Issues: Whether the proposed substantial questions concerning deduction for product development expenditure arose from the ITAT order challenged in the present appeal.

Analysis: Under Section 260A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, the appeal challenged the ITAT order in one Revenue appeal. The proposed questions, however, concerned the deduction claimed in a separate assessee appeal, against which the Revenue had independently filed another appeal.

Conclusion: The proposed substantial questions did not arise from the impugned ITAT order and could not form the basis of the present appeal.

Issues: Whether refunds due for other assessment years could be adjusted in full against a disputed penalty demand while the first appeal and stay applications were pending.

Analysis: The applicable CBDT instructions governing stay and recovery of disputed demands before the first appellate authority permit recovery only to the prescribed extent, ordinarily 20% of the demand, with the balance remaining stayed pending appeal. Those instructions apply equally to demands arising from penalty orders; they contain no distinction between assessment and penalty appeals. Full adjustment of refunds without disposal of the pending stay applications was therefore contrary to the binding instructions.

Conclusion: Full adjustment was impermissible and the assessee was entitled to reversal and refund of the amount adjusted beyond 20% of the disputed penalty demand, with applicable interest; the corresponding balance demand remained stayed until disposal of the first appeal.

Issues: Whether revision in respect of an issue not forming part of reassessment proceedings was barred by limitation.

Analysis: The reassessment was initiated only for specified financial transactions and did not concern the debenture redemption reserve. The reserve issue had been addressed in the original assessment and did not become part of the reassessment. Section 147, including Explanation 3, permits assessment of another escaped-income issue that comes to notice during reassessment proceedings, but there was no material that this issue had so come to notice. For matters outside the subject of reassessment, the original assessment continues to operate and limitation for revision under Section 263(2) runs from the original assessment order rather than the reassessment order.

Conclusion: The revision concerning the debenture redemption reserve was barred by limitation; no substantial question of law arose on that issue.

Issues: Whether a person summoned under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 may be permitted to tender a statement through video conferencing owing to bona fide medical inability to undertake long-distance travel.

Analysis: The statutory power to summon for a customs enquiry must be exercised reasonably, proportionately and without arbitrariness; it cannot be used to cause undue hardship. Secure video conferencing fulfils the object of examination under Section 108 while protecting the citizen's rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The applicant's recorded knee injuries, willingness to cooperate, and safeguards against coaching, tampering and identity concerns justified virtual examination. The safeguards included secure access, verification of identity, visible but non-audible presence of counsel, videography, and a reasoned prior notice if physical attendance is subsequently found imperative.

Conclusion: The applicant was entitled to tender the statement through secure video conferencing under Section 108, subject to the prescribed safeguards and continued cooperation with the investigation.

Issues: Whether revocation of the customs broker's licence and forfeiture of security were warranted for breach of licensing obligations arising from an employee's conduct.

Analysis: The established lapse consisted of failure to verify the exporter's authorisation and address. The factual findings recorded no active role of the customs broker in the attempted prohibited export, noted prompt termination of the employee and initiation of criminal action, and found no deliberate or mala fide conduct. Although the licensing obligations were breached and a monetary penalty remained justified, revocation and security forfeiture were found disproportionate. Authorities concerning repeated or continuing violations did not apply to an isolated violation on these facts. The proportionality finding disclosed no factual or legal error or perversity and raised no substantial question of law.

Conclusion: Revocation of the licence and forfeiture of security were not warranted; the monetary penalty was sufficient for the established breach.

Issues: (i) Whether the remand order barred fresh reappreciation of the material concerning the alleged quality dispute; (ii) Whether a plausible pre-existing dispute as to the quality of goods existed before the demand notice, precluding admission under Section 9.

Issue (i): Whether the remand order barred fresh reappreciation of the material concerning the alleged quality dispute.

Analysis: The remand required a fresh, reasoned decision after the missing material was placed on record and did not determine the quality dispute for either side. Fresh assessment of the enlarged record was therefore permissible, but any departure from matters previously noted as relevant required reasons founded on the material subsequently produced.

Conclusion: The remand did not preclude fresh reappreciation of the material.

Issue (ii): Whether a plausible pre-existing dispute as to the quality of goods existed before the demand notice, precluding admission under Section 9.

