Issues: Whether the rejection of the miscellaneous application concerning Paper Book No. II-A and the accompanying affidavit warranted interference and fresh consideration under Rule 29.

Analysis: The record, including the Tribunal's receipt endorsements on the paper books and the subsequent inspection of the Tribunal's files, prima facie established that Paper Book No. II-A and the affidavit seeking permission for additional evidence were available before the Tribunal. The absence of a separate Rule 29 application did not justify the Tribunal's doubt that these materials had ever been filed; however, whether the affidavit constituted due compliance with Rule 29, and whether the documents were relevant to the appeal, required determination by the Tribunal. The grievance regarding Paper Book No. II was not pursued.

Conclusion: The order concerning the miscellaneous application was set aside to the limited extent necessary for the Tribunal to freshly determine Rule 29 compliance in respect of Paper Book No. II-A and, if satisfied, its relevance and consequential effect.

Issues: (i) Whether interest on income-tax refund received by an Irish tax resident is taxable at the beneficial rate of 10% under Article 11 of the India-Ireland Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement; (ii) Whether credit for tax deducted at source is allowable.

Issue (i): Whether interest on income-tax refund received by an Irish tax resident is taxable at the beneficial rate of 10% under Article 11 of the India-Ireland Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement.

Analysis: Article 11 limits Indian taxation of interest paid to an Irish resident to 10% of the gross interest. By virtue of section 90(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, treaty provisions prevail where more beneficial. The assessee's Irish tax residency and entitlement to treaty benefits were undisputed, and the facts were identical to the earlier assessment year.

Conclusion: Interest on the income-tax refund is taxable at 10% under Article 11 of the India-Ireland Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether credit for tax deducted at source is allowable.

Analysis: The claim for tax deducted at source credit required examination as to whether the credit had already been granted and, if not, its allowability in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The tax deducted at source credit issue is restored to the Assessing Officer for re-examination and grant of eligible credit in accordance with law.

Final Conclusion: The beneficial treaty rate governs the taxation of the refund interest, while the tax deducted at source credit claim requires fresh verification.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an eligible non-resident is entitled to a more beneficial treaty rate, the treaty limitation on tax applies in preference to the domestic-law rate.

Issues: (i) Whether section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962, applies to the seized Indian currency; (ii) Whether the requirements of section 121 of the Customs Act, 1962, have been established; (iii) Whether the penalties under section 112(a) and 112(b) of the Customs Act, 1962, are sustainable; and (iv) Whether the matters require remand.

Issue (i): Whether section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962, applies to the seized Indian currency.

Analysis: Section 123 creates an exception to the ordinary burden of proof only for specified or notified goods. Although gold is covered, Indian currency is not a specified or notified good. Since the seized property was currency and not gold, the statutory burden of proof remained upon the Revenue to establish that it represented sale proceeds of smuggled goods.

Conclusion: Section 123 does not apply to the seized Indian currency; the burden of proof rested upon the Revenue, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the requirements of section 121 of the Customs Act, 1962, have been established.

Analysis: Confiscation under section 121 requires cumulative statutory ingredients: legally established smuggled goods, their sale by a person having knowledge or reason to believe them to be smuggled, and a direct evidentiary nexus between that sale and the currency. Suspicion arising from possession of substantial cash or doubts regarding its source cannot substitute this proof. No particular smuggled gold consignment, illegal importation, seller, buyer, sale, consideration, or identifiable part of the currency linked to such sale was established. The business records, GST returns, bill books, and customer confirmations supporting alternative sources were not displaced by contrary evidence.

Conclusion: The statutory requirements for confiscation under section 121 were not established; confiscation of the currency is unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether the penalties under section 112(a) and 112(b) of the Customs Act, 1962, are sustainable.

Analysis: Penalty under section 112(a) or section 112(b) requires identified goods liable to confiscation under section 111 and an established act, omission, abetment, or knowing dealing in relation to those goods. No specific smuggled gold or conduct relating to identified confiscable goods was proved. Allegations or conduct arising from an unconnected proceeding cannot supply the missing factual foundation, and confiscation proposed under section 121 cannot replace the foundational requirements for penalty.

Conclusion: The penalties under section 112(a) and section 112(b) are unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether the matters require remand.

Analysis: Though the appellate remand direction could not be sustained under section 128A, remand was not warranted after findings that confiscation lacked legal authority and the statutory ingredients were unproved. Remand cannot be used to permit reconstruction of a fundamentally deficient case by identifying new facts or evidentiary links absent from the show cause notice. Fresh adjudication on the same record would serve no purpose.

