Section 68 requires an assessee to establish creditors' identity and creditworthiness and the genuineness of loan transactions; once supporting confirmations, tax and financial records, and bank evidence discharge that burden, the Revenue must rebut them with independent evidence rather than suspicion. Interest and commission adjustments dependent on non-genuine loans consequently fail. Where purchase invoices, banking records, supplier confirmations, stock records and sales remain unrebutted, any adjustment for alleged bogus purchases is confined to the embedded profit element rather than the entire purchase value. Undisclosed, uncorroborated third-party seized material without cross-examination cannot support an alleged cash-payment addition because it breaches natural justice.

CSD must file section 55 refund claims electronically in FORM GST RFD-10A for qualifying inward goods supplied onward to Unit Run Canteens or authorised customers. Claims may be quarterly or combined for multiple quarters, must be filed within two years from the relevant quarter, and require supplier-reported invoices, supplier return compliance, an undertaking on intended use, and a no-prior-refund declaration. Portal validation limits the claim to fifty per cent of eligible tax and prevents enhancement of auto-populated amounts. The proper officer verifies compliance, invoice eligibility, and reversal of related input tax credit before issuing FORM GST RFD-06.

SCMTR export-message implementation at Mumbai requires mandatory electronic filing of the Sea Departure Manifest and Sea Departure Notification for vessels calling at the port from 29 April 2025, replacing Export General Manifest filing. Successful filing of these messages directly determines linkage to export incentives. Authorised sea carriers, agents, transhippers, terminal operators, custodians, freight forwarders, importers, exporters, customs brokers, and authorised persons must ensure prescribed export-message filing.

Reassessment limitation under Sections 149(1)(a) and 149(1)(b) restricts action beyond three years from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the conditions for the extended period are met. Where a notice under Section 148A(b) is issued after that period and the alleged escaped income is below Rs. 50 lakh, the extended limitation framework does not apply. An order under Section 148A(d) founded on such notice is without jurisdiction, unsustainable in law, and liable to be quashed.

Refund of additional IGST paid after an upward revision of export-goods price must be claimed electronically in FORM GST RFD-01 and is processed by the jurisdictional GST officer under rule 89. Pending a separate portal category, the claim is filed under "Any other" with specified remarks, statements 9A and 9B, and supporting evidence. Eligibility requires proof of revised contractual price, payment of additional IGST and interest, reporting in GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B, and receipt of corresponding additional foreign exchange remittance.

Customs duty refund applications are to be processed and disbursed electronically through the Customs Automated System and the ICEGATE Portal. Manual or online filing is permitted only until 31 March 2025 as a transitional measure. Thereafter, manual refund applications are not to be accepted unless the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs allows manual filing for reasons recorded in writing.

GST investigation administration assigns the Headquarter Bureau of Investigation duties under specified statutory provisions and relevant Rules as directed by the Commissioner of State Tax. The Divisional Bureau is assigned duties under the same provisions and Rules as directed by the Joint Commissioner of State Tax (Administration). The revised functional allocation is deemed effective from 5 December 2017.

Under the Customs Act, 1962, the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Customs (Nhava Seva-I), Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House, Mumbai Zone-II is appointed as the Common Adjudicating Authority for Amway India Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. The authority is authorised to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the listed original adjudicating officers for adjudication of seven specified show cause notices issued by customs formations at Delhi, Nhava Sheva, Mumbai and Chennai.

Annual return filing for the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 March 2018 is required electronically by 31 March 2019. The requirement applies to registered persons covered by the annual return obligation, excluding Input Service Distributors, persons paying tax under sections 51 or 52, casual taxable persons, and non-resident taxable persons. The clarification addresses delayed operationalisation of the electronic filing system and is deemed effective from 11 December 2018.

India's economic engagement with Germany and the Netherlands is intended to expand bilateral trade, investment corridors, industrial and technological collaboration, and green-transition initiatives. Discussions cover market access, investment opportunities associated with free trade agreement negotiations, advanced engineering, clean technology, resilient supply chains, and logistics connectivity. Businesses and startups will participate in sectoral roundtables, investment interactions, and business-to-business networking across manufacturing, technology, agri-food, healthcare, renewable energy, logistics, textiles, and services.