Analysis: Under Sections 5(6), 8 and 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, a Section 9 proceeding cannot be used for recovery of a genuinely contested operational debt. The inquiry is confined to whether a plausible contention requiring investigation existed before the demand notice, rather than whether the debtor can conclusively prove the defence at a trial. Only a spurious, hypothetical or illusory defence may be disregarded.

Analysis: The admitted return of goods shortly after supply, contemporaneous chats from November and December 2022 containing complaints, photographs, videos and the laboratory report, and the timely reply raising quality objections collectively showed that the dispute was not an afterthought. The bill-to-ship arrangement plausibly connected complaints from end-users to the supplied goods. Deficiencies alleged in the laboratory report, the disputed authority of the recipient of chats, and the absence of contractual quality stipulations concerned evidentiary weight and liability, which require adjudication in appropriate proceedings. The implied condition of merchantable quality under Section 16(2) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930 did not require a written quality clause. Customer debit notes were not relied upon.

Conclusion: A genuine and plausible pre-existing dispute regarding the quality of the goods existed before the demand notice; admission under Section 9 was therefore impermissible.

Final Conclusion: The insolvency process could not be invoked for the disputed operational claim, while the parties' substantive claims concerning product quality, loss and outstanding amounts remain open for determination in appropriate proceedings.

Ratio Decidendi: At the Section 9 stage, contemporaneous material showing a plausible pre-existing dispute requires rejection of insolvency admission; the adjudicatory inquiry cannot demand conclusive proof or resolve contested evidentiary and contractual questions reserved for trial.

Issues: (i) Whether the authorised representative's emails satisfied the requirement to record class consultations and prepare minutes. (ii) Whether concurrence to extensions of the resolution-plan submission deadline without prior instructions contravened the representative's statutory duty. (iii) Whether cancellation of registration was proportionate to the established misconduct.

Issue (i): Whether the authorised representative's emails satisfied the requirement to record class consultations and prepare minutes.

Analysis: Regulation 16A requires both recording of proceedings and preparation of minutes. The standard for committee meeting minutes applies with appropriate adaptations, requiring a record of the meeting date, participation and substance of views, although no particular format or register is prescribed. The emails reflected meeting dates and concerns but did not consistently identify the extent of creditor participation.

Conclusion: The documentation requirement was contravened. This issue is against the appellant.

Issue (ii): Whether concurrence to extensions of the resolution-plan submission deadline without prior instructions contravened the representative's statutory duty.

Analysis: Section 25A requires an authorised representative to act on prior instructions and is not confined to formal votes. The concurrence concerned short extensions initiated by the resolution professional, including one prompted by a provident fund claim, without prior consultation of the class. The administrative nature of the extensions and practical difficulty of consultation were relevant to the gravity of the lapse.

Conclusion: Concurrence without prior instructions contravened the statutory duty. This issue is against the appellant.

Issue (iii): Whether cancellation of registration was proportionate to the established misconduct.

Analysis: Disciplinary penalties are subject to proportionality review, with reconsideration by the disciplinary authority ordinarily appropriate when the penalty warrants interference. The regulatory framework provides a graduated range of consequences. Relevant factors included cooperation, a clean disciplinary record and the absence of dishonesty, personal gain or demonstrated prejudice, balanced against the size of the represented class, continuing documentation deficiencies and failure to obtain instructions.

Conclusion: Cancellation was disproportionate to the established contraventions. This issue is in favour of the appellant.

Final Conclusion: Both contraventions remain established, while the severity of the disciplinary consequence requires reassessment.

Ratio Decidendi: A disciplinary penalty grossly disproportionate to established misconduct is amenable to appellate correction; ordinarily, the disciplinary authority should reconsider the penalty.

Issues: Whether the consignee must be issued a show-cause notice and afforded an opportunity to produce documents before proceedings relating to detained goods are decided.

Analysis: The dispute concerning alleged undervaluation, underweight declaration, or tax evasion could be addressed by the consignee through relevant documents. As the earlier notice had been issued only to the transporter, the consignee required a fresh notice enabling it to respond and place its records before the competent authority.

Conclusion: A fresh show-cause notice must be issued to the consignee, which may submit its reply and supporting documents; the competent authority must thereafter decide the proceedings in accordance with the applicable GST enactments and rules.

Issues: (i) Whether income declared in a return filed for the first time pursuant to a notice under section 148, and accepted in assessment, constituted under-reported income and fell outside the exclusion under section 270A(6); (ii) Whether that under-reporting was in consequence of misreporting so as to attract a 200% penalty.