Conclusion: Remand was unwarranted and the remand direction is set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The absence of proof linking the currency to identified sales of smuggled goods defeats both confiscation and penalty; the matter attains finality without a fresh adjudication.

Ratio Decidendi: Currency may be confiscated as sale proceeds of smuggled goods only upon the Revenue proving all statutory ingredients, including a direct and identifiable evidentiary nexus between a proven sale of smuggled goods and the currency sought to be confiscated.

Issues: (i) Whether the declared CIF transaction value was liable to be accepted; (ii) Whether freight and insurance could be added to the declared CIF value; (iii) Whether upstream FOB values in supplier invoices and Non-GMO certificates could replace the importer's transaction value; (iv) Whether the extended limitation period was validly invoked; (v) Whether confiscation, redemption fine and penalties could be sustained.

Issue (i): Whether the declared CIF transaction value was liable to be accepted.

Analysis: Section 14(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 and Rule 3(1) of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007 prescribe the price actually paid or payable in the sale for export to India as the primary valuation basis. Rejection under Rule 12 required cogent evidence that the declared price was not the real consideration. Banking remittances did not exceed the declared invoice value, and no extra payment, relationship affecting price, or flow-back of funds was established.

Conclusion: The declared CIF transaction value was required to be accepted. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether freight and insurance could be added to the declared CIF value.

Analysis: Rule 10(2) permits addition of transport and insurance costs only to the extent they are not included in the price actually paid or payable. The invoices were on CIF terms and identified the Indian destination; freight was prepaid abroad by the foreign supplier, and there was no evidence that the importer paid or was liable to reimburse freight or insurance. Rule 10(3) also required any addition to rest on objective and quantifiable data rather than assumption.

Conclusion: No addition towards freight or insurance was permissible. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether upstream FOB values in supplier invoices and Non-GMO certificates could replace the importer's transaction value.

Analysis: The upstream FOB figures related to a separate transaction between foreign entities and did not establish the price paid or payable in the sale for export to India. Non-GMO certificates were regulatory compliance documents, not commercial valuation documents, and did not provide comparable-import data, actual consideration, or a quantifiable omitted amount. Similarity between the upstream FOB price and the downstream CIF price created, at most, suspicion and did not prove undervaluation.

Conclusion: The upstream FOB values and Non-GMO certificates could not substitute the declared CIF transaction value. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether the extended limitation period was validly invoked.

Analysis: Invocation of Section 28(4) required collusion, wilful misstatement, or suppression of facts with intent to evade duty. The primary import documents and CIF Incoterm were disclosed at assessment, and the dispute concerned valuation methodology rather than concealment or deliberate evasion.

Conclusion: The extended limitation period was not validly invoked, and the demand beyond the normal period was time-barred. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (v): Whether confiscation, redemption fine and penalties could be sustained.

Analysis: Confiscation under Section 111(m) depended on a sustainable finding of value misdeclaration. Penalty under Section 114A was contingent upon a valid extended-period duty determination, while penalties under Sections 112(a) and 112(b) rested on the same unproved valuation allegation. With the valuation enhancement and extended-period demand failing, no foundation remained for these consequences.

Conclusion: The confiscation, redemption fine, and penalties were unsustainable. This issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Customs assessment must proceed on the declared CIF consideration, with the consequential differential-duty demand and related liabilities having no legal basis.

Ratio Decidendi: A declared CIF transaction value cannot be rejected or enhanced by imputing freight and insurance from an upstream FOB transaction unless reliable, objective evidence establishes that the importer paid or was liable to pay additional consideration not included in the invoice price.

Issues: (i) Whether the ex parte proceedings denied the suspended directors a fair opportunity to contest the liquidator's application and whether the forensic audit report could be relied upon; (ii) Whether the property transactions and cash-expense entries constituted fraudulent accommodation and round-tripping transactions warranting contribution to the corporate debtor.

Issue (i): Whether the ex parte proceedings denied the suspended directors a fair opportunity to contest the liquidator's application and whether the forensic audit report could be relied upon.

Analysis: The appellants had been afforded sufficient opportunities before the Adjudicating Authority and their explanation for non-participation was not accepted. They were also able to place defence material in the appeal but did not produce reliable evidence sufficient to displace the audit findings. Though a forensic report is not conclusive by itself, it acquired evidentiary significance because it was founded on sale deeds, bank records, sub-registrar records and title-verification material. The burden to explain facts especially within the erstwhile management's knowledge remained on the appellants once the liquidator had produced a reliable forensic report.

