Section 171 of the CGST Act requires suppliers to pass a GST-rate reduction to recipients through a commensurate price reduction. For cinema tickets, retaining tax-inclusive prices after the GST rate fell from 18% to 12% by increasing base prices prevented the tax benefit from reaching customers. Film-specific demand, weekends, holidays and ticket-price ranges do not displace that statutory obligation. In the absence of cogent evidence supporting higher base prices or challenging the calculation methodology, the supplier's pricing treatment amounted to anti-profiteering for the investigated period.

Section 171(1) requires suppliers to pass on GST rate reductions through commensurate price reductions. For cinema admissions, a State-prescribed maximum fare does not prevent a lower price and cannot justify retaining the former cum-tax price by increasing the base price; this retains the tax benefit and results in unjust enrichment. Where recipients are unidentifiable, the profiteered amount, with applicable interest, is deposited equally in Central and State Consumer Welfare Funds. Cost elements unrelated to the GST rate reduction do not determine pass-through. A penalty provision effective from 1 January 2020 does not apply retrospectively to earlier profiteering.

Section 171 of the CGST Act applies only where a GST-rate reduction or input tax credit creates an actual benefit that must be passed on through a commensurate price reduction. For a housing project commenced after GST implementation, no pre-GST sales or CENVAT-credit baseline existed for comparison. Alleged excess GST collection from affordable-apartment buyers, despite GST being deposited at the applicable rate and a lower amount being charged, does not represent a benefit from a rate reduction or input tax credit. It is therefore outside the anti-profiteering computation, and the quantified profiteering amount is unsustainable.

Pre-1 October 2021 GST classification of cinematographic-film copyright licensing turns on the essential character of the supply, not its electronic or physical delivery mode. A passive audio-visual film lacks the statutory attributes of manipulability or user interactivity required for information technology software; licensing rights to broadcast and show original films therefore falls within intellectual-property rights in goods other than information technology software, attracting the lower rate. The acknowledged classification overlap for theatrical-rights licensing is regularised on an as-is-where-is basis throughout the exploitation chain, including producer-to-distributor licensing. Article 226 intervention remains available for jurisdictional errors or pure legal questions without disputed facts.

Rule 96(10) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 ceased to govern pending export refund claims upon its omission because no savings or sunset clause preserved its operation. A prospective recommendation to omit the rule could not independently sustain its application after omission. Consequently, pending refund proceedings remained outside Rule 96(10), and the existing refund direction was unaffected.

Reversal of the sole precedent supporting a writ order removes the legal basis for that relief. Where substantive challenges to a show-cause notice were not adjudicated because relief rested exclusively on the reversed precedent, those grounds remain for determination by the Single Judge. The writ order therefore cannot continue solely on its former basis.

Discretionary bail in a prosecution alleging fraudulent invoice issuance and wrongful availment and passing of input tax credit was considered appropriate after investigation had concluded, the charge sheet had been filed, and the accused had spent time in judicial custody. The allegations involved a network of entities issuing invoices without underlying supplies and generating inadmissible input tax credit. Release on bail was consequently considered warranted on the stated facts and circumstances.

Coercive steps to compel discharge of alleged GST liability cannot be taken during a continuing inspection or search pending further consideration. Interim protection applies where the investigation and allegations of pressure to pay require adherence to applicable investigation guidelines. Normal business activities may continue during the inspection or search until the returnable date, while the writ petition remains pending.

Portal-based service of notices and orders raises a validity issue where relevant communications may appear under different tabs of the common portal. Non-service was asserted, and decisions concerning portal-based communication were relied upon for consideration. Notice was issued, returnable in four weeks, on the question of effective service through the portal.

Applicability of the amended GST pre-deposit requirement, effective from 1 October 2025, is contested for an appeal arising from proceedings initiated and adjudicated before that date. Notice has been issued, and interim permission allows filing of the GSTAT appeal without pre-deposit; this remains subject to the petition's eventual determination on the applicability of the amended requirement.

Coercive recovery during an ongoing GST inspection or search, where payment is alleged to have been obtained through pressure, may be subject to interim safeguards. Normal business operations may continue pending further consideration, while tax authorities refrain from coercive steps to discharge the alleged liability. Investigation guidelines remain applicable throughout the inspection or search, providing the framework for conduct of the inquiry and protection against pressured payment pending notice.