Issue (i): Whether income declared in a return filed for the first time pursuant to a notice under section 148, and accepted in assessment, constituted under-reported income and fell outside the exclusion under section 270A(6).

Analysis: Section 270A(2) treats income declared in a return furnished for the first time under section 148, where it exceeds the maximum amount not chargeable to tax, as under-reported income. Acceptance of the returned income without additions does not displace that statutory consequence. The exclusion under section 270A(6) was unavailable because no explanation was furnished for failure to file the return despite taxable income, and the return was filed only after initiation of reassessment proceedings.

Conclusion: The income constituted under-reported income, and the exclusion under section 270A(6) did not apply. Against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether that under-reporting was in consequence of misreporting so as to attract a 200% penalty.

Analysis: A 200% penalty is sustainable only where under-reporting results from a category of misreporting specified in section 270A(9). The cash deposits were explained as business sale proceeds and the returned income was accepted without any addition. Mere non-filing of the original return did not establish any statutory category of misreporting.

Conclusion: The under-reporting was not in consequence of misreporting; the 200% penalty was unsustainable and penalty was to be recomputed at 50% of the tax payable on the under-reported income. In favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Penalty remained leviable for under-reporting, but only at the rate applicable to under-reporting and not at the enhanced rate prescribed for misreporting.

Ratio Decidendi: A first return filed under section 148 may result in under-reporting notwithstanding acceptance of the returned income, but enhanced penalty for misreporting requires proof that the case falls within a statutory category of misreporting; non-filing of the original return alone is insufficient.

Issues: Whether the writ petition challenging GST notices and a summary order was maintainable despite available statutory remedies.

Analysis: The impugned notices were not shown to be ex facie without jurisdiction. Statutory remedies require the petitioner to respond to the show-cause notice, raise all defences before the competent authority, and pursue the appellate remedy if aggrieved. Extraordinary writ jurisdiction is not to be used to bypass such remedies in revenue matters absent exceptional circumstances.

Conclusion: The petitioner must pursue the available statutory remedies; all merits-based contentions remain open.

Issues: Whether delay in filing statutory GST appeals, explained by the proprietor's personal circumstances arising from the serious illness and death of her spouse, warranted condonation.

Analysis: The appellate orders had rejected the appeals as barred by limitation beyond the statutory condonable period. The appeal memoranda disclosed that the proprietor was required to attend to her critically ill spouse, whose death affected the conduct of the business and timely pursuit of remedies. The Revenue accepted that the merits should not be denied solely on account of delay, subject to compensation by costs. No opinion was expressed on the underlying tax demands.

Conclusion: The delay was condoned and the appellate time-bar orders were set aside, enabling fresh adjudication of the statutory appeals on merits.

Issues: (i) Whether input tax credit disallowed on the stated GSTR-3B and GSTR-2A mismatch was admissible; (ii) Whether tax could be demanded for alleged unaccounted inward supplies covered by 46 e-way bills under Section 35(6); (iii) Whether interest and penalty could be levied on input tax credit reversed on a purchase return; (iv) Whether non-reporting of sales-return credit notes in Form GSTR-1 created a tax liability.

Issue (i): Whether input tax credit disallowed on the stated GSTR-3B and GSTR-2A mismatch was admissible.

Analysis: Form GSTR-2A was only a facilitative record during the relevant period, and a mismatch did not by itself defeat credit. Eligibility nevertheless required satisfaction of Section 16(2)(c), while Section 155 placed the burden of proof on the claimant. Documentary material established credit of Rs. 3,44,974 through reported invoices and import documentation. Credit of Rs. 51,255 relating to four invoices remained unsupported by proof that the suppliers had paid the tax to the Government. Interest and penalty were consequential only to the extent of the credit validly disallowed.

Conclusion: The disallowance of Rs. 3,44,974 was set aside in favour of the assessee. Credit of Rs. 51,255 was disallowed, with consequential interest and penalty confined to that amount.

Issue (ii): Whether tax could be demanded for alleged unaccounted inward supplies covered by 46 e-way bills under Section 35(6).