Conclusion: The proceedings did not occasion any denial of fair opportunity, and the forensic audit report was rightly relied upon. The issue is decided against the appellants.

Issue (ii): Whether the property transactions and cash-expense entries constituted fraudulent accommodation and round-tripping transactions warranting contribution to the corporate debtor.

Analysis: The documentary material showed substantial overvaluation of properties, absence of proof for alleged cash payments, continued possession and rental collection by vendors, and rapid transfer of loan disbursements back to the corporate debtor and related entities. Certain properties remained encumbered and title-related steps were not completed. The unexplained and unsupported cash-expense entries further supported the finding that funds had been improperly withdrawn. These circumstances established that the stated property purchases were used as accommodation transactions to obtain loans and channel the proceeds back to the corporate debtor or connected entities.

Conclusion: The transactions were fraudulent round-tripping arrangements intended to defraud creditors, and the contribution liability imposed on the appellants was sustained. The issue is decided against the appellants.

Final Conclusion: The findings of fraudulent transactions and the consequent monetary contribution obligation under the insolvency framework remain enforceable.

Ratio Decidendi: A forensic audit supported by reliable documentary material may sustain a finding of fraudulent transactions where persons having special knowledge of the relevant affairs fail to produce cogent evidence rebutting it.

Issues: Whether the IBBI (Liquidation Process) (Second Amendment) Regulations, 2025 applied to a liquidation by sale of the corporate debtor as a going concern where the liquidation order, recording the Committee of Creditors' decision for such sale, had been passed before the amendment came into force.

Analysis: The liquidation order under Section 33(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 had made liquidation effective from its date and had expressly recorded the recommendation under Regulation 39C of the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 that the liquidator first explore a going-concern sale under Regulation 32(e) of the IBBI (Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2016. The auction was an implementation step in the liquidation already commenced, not a fresh liquidation process. Rights and obligations in liquidation are governed by the regulations prevailing on the liquidation commencement date; a later amendment without retrospective operation cannot alter the legal foundation of the pre-existing process.

Conclusion: The amendment notified on 14.10.2025 did not govern or invalidate the going-concern sale process that commenced with the liquidation order dated 10.10.2025. The impugned order was set aside, and the matter was remitted for consideration of reliefs and concessions in accordance with law.

Issues: (i) Whether transfer of development rights in land to a developer in exchange for a share of the built-up area constitutes a taxable service; (ii) Whether CENVAT credit of tax paid on works-contract and administrative services received from the developer is admissible; (iii) Whether the extended limitation period and penalties are invocable in relation to the inadmissible CENVAT credit.

Issue (i): Whether transfer of development rights in land to a developer in exchange for a share of the built-up area constitutes a taxable service.

Analysis: Development rights are benefits arising out of land and consequently constitute immovable property under Section 3(26) of the General Clauses Act, 1897. A transfer of such rights is a transaction in immovable property, not a provision of construction service or any other taxable service.

Conclusion: Transfer of development rights was not a taxable service; the service-tax demand and related penalties under Sections 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994 are unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether CENVAT credit of tax paid on works-contract and administrative services received from the developer is admissible.

Analysis: Since transfer of development rights was not an output service, the works-contract and administrative services received from the developer could not qualify as input services for that transaction.

Conclusion: CENVAT credit is inadmissible and recoverable under Rule 14 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2002, against the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether the extended limitation period and penalties are invocable in relation to the inadmissible CENVAT credit.

Analysis: The credit was availed because the assessee bona fide treated transfer of development rights as taxable construction service and discharged service tax on that basis. This conduct did not warrant invocation of the extended limitation period or imposition of penalty.

Conclusion: Recovery of inadmissible credit is restricted to the normal limitation period, and the penalty under Rule 15 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2002 is set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The transfer of development rights is treated as a transaction in immovable property; service tax paid on it may be claimed as refund subject to the statutory bar of unjust enrichment, while inadmissible credit remains recoverable only within the normal period.

Ratio Decidendi: Transfer of development rights, being a benefit arising out of land and thus immovable property, is not a taxable service; services received for such transfer cannot generate input-service credit, though a bona fide contrary tax position precludes extended limitation and penalty.

Issues: (i) Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked for the alleged short reversal of CENVAT credit; (ii) Whether proportionate reversal under Rule 6(3A) was to be computed with reference to total CENVAT credit or only common CENVAT credit; and (iii) Whether trading or services in the negative list could be treated as exempted services for Rule 6.

Issue (i): Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked for the alleged short reversal of CENVAT credit.

