Research Analysts and Research Entities are not required to maintain call recordings of interactions with institutional investors, but must retain legally verifiable records of client interactions. The obligation covers fee-paying, non-fee-paying, and prospective clients where conversations concern research services. Records may include signed physical records, call recordings, registered-email communications, SMS records, or other legally verifiable records; call recording is unnecessary where a digital footprint exists. Recordkeeping starts with the first interaction, ordinarily continues for five years, and extends through dispute resolution or preservation directions.

Composition levy eligibility is amended to exclude registered persons making supplies of specified actionable claims from the relevant class of persons linked to composition levy under the Odisha Goods and Services Tax framework. The exclusion applies from 1 October 2023.

Tonnage tax scheme is the statutory method for computing profits and gains from the business of operating qualifying ships. Section 235 of the Income-Tax Act, 2025 applies the scheme under the relevant Part, while section 115V of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 defines it under the relevant Chapter. Both definitions concern profit computation for qualifying-ship operations.

Letters Patent Appeals allow a High Court bench to exercise corrective appellate jurisdiction equivalent to that available to a Single Judge. Construction and reconciliation of grant documents present a mixed question of law and fact, permitting fresh determination by the appellate bench. Reconsideration of the documents supported treating the grant as vested in the temple rather than as personal to the Archaka.

Trade, investment and industrial cooperation are being pursued through ministerial consultations and business dialogue, with the prospective India-EU Free Trade Agreement identified as a framework for expanding bilateral trade and investment. Business-roundtable discussions focus on translating that prospective framework into concrete opportunities. International partnerships are associated with trust, complementary economic strengths and resilient supply chains, alongside efforts to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, technology and industry.

Securities lending is a taxable supply of services because temporary lending of securities for a lending fee does not involve disposal of securities. The lending fee constitutes consideration, while approved intermediaries are separately taxable for facilitation services supplied for commission or fee. Securities-lending services are classifiable under heading 997119 and subject to GST at 18%. Liability rests with the lender under forward charge for the earlier period and shifts to the borrower under reverse charge from 1 October 2019, with IGST payable.

Appellate interference with a record-based finding that an industry closed requires perversity; a different or preferable view of the evidence is insufficient. Back wages beyond the closure date were unsupported because no additional material showed that operations continued, and an affidavit confirming closure remained unrebutted. The direction granting 50 per cent back wages after January 1995 was therefore vacated, while the remaining directions continued.

Online gaming supplies, including actionable claims, are valued at the total amount paid, payable, or deposited with the supplier by or for the player, including money's worth and virtual digital assets. Refunds, returned deposits, and casino tokens, chips, coins, or tickets are not deductible from taxable value. Winnings reused for further participation without withdrawal are excluded from player deposits. Foreign suppliers of online money gaming must register through the adapted registration process and file the revised FORM GSTR-5A covering supplies, amendments, liabilities, interest, and payments.

Place of supply for composite software development and integrated-circuit design supplied to a recipient in non-taxable territory follows the recipient's location where prototype-hardware testing is ancillary. Testing undertaken only to validate or improve the software or design does not separately constitute a performance-based service concerning goods physically made available by the recipient. The contractual supply must be assessed as a whole, according to its nature.

GST exemption for services supplied by an educational institution to students, faculty and staff applies where education forms part of a curriculum leading to a qualification recognised by law. Maritime Training Institutes and courses approved by the Director General of Shipping are recognised under the Merchant Shipping Act and the 2014 Rules. They meet the GST definition of educational institution, and services through approved courses are exempt from GST subject to applicable exemption-entry conditions.

Unsecured loan credits require the assessee to establish each lender's creditworthiness and the genuineness of the transaction for Section 68 purposes. Limited financial means and unexplained cash deposits matching loan amounts in lenders' accounts on the loan date undermine both requirements. A lender's income-tax return for a later year does not establish capacity in the relevant assessment year. Failure to prove these elements permits treatment of loan credits as unexplained cash credits and disallowance of related interest.

PSF and UDF are consideration for airport services supplied by airport operators to passengers, and GST is payable by airport operators on these levies. Airlines collecting these amounts may exclude them from the value of their own supply only where they qualify as a pure agent. They must act under passenger authorisation, separately disclose the amounts and applicable GST, procure airport services in addition to their own supply, and recover only the actual amount. Airlines cannot avail input tax credit on PSF and UDF, while registered passengers may avail it on the basis of the airline's pure-agent invoice.