Analysis: Section 35(6) applies only where goods or services have not been accounted for. The reconciliation statement, purchase register and ledger records linked each disputed e-way bill to an invoice and accounting entry. A determination under Sections 73(9) and 75(6) required consideration of this specific explanation and a reasoned basis for rejecting it. Since the supplies stood accounted for, the statutory premise for treating them as supplies by the assessee was absent; the proposed addition of gross profit did not arise.

Conclusion: The tax demand on the alleged unaccounted inward supplies, together with interest and penalty, was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether interest and penalty could be levied on input tax credit reversed on a purchase return.

Analysis: Under Section 50(3) read with Rule 88B(3), interest on wrongly availed credit arises only where the credit is also utilised. Wrongful utilisation is deemed only to the extent the electronic credit ledger balance falls below the wrongly availed credit. The electronic credit ledger balance did not fall below the reversed credit amount. As tax had been paid before issuance of notice and no interest was payable, Sections 73(5) and 73(6) precluded notice and penalty in respect of that tax.

Conclusion: The interest of Rs. 27,530 and penalty of Rs. 5,188 were set aside in favour of the assessee. The pre-notice tax payment remained appropriated.

Issue (iv): Whether non-reporting of sales-return credit notes in Form GSTR-1 created a tax liability.

Analysis: Section 37(1) read with Rule 59(2) required credit notes to be reported in Form GSTR-1. However, Section 34 treats a credit note issued for returned goods as a mechanism for reduction of the supplier's output tax liability, subject to statutory conditions. Failure to report such a credit note was a compliance lapse but did not, by itself, establish short payment of tax by the supplier.

Conclusion: The tax demand of Rs. 99,718 arising from unreported sales-return credit notes, with consequential interest and penalty, was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The surviving liability is confined to the unsupported input tax credit of Rs. 51,255 and the statutory interest and penalty consequential to that limited disallowance.

Issues: (i) Whether the refund application was barred by limitation under Section 54(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017; (ii) Whether the appellant was entitled on merits to refund of GST paid on cancellation of the flat-booking agreement.

Issue (i): Whether the refund application was barred by limitation under Section 54(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis: The cause for refund arose upon cancellation and revocation of the construction agreement. Although the ordinary two-year period would otherwise have expired, Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax excluded the period from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 from limitation computation. After giving effect to that exclusion, the application filed on 09.03.2023 was within time. The subsequent circular could not be applied retrospectively to prejudice the claimant.

Conclusion: The refund application was within the prescribed limitation period, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the appellant was entitled on merits to refund of GST paid on cancellation of the flat-booking agreement.

Analysis: The documentary record established that the purchaser bore the CGST and SGST component and that the developer deposited the tax with the Government. On cancellation, the developer refunded the non-tax consideration but not the tax component. The refund procedure prescribed for an unregistered recipient applied, was binding on the departmental authorities, and the required material under Rule 89(2) was available. As the purchaser was the ultimate consumer who bore the tax incidence, unjust enrichment did not arise.

Conclusion: The appellant was entitled to refund of Rs. 4,32,225 with applicable interest, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: GST borne by the ultimate consumer upon cancellation of the booking is recoverable, with interest becoming payable after the stipulated period from the refund application.

Ratio Decidendi: In determining the timeliness of an unregistered recipient's refund claim after cancellation of a construction agreement, the notified exclusion of the COVID-19 period from limitation must be given effect; tax borne by the recipient and remitted by the supplier is refundable where the prescribed evidence is furnished and unjust enrichment is absent.

Issues: (i) Whether penalty could be imposed where tax relating to omitted monthly sales was voluntarily paid before issuance of notice under Section 73. (ii) Whether interest on delayed tax payment was correctly quantified without month-wise application of the statutory provisions and verification of Electronic Cash Ledger and Electronic Credit Ledger balances.

Issue (i): Whether penalty could be imposed where tax relating to omitted monthly sales was voluntarily paid before issuance of notice under Section 73.

Analysis: The verified reconciliation established that the omitted sales were recorded in the books and disclosed in the annual return, and that the omission from monthly returns was a clerical reporting error. The entire tax liability was voluntarily discharged before issuance of the show-cause notice. Sections 73(5) and 73(6) apply to such voluntary pre-notice tax payment and preclude penalty in respect of the tax so paid.

Conclusion: The penalty is unsustainable and is set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether interest on delayed tax payment was correctly quantified without month-wise application of the statutory provisions and verification of Electronic Cash Ledger and Electronic Credit Ledger balances.