Analysis: The reversals were disclosed in filed returns and the Revenue could have verified the computation by scrutiny or by seeking further information. Failure to undertake such verification does not establish deliberate concealment. Invocation of the extended period requires fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement, suppression of facts, or contravention with intent to evade; mens rea cannot be presumed from a bona fide interpretative position or an audit detection.

Conclusion: The extended period of limitation was not invocable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether proportionate reversal under Rule 6(3A) was to be computed with reference to total CENVAT credit or only common CENVAT credit.

Analysis: Read harmoniously, Rule 6 permits proportionate reversal only of credit attributable to common inputs or input services used for taxable and exempted activities. Credit exclusively used for taxable output services or dutiable goods cannot be included in the reversal formula. The substitution of the Rule 6(3A) formula by Notification No. 13/2016-C.E. (N.T.) was clarificatory and consequently applied retrospectively.

Conclusion: Only common CENVAT credit was relevant for proportionate reversal; computation on total CENVAT credit was unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether trading or services in the negative list could be treated as exempted services for Rule 6.

Analysis: Rule 2(e) does not classify services listed in Section 66D as exempted services. Transfer of title in goods through trading is excluded from the definition of service; it is a sale transaction subject to the distinct taxing field applicable to goods and cannot be deemed to be a service merely for the purpose of the negative list.

Conclusion: Trading is not a service and cannot be treated as an exempted service for Rule 6, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The demand founded on the alleged short reversal of credit was legally unsustainable.

Issues: (i) Whether construction of residential flats by a builder before 01.07.2010 was taxable in the absence of the deeming provision; (ii) Whether construction of a building or independently identifiable project having twelve or fewer residential units was taxable as a residential complex service or works contract service; (iii) Whether consideration received under separate agreements with individual purchasers for completion of residential units intended for personal use was taxable; (iv) Whether a separate levy could be sustained on flats allotted to landowners under a development agreement; (v) Whether abatement and cum-tax valuation were available for any consideration otherwise found taxable; and (vi) Whether the extended limitation period and penalties were sustainable.

Issue (i): Whether construction of residential flats by a builder before 01.07.2010 was taxable in the absence of the deeming provision.

Analysis: The explanation deeming construction by a builder to be taxable where consideration was received from a prospective buyer before completion certification came into force only from 01.07.2010. That deeming fiction could not operate retrospectively for the earlier period.

Conclusion: The demand for the period before 01.07.2010 was unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether construction of a building or independently identifiable project having twelve or fewer residential units was taxable as a residential complex service or works contract service.

Analysis: Although indivisible contracts involving goods and construction services are works contracts, taxability of residential construction still depends on satisfaction of the statutory definition of a residential complex. A project or independently identifiable building having twelve or fewer residential units does not meet that definition, and the works contract entry cannot enlarge it.

Conclusion: Construction of such buildings or projects was outside the taxable scope, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether consideration received under separate agreements with individual purchasers for completion of residential units intended for personal use was taxable.

Analysis: The statutory exclusion covered construction undertaken under individual agreements for residential units intended for the purchasers' personal use, including use by another person as a residence with or without rent. Separate agreements for completion and finishing of individual flats fell within that exclusion, absent material showing commercial exploitation or non-residential use.

Conclusion: Service tax on consideration under the individual purchaser agreements was not payable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether a separate levy could be sustained on flats allotted to landowners under a development agreement.

Analysis: A further levy on the landowners' share would constitute double taxation where the value of land or development rights was embedded in the assessable value of the developer's share on which tax had been discharged. No evidence established that consideration received in kind from landowners had escaped tax despite such inclusion.

Conclusion: The separate demand on the landowners' share was unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (v): Whether abatement and cum-tax valuation were available for any consideration otherwise found taxable.

Analysis: Any residual taxable consideration was entitled to statutory abatement on fulfilment of prescribed conditions. Where service tax had not been separately collected, the gross amount charged had to be treated as inclusive of service tax for valuation.

Conclusion: Applicable abatement and cum-tax benefit under Section 67(2) were required to be extended for any amount otherwise found taxable, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (vi): Whether the extended limitation period and penalties were sustainable.

Analysis: The dispute arose from interpretation of composite construction contracts, the subsequently introduced deeming provision, the personal-use exclusion, valuation, and taxability of the landowners' share. Divergent views and the absence of any identified fraud, collusion, or deliberate suppression with intent to evade precluded invocation of the extended period. The same interpretational circumstances did not support penalties.

Conclusion: The extended period was not invocable and all penalties were unsustainable, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The disputed residential-construction levy was governed by the pre-2010 non-taxability, statutory residential-complex and personal-use exclusions, protection against double taxation, applicable valuation relief, and the normal limitation period.

