequent FIR with an earlier FIR, in which the cognizance order for the offence under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 had been set aside, extinguished the allegation in the subsequent FIR; (iii) Whether Provisional Attachment could continue where the Scheduled Offences forming the basis of the Predicate Offence no longer survived.

Issue (i): Whether a subsequent FIR not referred to in the PAO, reasons to believe, or original complaint could support confirmation of the PAO.

Analysis: The subsequent FIR was registered after the PAO and was absent from the reasons to believe and the original complaint seeking confirmation. An addendum to the ECIR could furnish a fresh basis for action, but could not retrospectively supply the basis for confirming the existing Provisional Attachment.

Conclusion: The subsequent FIR could not be relied upon to confirm the PAO, in favour of the appellants.

Issue (ii): Whether clubbing the subsequent FIR with an earlier FIR, in which the cognizance order for the offence under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 had been set aside, extinguished the allegation in the subsequent FIR.

Analysis: Clubbing of FIRs for common investigation does not ordinarily give an earlier order an Ex Post Facto Effect upon a subsequently registered FIR, save in exceptional circumstances.

Conclusion: Clubbing did not extinguish the allegation in the subsequent FIR, against the appellants.

Issue (iii): Whether Provisional Attachment could continue where the Scheduled Offences forming the basis of the Predicate Offence no longer survived.

Analysis: The FIRs underlying the alleged Scheduled Offences had been quashed, or closure reports had been filed, leaving no subsisting Predicate Offence. In the absence of an established Scheduled Offence, the alleged property could not continue to be treated as Proceeds of Crime.

Conclusion: The attachment and its confirmation could not be sustained, in favour of the appellants.

Final Conclusion: The PAO and the order confirming it lacked a subsisting statutory foundation and were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Confirmation of an attachment alleged to involve Proceeds of Crime requires a subsisting Scheduled Offence and must rest on the material forming the basis of the PAO and original complaint; a later FIR cannot cure the absence of that foundation.

Issues: (i) Whether delay in recording satisfaction by the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over the assessee rendered the assessment under Sections 143(3) and 153C invalid; (ii) Whether non-supply of the searched person's statement and denial of cross-examination violated the principles of natural justice; (iii) Whether the seized electronic spreadsheet supported the on-money addition and its treatment where the property was jointly owned.

Issue (i): Whether delay in recording satisfaction by the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over the assessee rendered the assessment under Sections 143(3) and 153C invalid.

Analysis: Section 153C requires jurisdictional satisfaction by both the Assessing Officer of the searched person and the Assessing Officer of the other person. Both satisfactions were duly recorded: the searched person's satisfaction followed the conclusion of the settlement proceedings, and the assessee's Assessing Officer recorded satisfaction after receipt of the seized material. The statutory limitation for completing the assessment ran from the date on which the material was handed over, not from the later date of recording satisfaction. The interval did not extend the assessment period, breach any prescribed timeline, or cause demonstrated prejudice to the assessee.

Conclusion: The assessment was validly initiated under Section 153C; this issue is decided against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether non-supply of the searched person's statement and denial of cross-examination violated the principles of natural justice.

Analysis: The addition rested on the seized spreadsheet and corroborating transaction particulars, rather than on any statement of the searched person. The right to receive a statement and to cross-examine its maker arises where that statement is relied upon as the basis of an adverse addition. As no testimonial material formed the foundation of the assessment and the seized material was supplied, no actionable prejudice or breach of the principles of natural justice was established.

Conclusion: Non-supply of the statements and denial of cross-examination did not invalidate the assessment; this issue is decided against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Issue (iii): Whether the seized electronic spreadsheet supported the on-money addition and its treatment where the property was jointly owned.