Anti-profiteering under section 171 of the CGST Act requires a benefit arising from a GST rate reduction or additional input tax credit to be passed to recipients through a commensurate price reduction. For affordable apartments launched and booked after GST commenced, the agreed price already reflected applicable GST rates and no pre-GST CENVAT credit was available for comparison with post-GST input tax credit. Differential GST realisation from purchasers does not constitute a saving or profiteering benefit under section 171. A profiteering computation founded on alleged excess GST recovery was therefore rejected, as recovery of excess GST falls outside the Tribunal's jurisdiction; the excess amount was to be refunded in accordance with law.

GST rate reductions on cinema admission tickets must be passed to consumers through a commensurate price reduction, even where State rules prescribe maximum ticket prices. A maximum-price cap does not prevent lower pricing. Retaining cum-tax ticket prices while increasing the base price, without cogent justification and without challenging the computation, constituted failure to pass on the tax benefit; cost and market factors were immaterial. Where ticket recipients cannot be identified, the profiteered amount, with interest, is payable in equal shares to the Central and State Consumer Welfare Funds. An anti-profiteering penalty cannot be imposed retrospectively where the penalty provision entered into force after the investigated period.

Section 171 of the CGST Act requires suppliers to pass any GST-rate reduction to recipients through a commensurate reduction in prices. For cinema admission tickets, increased base prices and general commercial pricing considerations do not displace that obligation. A supplier must provide cogent evidence that the tax benefit reached viewers; failure to challenge the DGAP methodology or substantiate price increases supports a finding of non-passing. Non-reduction of first- and second-class ticket prices after the rate cut constituted contravention, requiring deposit of the profiteered amount with interest in consumer welfare funds; no penalty was imposed.

Anti-profiteering computation for construction services must account for GST input tax credit that remained unutilised and was subsequently reversed. The additional credit benefit attributable to eligible homebuyers requires a commensurate reduction in price and must be passed on, including applicable GST, with 18% interest from collection of the excess amount until repayment. Penalty for failure to pass on the benefit does not apply to the relevant period because the penalty provision came into force only after that period ended.

Curative and clarificatory amendment to the Rule 89(5) refund formula applies retrospectively to refund or rectification applications filed within the statutory period, including differential claims for pre-amendment periods under an inverted duty structure. An administrative circular treating the amendment as prospective cannot override the statutory refund entitlement. Supplementary refund claims are maintainable despite earlier adjudication of refunds for the same tax periods, provided the differential amount is otherwise admissible and claimed within the prescribed period. Eligible differential refunds remain subject to arithmetical verification.

Unaccounted bricks and coal found during survey are to be taxed by treating the goods as supplied and applying assessment provisions, rather than through confiscation proceedings and penalty for excess stock. Where the entire confiscation order, including penalty and fine in lieu of confiscation, has been quashed and that finding remains unchallenged, no separate basis survives to maintain or restore the fine. Revenue appeals limited to restoration of the fine were therefore dismissed.

Departmental GST appeals below the prescribed monetary limit require the Revenue to identify and establish a specified exception to the binding litigation-management policy. A bare assertion that the Commissioner approved an appeal does not establish a case-specific, reasoned exercise of residual discretion or satisfy conditions governing the right of appeal. Maintainability must be determined before tax merits. Without an established exception, an appeal below the threshold is not maintainable and the underlying tax merits are not examined.

Mandatory seven-day period for passing a detention penalty order after service of notice under section 129(3) is binding because of the term "shall". A penalty order issued after that period violates the statutory time limit and vitiates the detention penalty proceedings. Such an order is void from inception and a nullity; an appellate order affirming it must also be set aside, with consequential relief.

COVID-19 limitation exclusion applies to judicial, quasi-judicial and departmental proceedings, and must be excluded when calculating the period for exercising revisional powers where the statutory period overlaps that exclusion. For transport compliance, an e-way bill and tax invoice must cover the actual movement and destination of goods. Documents issued after detention do not cure the absence of destination-specific documentation at interception, particularly where no evidence supports a claimed technical glitch. Such undocumented third-party unloading may be treated as a wilful contravention intended to evade tax and may attract penalty under Section 129(1).