Issues: (i) Whether the extended period of limitation under the proviso to Section 11A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was invocable in the absence of established deliberate suppression, where the Department had contemporaneous knowledge of the stock position and the demand rested on statutory records; (ii) Whether penalty under Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was imposable.

Issue (i): Whether the extended period of limitation under the proviso to Section 11A(1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was invocable in the absence of established deliberate suppression, where the Department had contemporaneous knowledge of the stock position and the demand rested on statutory records.

Analysis: The proviso requires the Revenue to establish that the non-levy or short-levy resulted from fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement, suppression of facts, or contravention with intent to evade duty. This jurisdictional enquiry is distinct from computation of the limitation period from the relevant date. Departmental knowledge cannot alter the statutory relevant date after the proviso is attracted, but contemporaneous knowledge is material evidence in deciding whether suppression existed at all.

Analysis: The stock verification was conducted in the presence of departmental officers after their invitation, and the demand was founded exclusively on the Cost Audit Report, a statutory record required to be maintained and producible to the Department. The prescribed returns did not require disclosure of the shortages or excesses. The notices neither identified a suppressed fact nor pleaded a breached disclosure obligation, deliberate concealment, or intent to evade duty. In the absence of a positive and deliberate act of withholding material information, mere non-reporting or discovery of a discrepancy cannot constitute suppression. The notices issued beyond the ordinary one-year period were therefore time-barred.

Conclusion: The extended period was not available; the demand was barred by limitation in its entirety, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether penalty under Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was imposable.

Analysis: Penalty under Section 11AC is conditional upon satisfaction of the ingredients that permit invocation of the proviso to Section 11A(1). Since no fraud, wilful suppression, or intent to evade duty was established, that condition failed.

Conclusion: Penalty under Section 11AC was not imposable, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The extended-period duty demand and consequential interest and penalty liabilities could not be sustained; no finding was required on the merits of the underlying demand.

Ratio Decidendi: The extended limitation period under the proviso to Section 11A(1) is available only upon proof of deliberate suppression or other specified culpable conduct with intent to evade duty; departmental possession of statutory records and contemporaneous knowledge may demonstrate the absence of such suppression.

Issues: (i) Whether dolochar, fly ash, iron ore fines and other incidental waste materials arising during manufacture of sponge iron are liable to Central Excise duty merely because they are marketable and tariff-listed; (ii) Whether dolochar was alternatively covered by unconditional exemption notifications applicable to waste arising from manufacture of iron or steel; (iii) Whether the extended period of limitation, interest and penalties could be sustained.

Issue (i): Whether dolochar, fly ash, iron ore fines and other incidental waste materials arising during manufacture of sponge iron are liable to Central Excise duty merely because they are marketable and tariff-listed.

Analysis: Levy under Section 3 requires that goods be manufactured or produced. Marketability under the explanation to Section 2(d), sale value, or tariff coverage does not dispense with the independent requirement of manufacture. Dolochar and fly ash arose inevitably as residues from coal use, while iron ore fines arose from handling, screening or segregation; no independent process producing a new and distinct commodity with a separate name, character or use was established. The burden to establish manufacture remained unmet.

Conclusion: The disputed residues and waste materials were not excisable goods liable to duty; this finding is in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether dolochar was alternatively covered by unconditional exemption notifications applicable to waste arising from manufacture of iron or steel.

Analysis: The relevant notification entries unconditionally exempt slag, dross, scaling and other waste from manufacture of iron or steel falling under Chapter 26. If dolochar were classified by the Department under that chapter as waste from sponge-iron manufacture, the exemption could not be denied.

Conclusion: On the alternative assumption of excisability and classification under Chapter 26, dolochar attracted unconditional exemption and no effective duty liability arose; this finding is in favour of the assessee.

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

Analysis: The dispute concerned the excisability of unavoidable residues and involved divergent administrative views, including a Board circular later rescinded. This demonstrated an interpretational dispute. No fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement, suppression of facts, or intent to evade duty was established.

Conclusion: The extended period was unavailable, and consequential interest and penalties, including personal penalties, could not survive; this finding is in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: No Central Excise duty, consequential interest, or penalties were sustainable in respect of the disputed clearances.

Ratio Decidendi: Marketability, saleability, or tariff classification cannot render an incidental waste or residue dutiable unless it emerges through a process amounting to manufacture or production.

Issues: (i) Whether C&F services rendered at depots/warehouses qualify as input services. (ii) Whether credit for transportation, delivery and unloading at customers' premises is admissible. (iii) Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked. (iv) Whether equivalent penalty was sustainable.