Analysis: Interest on delayed payment is a statutory consequence under Section 50 and is not extinguished merely because tax was paid before issuance of notice. Rule 88B requires computation with reference to the month-wise liability, applicable due dates, date of actual payment, and the portion discharged through the Electronic Cash Ledger, while accounting for relevant ledger balances. The existing computation was based on the entire tax liability without the required verification.

Conclusion: The existing interest quantification cannot be sustained; only interest determined upon fresh statutory computation is recoverable, in favour of the assessee to the extent of recomputation.

Final Conclusion: Voluntary pre-notice payment of the reconciled tax liability excludes penal consequences in the circumstances, while preserving liability for correctly computed statutory interest.

Ratio Decidendi: Where reconciled tax liability arising from an inadvertent reporting error is voluntarily paid before notice, penalty under Section 73 cannot be sustained; statutory interest nevertheless remains payable only upon computation in accordance with the prescribed ledger-based method.

Outcome: The applications for open-court listing were rejected and the review petitions were dismissed.

Issues: (i) Whether writ challenges to reassessment notices remained maintainable despite an alternative remedy and subsequent assessment orders; (ii) Whether reassessment initiated after three years could validly rest solely on audit objections without newly available books of account, documents or evidence; (iii) Whether excise-duty refund under the industrial incentive scheme was a capital receipt; and (iv) Whether depreciation on goodwill arising from amalgamation was allowable and could be reopened merely on an audit objection.

Issue (i): Whether writ challenges to reassessment notices remained maintainable despite an alternative remedy and subsequent assessment orders.

Analysis: A jurisdictional challenge to a reassessment notice is amenable to writ jurisdiction. The availability of an appellate remedy against a later assessment does not bar such a challenge, and completion of consequential assessment proceedings cannot render it infructuous where the foundational notice is alleged to be without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The writ challenges were maintainable in favour of the assessee; neither the alternative remedy nor subsequent assessment orders defeated the jurisdictional challenge.

Issue (ii): Whether reassessment initiated after three years could validly rest solely on audit objections without newly available books of account, documents or evidence.

Analysis: Sections 147, 148, 148A and 149 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 require, for reassessment beyond three years, that the Assessing Officer possess books of account, documents or evidence revealing the stipulated escapement of income. An audit objection is information for the purposes of Section 148, but is not by itself the new documentary material mandated by Section 149(1)(b). An audit objection that merely reappraises records available during the original assessment is an opinion and cannot convert reassessment into a review through a change of opinion. The scope of an earlier scrutiny assessment does not dilute these statutory jurisdictional preconditions.

Conclusion: The reassessment actions were barred by limitation and without jurisdiction, in favour of the assessee, because they were founded solely on audit objections and not on the requisite new books of account, documents or evidence.

Issue (iii): Whether excise-duty refund under the industrial incentive scheme was a capital receipt.

Analysis: The excise-duty refund or re-credit was received under an industrial incentive scheme for establishing an undertaking in Sikkim and had been disclosed and accepted in the original assessment. The applicable legal position treated such incentives as capital receipts rather than taxable revenue income.

Conclusion: The excise-duty refund was a capital receipt not chargeable to tax, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iv): Whether depreciation on goodwill arising from amalgamation was allowable and could be reopened merely on an audit objection.

Analysis: Under Explanation 3(b) to Section 32(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, goodwill arising on amalgamation is an intangible asset qualifying for depreciation. The depreciation claim had been allowed in scrutiny assessments, and the audit objections disclosed no new material capable of supporting a reassessment.

Conclusion: Depreciation on the goodwill was allowable, and its earlier allowance could not be reopened merely because an audit objection advanced a contrary opinion; this finding is in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Closed assessments cannot be reopened beyond the ordinary limitation period where audit observations merely invite a different view on disclosed and previously assessed material, without the statutorily required new evidence of income escaping assessment.

Ratio Decidendi: An audit objection may constitute information under Section 148, but, without independent new books of account, documents or evidence satisfying Section 149(1)(b), it cannot confer jurisdiction to reopen a completed assessment beyond three years or justify a change of opinion.

Issues: Whether the lien over fixed-deposit receipts imposed through provisional attachment should be lifted upon adequate protection of the Revenue's interests.

Analysis: The aggregate outstanding and anticipated tax demand was approximately Rs. 200 crores, while certain demands were stayed or remained subject to pending proceedings. The prevailing CBDT benchmark for stay upon payment of 20% of demand supported requiring payment of Rs. 50 crores, being 25% of the aggregate demand, as sufficient security.