Writ jurisdiction should not be exercised where allegations concerning disciplinary misconduct and procedural fairness require evidence and an ordinary civil suit provides an adequate remedy. Contracts of personal service are not specifically enforceable unless a constitutional, statutory, contractual or industrial-law exception applies. Certiorari or mandamus cannot indirectly compel reinstatement where direct enforcement is barred under the Specific Relief Act; wrongful dismissal may instead give rise to damages. Mere non-compliance with staff regulations does not itself create an enforceable basis for writ relief, with departmental appeals and representations serving as the prescribed redress.

Where a registered person in India imports services from a related foreign person and is eligible for full input tax credit, the value declared in the invoice is deemed to be the open market value under rule 28(1). This treatment applies to related persons as well as distinct persons. Tax remains payable by the Indian recipient under reverse charge, with a self-invoice required. If no invoice is issued for particular imported services and full input tax credit is available, the value may be treated as nil and deemed to be the open market value.

Section 110A applies to goods formally seized under Section 110 and does not itself justify continued retention of an unseized imported food consignment. Customs may examine, test and reassess goods, but prolonged withholding of clearance requires disclosed, legally sustainable grounds connecting the goods to confiscation; suspicion alone is insufficient. Food samples must be drawn through the authorised food-safety process, and a report based on defective sampling cannot sustain detention once superseded by valid testing. A prima facie classification issue may support proportionate security for release, while assessment, show-cause proceedings and adjudication remain open.

Tonnage tax activities are defined by statutory cross-reference rather than an independent list. Under the Income-tax Act, 2025, the term covers activities specified in section 228(3) and (7); under the Income-tax Act, 1961, it covers activities specified in section 115V-I(2) and (5), for the respective tonnage-tax provisions.

Contractual employment in an independent statutory corporation is not governed by constitutional or Government Servants' Conduct Rules where the terms permit termination on one month's notice without reasons; no disciplinary charges or prior enquiry are required. A duly authorised agent may terminate employment despite not being the appointing authority, absent pleading or proof of lack of authority. Suspension does not end employment, so salary remains payable until valid termination. Retrospective removal cannot take effect before its date but may operate as dismissal notice when communicated, entitling the employee to salary until the effective termination date and contractual pay in lieu of notice.

Unpaid anti-dumping duty on imported goods may be recovered through the Customs Act recovery framework even after self-assessment and clearance for home consumption, provided the levy arises under an applicable notification and recovery requirements are met. The customs machinery applies to anti-dumping duty for assessment, non-levy, short-levy, interest and recovery. IGST on imports is calculated on an aggregate that includes customs duties and qualifying sums chargeable as additions to customs duty; unpaid anti-dumping duty may therefore increase the IGST base. Recovery of consequential IGST remains distinct from altering the applicable IGST rate, which requires separate statutory authority.

Project-wise anti-profiteering calculations in real estate may quantify additional GST input tax credit against project purchase value, provided the aggregate saving is allocated across total project area on a per-square-foot basis rather than linked to buyer collections or turnover. This complies with Section 171's commensurate-price requirement because construction expenditure and credit accrual may not track receipts. A pre-GST CENVAT offset requires evidence of actual availment; theoretical but unclaimed eligibility does not reduce the GST-period benefit. GST collected on consideration inflated by an undistributed benefit forms part of the amount returnable to purchasers, separately from interest for delayed return. Evidence must distinguish principal benefit, GST and interest.

Section 10(10AA)(ii) exempts retirement leave encashment received by non-government employees only within the earned-leave, average-salary, notified-limit, aggregation and prior-exemption restrictions. Notification No. 31/2023 raises the notified ceiling to Rs. 25,00,000, is deemed effective from 1 April 2023, and certifies that retrospective effect causes no adverse impact. Tribunal decisions apply the enhanced ceiling to eligible pending claims concerning earlier retirement receipts as a beneficial rationalisation of the existing exemption. Employment with a public-sector undertaking or bank does not confer Central or State Government employee status; relief remains under Section 10(10AA)(ii). The available exemption remains capped by the actual eligible receipt and statutory computation conditions.