Issue (i): Whether C&F services rendered at depots/warehouses qualify as input services.

Analysis: Section 4(3)(C) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 includes a depot or consignment agent's premises, from which goods are sold after factory clearance, within the place of removal. Receipt, unloading, storage, handling and loading at depots from which cement was sold had a direct nexus with manufacture and sale and were performed up to the place of removal.

Conclusion: Credit for C&F services performed at the depots/warehouses is admissible, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether credit for transportation, delivery and unloading at customers' premises is admissible.

Analysis: For FOR-destination sales, the place of removal cannot be inferred merely from that description. It depends on the contractual terms concerning transfer of title and risk, responsibility for freight and insurance, inclusion of freight in assessable value, and whether delivery at the customer's premises was an essential condition of sale. If ownership and risk remained with the assessee until delivery, the customer's premises would be the place of removal; otherwise, post-depot services would not qualify.

Conclusion: Eligibility of credit for post-depot transportation, delivery and unloading must be determined upon factual verification of the relevant contractual and transaction documents.

Issue (iii): Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked.

Analysis: The credit was disclosed in statutory records and returns and the records had been subjected to departmental audit. The dispute involved interpretation of input service and place of removal, with divergent views on FOR-destination transactions. No fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement or deliberate suppression with intent to evade duty was established.

Conclusion: The extended period of limitation was not invocable, and the demand beyond the normal period is set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether equivalent penalty was sustainable.

Analysis: As the requisite deliberate suppression or intent to evade duty was not established, the ingredients for penalty under Rule 15(2) of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 read with Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 were absent.

Conclusion: The equivalent penalty is set aside in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Depot-level C&F credit stands admissible, while post-depot credit requires application of the contractual place-of-removal test; only any credit within the normal limitation period remains to be quantified.

Ratio Decidendi: In FOR-destination transactions, post-clearance service credit depends on the actual place of removal, determined from the contractual transfer of title and risk and the obligations governing delivery, freight and insurance.

Issues: (i) Whether Section 147A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, retrospectively validating issuance of reassessment notices by jurisdictional Assessing Officers, is constitutionally valid; (ii) Whether notices under Section 148 issued by jurisdictional Assessing Officers without randomized automated allocation and faceless procedure are valid under Section 151A and the e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022.

Issue (i): Whether Section 147A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, retrospectively validating issuance of reassessment notices by jurisdictional Assessing Officers, is constitutionally valid.

Analysis: A retrospective validating enactment may neutralise a judicial decision only by curing the defect or removing the statutory foundation on which that decision rests; it cannot merely declare a contrary legal position or directly override judicial determinations. Section 147A purported to exclude faceless assessment units from the meaning of Assessing Officer for Sections 148 and 148A, but left Section 151A, the scheme framed thereunder, and the scheme under Section 130 unamended. It neither addressed the mandatory randomized automated allocation requirement nor removed the basis of the decisions holding that reassessment notices could be issued only through the faceless mechanism. The provision consequently conflicted with the continuing statutory scheme and amounted to legislative encroachment upon judicial power, contrary to the rule of law and the constitutional principle of separation of powers.

Conclusion: Section 147A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is unconstitutional and struck down, in favour of the assessees.

Issue (ii): Whether notices under Section 148 issued by jurisdictional Assessing Officers without randomized automated allocation and faceless procedure are valid under Section 151A and the e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022.

Analysis: Section 151A and Clause 3(b) of the e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022 expressly cover issuance of notices under Section 148 and require issuance through randomized automated allocation and in a faceless manner. The qualification referring to Section 144B applies to assessment or reassessment under Section 147 and cannot exclude issuance of notices under Section 148; such an interpretation would render the scheme ineffective. Notifications or executive instructions conferring concurrent jurisdiction cannot override the statutory scheme. Where the law prescribes a particular mode, the prescribed mode alone must be followed.

Conclusion: Notices under Section 148 issued by jurisdictional Assessing Officers otherwise than through randomized automated allocation and the faceless mechanism are invalid and liable to be set aside, in favour of the assessees.

Final Conclusion: The statutory faceless reassessment regime mandates that reassessment notices be issued only through the automated and faceless process prescribed under Section 151A and the applicable scheme.

Ratio Decidendi: A retrospective validating law is unconstitutional where it merely negates judicial rulings without curing the statutory defect underlying them; a reassessment notice must be issued in the mandatory faceless and randomized automated-allocation manner prescribed by the governing statutory scheme.