Conclusion: The lien and provisional attachment over the fixed-deposit receipts must be lifted upon furnishing a post-dated cheque for Rs. 50 crores and an undertaking not to transfer or create third-party rights in the assets.

Issues: (i) Whether the combined radio-receiver and DVD unit is governed by Note 3 to Section XVI; (ii) Whether Revenue proved video reproduction as its principal function warranting classification under CTI 8521 90 90; and (iii) Whether the goods are classifiable under CTI 8527 29 00 with the claimed notification benefit.

Issue (i): Whether the combined radio-receiver and DVD unit is governed by Note 3 to Section XVI.

Analysis: Heading 8527 covers radio broadcast reception apparatus combined with sound recording or reproducing apparatus, while heading 8521 covers video recording or reproducing apparatus. Neither heading fully describes a unit combining radio reception and video reproduction. Since the two machines are fitted in a common housing and perform functions described under different headings, the unit is a composite machine. The Harmonized System Explanatory Notes also require the application of Note 3 to Section XVI in such circumstances.

Conclusion: Note 3 to Section XVI governs the classification of the goods, which must turn on their principal function.

Issue (ii): Whether Revenue proved video reproduction as its principal function warranting classification under CTI 8521 90 90.

Analysis: The principal-function inquiry must be based on the nature, construction and working of the machine. Promotional literature or market presentation may corroborate technical evidence but cannot, by itself, determine classification. Revenue bore the burden to establish the proposed reclassification through cogent evidence. No examination of the unit's construction, circuitry, component allocation, cost distribution, trade understanding or video-display capability was produced. The unrebutted technical material described the unit as built around a tuner-amplifier base performing AM/FM reception, with the DVD mechanism connected as a module; its design for dashboard installation and operation on 12-volt vehicle power was also uncontroverted.

Conclusion: Revenue failed to prove that video reproduction is the principal function; classification under CTI 8521 90 90 is unwarranted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether the goods are classifiable under CTI 8527 29 00 with the claimed notification benefit.

Analysis: Where the principal function of a composite machine cannot be determined, the General Explanatory Notes to Section XVI require recourse to Rule 3(c). Of the equally meriting headings 8521 and 8527, heading 8527 occurs last in numerical order. Independently, Revenue's failure to establish its proposed classification leaves the importer's self-assessed classification intact. No separate basis existed for denying the notification benefit once classification under CTI 8527 29 00 was sustained.

Conclusion: The goods are classifiable under CTI 8527 29 00, and the notification benefit is available, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The imported vehicle-use units retain the declared tariff classification and attract the consequential customs-notification benefit.

Ratio Decidendi: For a composite machine governed by Note 3 to Section XVI, reclassification based on an asserted principal function requires cogent evidence of the machine's nature and working; promotional material alone cannot establish that function.

Issues: Whether the notice initiating proceedings under Regulation 20(1) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013 was issued within the mandatory ninety-day period from receipt of the offence report.

Analysis: Regulation 20(1) requires issuance of a written notice within ninety days of receipt of the offence report. The initiating notice did not disclose the date of receipt of the offence report. The Department had knowledge of the alleged contraventions at least when its customs notice was issued on 18.09.2014 and, in any event, when that notice was adjudicated on 09.09.2015. The notice issued on 11.03.2016 was beyond ninety days even from the later date. The mandatory time limit could not be disregarded merely because the allegations might otherwise be sustainable on merits.

Conclusion: The initiating notice was time-barred; the proceedings were vitiated and the penalty could not survive.

Issues: Whether the seized vehicles, cash, jewellery, fixed deposits and deposited title deeds were liable to be released after provisional attachment of other properties securing the stated proceeds of crime.

Analysis: Under the search-and-seizure and provisional-attachment framework of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002, the ED acknowledged that the seized assets and fixed deposits were no longer required for the investigation. Properties of the group had meanwhile been provisionally attached to secure the stated amount, and the land parcels covered by the deposited title deeds were distinct from the attached properties.

Conclusion: The seized assets and fixed deposits listed in the relevant tables, along with the deposited title deeds, were directed to be released forthwith to the petitioners or their authorised representatives, without adjudicating the merits of the provisional attachment or pending proceedings.