Analysis: The spreadsheet specifically identified the bungalow and recorded cheque and cash components of its consideration. Its entries concerning cheque payments, property area, and rate corresponded with the registered sale deed, corroborating the spreadsheet as incriminating material. The difference between the tentative amount in the satisfaction note and the final quantified addition did not affect jurisdiction, since satisfaction under Section 153C is jurisdictional and need not finally quantify undisclosed income. The electronic data supported the cash-payment addition; however, the property was acquired jointly and the assessee's ownership share requires verification for proportionate computation of the addition.

Conclusion: The on-money addition is sustainable on merits in favour of the Revenue, subject to verification of the assessee's ownership percentage and proportionate quantification.

Final Conclusion: The assessment remains legally sustainable and the addition must be recomputed only to the extent warranted by the assessee's verified ownership share in the jointly acquired property.

Issues: Whether CENVAT credit is admissible on erection, commissioning and installation services used for setting up a new cement plant after 01.04.2011.

Analysis: Services used for setting up the new plant had a direct nexus with the manufacture of finished goods. Although the expression relating to setting up of a factory was omitted from the inclusive portion of the definition after 01.04.2011, the services remained covered by the main clause of Rule 2(l), as they were used directly or indirectly in relation to manufacture and were not specifically excluded.

Conclusion: CENVAT credit is admissible on the services used for setting up the new plant.

Issues: Whether a reassessment initiated for alleged escaped capital gains can be sustained solely on additions relating to notional rental income and reclassification of disclosed rental receipts when no addition is made on the income forming the basis of reopening.

Analysis: The notice under Section 148A(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was founded exclusively on alleged capital gains from the assessee's purported transfer of immovable property. The assessee's explanation established that it was only a confirming party to a transfer of tenancy rights and had neither transferred the property nor received consideration. No capital-gains addition was made in reassessment. The additions ultimately made concerned notional annual letting value and treatment of disclosed rental receipts under the head income from house property, which were distinct from the alleged escaped capital gains. Under the governing reassessment principle, the Assessing Officer must assess or reassess the income which formed the foundation for reopening before assessing another income noticed during reassessment; where that foundational income is accepted as not having escaped assessment, reassessment cannot be sustained solely on an independent addition.

Conclusion: The reassessment was without jurisdiction and was quashed, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment cannot be sustained on independent additions when no addition is made in respect of the escaped income that formed the basis of the notice initiating reassessment.

Issues: Whether the difference between the stamp duty value and the settlement consideration for the conveyance deed was taxable as income under section 56(2)(x) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The constructed building had been completed, occupied and beneficially enjoyed by the flat purchasers and the co-operative society decades before execution of the conveyance deed. The promoter was under pre-existing contractual and statutory obligations to convey the land and building to the society. The later deed transferred only the outstanding reversionary and leasehold interests, thereby regularising and perfecting legal title. The settlement consideration was paid to resolve intervening disputes; no finding established unaccounted consideration, a colourable arrangement, or receipt in the relevant year of commercially distinct property.

Conclusion: The stamp duty value differential was not taxable as income under section 56(2)(x) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A delayed conveyance undertaken to fulfil a pre-existing statutory and contractual obligation, where beneficial possession and enjoyment had already passed, does not constitute a fresh receipt of immovable property for inadequate consideration under section 56(2)(x) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Issues: Whether a lump-sum remittance to a non-resident for assignment of ownership of a trademark constituted royalty taxable in India, requiring deduction of tax at source and supporting treatment of the payer as an assessee in default.

Analysis: The record contained the trademark assignment agreement, evidence of the transferor's ownership, particulars of the rights transferred, valuation and commercial terms, and the recipient's tax-residency certificate. These materials established that the remittance was for acquisition of the trademark as a capital asset and not for mere use of intellectual-property rights. A payment for outright transfer of ownership for lump-sum consideration is distinct from royalty. Further, the obligation to withhold tax on a foreign remittance arises only where the remittance is chargeable to tax in India.

Conclusion: The remittance was not royalty and did not give rise to a tax-deduction obligation; the assessee could not be treated as an assessee in default, and the demand under Sections 201(1) and 201(1A) was deleted.