Issues: (i) Whether gold is a prohibited item within the meaning of the Customs Act, 1962; (ii) Whether the adjudicating authority was correct in imposing penalty under Section 112(i) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Issue (i): Whether gold is a prohibited item within the meaning of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: Section 2(33) includes goods whose import or export is subject to a prohibition under the Customs Act, 1962 or any other law in force; it is not confined to goods prohibited through a notification under Section 11. Import of gold was regulated by Reserve Bank of India notifications and circulars, and bulk import was restricted to authorised agencies, while passenger import was governed by the Baggage Rules. The persons concerned did not fall within either permitted category, and the gold was brought through an unauthorised land route.

Conclusion: Gold imported in contravention of applicable import restrictions is prohibited goods within Section 2(33) of the Customs Act, 1962, in favour of the Revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether the adjudicating authority was correct in imposing penalty under Section 112(i) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: Once the seized gold was prohibited goods, Section 112(i) governed the applicable penalty. The adjudicating order identified the goods as prohibited and imposed penalty on that basis. Failure to expressly specify the invoked clause does not invalidate an order where the authority possessed the statutory power and the order disclosed the basis for its exercise.

Conclusion: The adjudicating authority validly imposed penalty under Section 112(i) of the Customs Act, 1962, in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The modification of the penalties was unsustainable, and the original confiscation and penalty adjudication remains operative.

Ratio Decidendi: Goods subject to import restrictions under any law in force are prohibited goods under Section 2(33) of the Customs Act, 1962, and their improper importation attracts the penalty regime under Section 112(i).

Issues: (i) Whether a complainant can appeal a final disciplinary order and what remedy is available when a complaint is closed at the preliminary stage. (ii) Whether the complainant and a stakeholder with an unrelated complaint may participate as parties in the service provider's appeal.

Issue (i): Whether a complainant can appeal a final disciplinary order and what remedy is available when a complaint is closed at the preliminary stage.

Analysis: Section 220 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 confers an appeal on any person aggrieved by an order under its specified disciplinary provisions. That expression requires a genuine legal grievance and is not confined to the service provider. Regulation 7 of the 2017 complaint-handling regulations separately provides for review when a complaint is closed for lack of a prima facie case. The remedies operate at different stages; the statutory appeal does not extend to procedural or interlocutory decisions.

Conclusion: A complainant may appeal a final order imposing punishment, including on the ground of inadequate punishment. At the preliminary closure stage, the available remedy is review, not an appeal.

Issue (ii): Whether the complainant and a stakeholder with an unrelated complaint may participate as parties in the service provider's appeal.

Analysis: The principles governing necessary and proper parties require a direct interest in the subject matter of the proceedings. The caveator's complaint initiated the disciplinary proceedings under appeal. The other applicant's separate complaint concerned a different insolvency process and was not connected with those proceedings.

Conclusion: The caveator is a proper, but not a necessary, party and may seek impleadment; the appellant is not required to implead the complainant automatically. The applicant with the unrelated complaint cannot be impleaded.

Final Conclusion: The complainant has appellate standing and may seek participation in the service provider's appeal, while the unrelated stakeholder has no right to be added. The principal appeals remain pending.

Ratio Decidendi: A complainant aggrieved by a final disciplinary order imposing punishment may invoke the statutory appeal and seek impleadment in the service provider's appeal; a third party without a direct interest in its subject matter cannot be impleaded.

Issues: (i) Whether the extended-period notice under Section 74 was valid; (ii) Whether the writ challenge to the notice was maintainable despite the availability of statutory remedies.

Issue (i): Whether the extended-period notice under Section 74 was valid.

Analysis: Section 74 requires material supporting fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression of facts with intent to evade tax. Mere non-payment or an erroneous self-assessment does not establish those conditions. The price-adjustment receipts were disclosed in income-tax and GST filings, and the bills did not include GST charges. The record supported a bona fide belief that the receipts were exempt, while the notice lacked a sufficient basis for inferring deliberate evasion.

Conclusion: The notice was without jurisdiction and time-barred. Penalty, surcharge and interest arising from it were not leviable.

Issue (ii): Whether the writ challenge to the notice was maintainable despite the availability of statutory remedies.

Analysis: The availability of statutory remedies does not bar writ jurisdiction where an authority acts without or in excess of jurisdiction. The notice was issued without satisfying the statutory preconditions and without proper consideration of relevant material.

Conclusion: The writ challenge was maintainable.

Final Conclusion: The extended recovery mechanism could not be invoked on the material available. The substantive GST taxability of the price adjustments was not determined.

