HONOURABLE MR. K. VINOD CHANDRAN AND HONOURABLE MR. RAJIV ROY, JJ. For the Appellant's : Mr. Alok Kumar Agrawal, Advocate For the Respondent's : Mr. P. K. Shahi, AG JUDGMENT Two appeals from the common order dated 11.03.2005 of the Commercial Taxes Tribunal (for brevity 'the Tribunal') in a Miscellaneous Case and Revision Case, agitate the same issue. The appellant, a dealer under the provisions of the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005 (for brevity 'Act of 2005') approached the authori... ... ...

SHRI J. SUDHAKAR REDDY, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER AND SHRI S.S. GODARA For the Appellant. :  None For the Respondent : Shri P.K. Srihari, CIT-DR ORDER Per S.S. Godara, Judicial Member: This assessee's appeal for assessment year 2012-13 arises from the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-6 Kolkata's dated 03.11.2016, passed in case No. 156/CIT(A)-6/Kol/2015-16, in proceedings u/s. 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 2. Today when the case was called for hearing none appeared on behal... ... ...

Previous sanction of the competent authority is a mandatory precondition before cognizance of offences under the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005. Where uncontroverted allegations do not disclose the essential elements of tax evasion or abetment, criminal prosecution cannot proceed. Possession of crackers in transit requires material creating reasonable suspicion of possession for an unlawful object before an offence relating to explosive substances arises. Corporate officers cannot be subjected to criminal liability for company business activities without arraigning the company and alleging a statutory basis for vicarious liability.

Miscellaneous application seeking recall of an ex parte appellate order was filed after a Registry-noted delay of 1,757 days. The applicant did not appear despite notice. The application was not admitted and was dismissed, leaving the earlier ex parte order unrecalled.

Corrigendum to the Indian Boilers (Amendment) Act, 2007 corrects a drafting error in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 1 publication dated December 13, 2007. At page 6, line 17, the reference "(6)" is replaced by "(5A)", so that the relevant sub-provision bears the corrected designation in the published amendment.

Section 52 replaces references to digital signatures and Digital Signature Certificates with electronic signatures and Electronic Signature Certificates across specified evidentiary provisions. It also inserts section 45A, under which the opinion of an Examiner of Electronic Evidence is a relevant fact when a court considers information transmitted or stored in a computer resource or other electronic or digital form. The Examiner is treated as an expert for this evidentiary purpose.

Section 51 extends Indian Penal Code coverage to persons outside India committing offences targeting computer resources located in India. It clarifies the inclusion of extraterritorial acts that would be punishable if committed within India and adopts the statutory meaning of computer resource. It also recognises concealment through encryption or other information-hiding tools under sections 118 and 119, expands section 40(2) references, and replaces "digital signature" with "electronic signature" in section 464.

Section 50 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 omits the Third Schedule and Fourth Schedule from the Information Technology Act, 2000. The amendment removes both schedules from the principal statutory framework.

Section 49 substitutes the First and Second Schedules under the Information Technology Act, 2000. The First Schedule excludes negotiable instruments other than cheques, powers of attorney, trusts, wills and other testamentary dispositions, and contracts for sale or conveyance of immovable property or interests in it. The Second Schedule concerns electronic signature or electronic authentication techniques and procedures, without specifying an individual technique or procedure.

Section 48 effects a legislative amendment by omitting sections 91, 92, 93 and 94 from the principal Information Technology Act, 2000. It removes these identified provisions from the statutory framework through express deletion, rather than modification or replacement of their content.

Section 47 of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 omits clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 90 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Rule-making authority under section 87 is expanded to cover electronic signature reliability, authentication procedures, Electronic Signature Certificates, subscriber duties, reasonable security practices, and sensitive personal data. It also extends to service-provider charges, information retention, interception, decryption, public-access blocking, traffic-data collection, protected-system security, agency functions, intermediary guidelines, and encryption methods. The laying provision is aligned with notifications concerning the national nodal agency.

New sections 84A, 84B and 84C establish government-prescribed encryption standards and ancillary criminal liability. Encryption methods may be prescribed for secure electronic use and promotion of e-governance and e-commerce. Where no specific punishment applies, abetment resulting in an offence attracts the punishment for that offence, while an attempt involving an act towards commission may attract up to one-half of the maximum imprisonment, the applicable fine, or both.

Section 84 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is amended by replacing the reference to "Presiding Officer" with "Chairperson, Members", aligning the provision with those offices.

Section 82 revises its marginal heading to identify the Chairperson, Members, officers and employees as public servants. References to "Presiding Officer" are replaced with "Chairperson, Members", aligning the provision's terminology with the revised institutional design and public-servant designation.

Section 81 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is amended by inserting a proviso that preserves every person's right to exercise rights conferred under the Copyright Act, 1957 and the Patents Act, 1970. The amendment clarifies that the Information Technology Act does not restrict the exercise of copyright or patent rights.

Section 80(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is amended by replacing the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police with Inspector, extending the specified statutory power under that provision to an Inspector.

Intermediary safe harbour excludes liability for third-party information, data, or communication links where the intermediary provides access, does not initiate or control transmission content or recipients, and observes due diligence and prescribed guidelines. Protection is unavailable for conspiracy, abetment, aid, or inducement of an unlawful act, or for failure after actual knowledge or government notification to expeditiously remove or disable unlawful material without impairing evidence. Governmental departments, bodies, or agencies may be notified as Examiners of Electronic Evidence to provide expert opinion.

Section 78 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 is amended by substituting "Inspector" for "Deputy Superintendent of Police", altering the police rank specified for the relevant statutory function.

Compensation, penalties or confiscation under the information-technology framework do not prevent separate compensation, penalties or punishment under other law. Compounding is available only for offences not punishable with life imprisonment or imprisonment exceeding three years, subject to exclusions for prior convictions, offences affecting socio-economic conditions, and offences against women or children below 18 years. Offences punishable with imprisonment of three years and above are cognizable, while offences punishable with imprisonment of three years are bailable.