Ratio Decidendi: An extended-period notice under Section 74 requires material supporting fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression intended to evade tax; mere non-payment is insufficient.

Issues: (i) Whether the addition for alleged on-money receipts could rest on WhatsApp chats and seized material without examining material witnesses and giving a meaningful opportunity of cross-examination; and (ii) whether a consolidated satisfaction note under Section 153C for seven assessment years was valid where seized material related only to limited years.

Issue (i): Whether the addition for alleged on-money receipts could rest on WhatsApp chats and seized material without examining material witnesses and giving a meaningful opportunity of cross-examination.

Analysis: The evidentiary framework under Section 131 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the principles of natural justice required meaningful confrontation and cross-examination where third-party evidence constituted the foundation of the proposed addition. The WhatsApp chats contained figures without specific admissions, while the other seized material did not contain a complete and enforceable agreement concerning on-money payments. Material witnesses were summoned on different dates, preventing an effective opportunity of cross-examination, and no summons was issued to the person whose statement and documents formed the primary basis of the inference. Untested material of this nature could not furnish relevant and admissible evidence; it remained no more than a suspicious circumstance.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee: the addition based on the untested chats, statements and seized material could not be sustained.

Issue (ii): Whether a consolidated satisfaction note under Section 153C for seven assessment years was valid where seized material related only to limited years.

Analysis: Section 153C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 requires year-specific satisfaction demonstrating how the seized material bears upon determination of the assessee's income for each assessment year proposed for assessment. A consolidated satisfaction note covering seven assessment years, including years for which no incriminating material was alleged, lacked the required nexus between the material and the relevant assessment years.

Conclusion: In favour of the assessee: the consolidated satisfaction note was invalid and could not sustain initiation of proceedings under Section 153C.

Final Conclusion: The absence of dependable, tested evidence and the invalid year-spanning satisfaction note removed the legal foundation for the impugned assessment and consequential penalty.

Issues: (i) Whether contractual deductions from mining-transport bills for shortfall in performance were disallowable as a penalty under Explanation 1 to Section 37(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961; and (ii) Whether cash payments, none of which exceeded Rs. 20,000 on a single day, attracted disallowance under Section 40A(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Issue (i): Whether contractual deductions from mining-transport bills for shortfall in performance were disallowable as a penalty under Explanation 1 to Section 37(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: Explanation 1 to Section 37(1) excludes expenditure incurred for an offence or for a purpose prohibited by law. The deductions were recovered under contractual terms for failure to transport the agreed minimum quantity of material and were quantified with reference to the shortfall in contractual performance. They were not imposed for infringement of any law.

Conclusion: The contractual deductions were allowable business expenditure and were not disallowable under Explanation 1 to Section 37(1), in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether cash payments, none of which exceeded Rs. 20,000 on a single day, attracted disallowance under Section 40A(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: Section 40A(3) was inapplicable because the record established that no individual cash payment to either payee exceeded Rs. 20,000 on a single day.

Conclusion: No disallowance under Section 40A(3) was warranted, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The contractual recovery remains deductible, and the cash-payment addition cannot be sustained where the prescribed single-day threshold was not crossed.

Ratio Decidendi: A contractual recovery for failure to perform agreed obligations, unconnected with an offence or a purpose prohibited by law, is not hit by Explanation 1 to Section 37(1).

Issues: Whether the extended period of limitation could be invoked for the service-tax demand and whether consequential penalties were sustainable.

Analysis: The service tax had been self-assessed, declared and paid, albeit belatedly, and the application under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 for interest and penalty was ultimately accepted. These facts established that the material particulars were within the Department's knowledge. The extended period was therefore unavailable, while the show-cause notice was issued beyond the normal limitation period.

Conclusion: The service-tax demand was time-barred and the consequential penalties were not imposable.

Issues: Whether the delay in filing the first appeal should be condoned and the ex parte assessment, appellate, and consequential penalty matters restored for adjudication on merits.

Analysis: The reassessment had resulted in a best-judgment assessment under Sections 147 and 144 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, with an addition under Section 69A. The first appeal was dismissed without condoning a delay of 163 days and without a merits adjudication. The affidavit explaining the assessee's lack of familiarity with tax proceedings, non-receipt of effective assistance, and difficulty in filing the appeal was considered alongside the need to determine taxable income under due process. The assessee was also required to cooperate fully, provide current contact details, attend hearings, and furnish the information sought.

Conclusion: The delay was condoned, the impugned appellate orders were set aside, and the assessment and consequential penalty matters were restored to the Assessing Officer for de novo adjudication on merits.