Intelligence-led enforcement against synthetic drug trafficking resulted in the seizure of 9.139 kg of crystalline methamphetamine and the arrest of a bus passenger following interception at an inter-city bus terminal. The substance was concealed in clothing packets within trolley bags, field-tested and seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Synthetic narcotics trafficking is identified as using inter-city transport networks, cross-border routes and coastal corridors.

Personal hearing safeguards under GST require a meaningful opportunity to be heard where the taxpayer requests a hearing and where an adverse decision is contemplated. Section 75(5) permits adjournment on sufficient cause, requires written reasons, and limits adjournments during proceedings. Generating multiple hearing notices within minutes, with different dates over a short interval, cannot substitute for a genuine hearing. Failure to provide a personal hearing before an adverse GST order is treated as a breach of natural justice and the statutory hearing requirement.

Blocked input tax credit cannot be treated as payment of an appellate pre-deposit merely because the blocked amount exceeds the required deposit. Credit in the Electronic Credit Ledger may be used only if legally available for debit; a restriction prevents use but does not appropriate credit towards the demand. Demand-summary errors that distort tax and penalty classification require rectification because they can impede appeal filing. Proof requires the restriction orders and an actual ledger balance, while continued portal obstruction may require assisted or conditional manual filing.

Exceeding the aggregate-turnover ceiling causes composition-scheme eligibility to lapse automatically from the breach date. Regular-rate tax applies only to post-lapse supplies, with adjustment of composition tax already paid. Because composition taxpayers cannot collect tax separately, invoice values are treated as tax-inclusive where no additional tax was recovered. Differential tax must therefore be recomputed using the Rule 35 cum-tax formula, even if the benefit was not claimed earlier. Transitional input tax credit remains conditional, time-bound and dependent on prescribed compliance.

Pending proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, an FIR, investigation, inquiry, or property attachment do not by themselves establish resolution applicant ineligibility under Section 29A. Conviction-based disqualification requires fulfilment of the applicable statutory condition. Attachment may nevertheless affect assessment of the applicant's credibility, financial capacity, and ability to implement the resolution plan. The Committee of Creditors must consider these risks while exercising commercial wisdom, subject to statutory requirements governing plan approval and limited judicial review.

GST appellate pre-deposit for a penalty-only demand depends on the regime applicable when adjudicatory proceedings commenced. Where the show-cause notice predates an amendment introducing a percentage-based deposit, that condition does not govern the covered appeal; this is inapplicability rather than discretionary waiver. The position does not remove payment of admitted liability or determine other appellate pre-deposit provisions. Service, limitation, officer competence and merits remain separate questions requiring examination under the applicable statutory framework and records.

Input tax credit compliance requires verification of actual invoice dates, payment records and supporting evidence rather than use of a year-end aggregate trade-payables balance as a proxy for delayed payment. A closing trade-payables balance, without matching it to invoice-level payment chronology, does not establish non-payment beyond the prescribed period. Assessments must address taxpayer replies and relevant documents and state reasons where explanations are not accepted.

Company Court jurisdiction in winding-up extends under Sections 446(2) and 456 of the Companies Act, 1956, to custody of property appearing to belong to the company and determination of its title. Five paintings were treated as liquidation assets on a preponderance of probabilities, supported by corporate records, seizure material, police affidavits and gallery confirmation. A rival claimant's failure to produce title evidence or testify justified an adverse inference; family consent terms concerning possession and enjoyment did not bind the company or establish competing title. The paintings may be sold through an expert-assisted art-auction process to maximise value, while claims over remaining paintings remain separately determinable.

Prospective export-policy restrictions apply to goods not exported by the effective date; procurement, payment, port storage, and unshipped stock do not create an accrued export right. Earlier free-export classifications or State export tenders do not establish legitimate expectation or promissory estoppel where public-interest resource, security, and planning concerns support change. An Irrevocable Commercial Letter of Credit may validly define transitional eligibility because it is objectively verifiable. Export licensing may regulate rather than prohibit trade, but applications cannot remain frozen pending review: they require timely, individual, reasoned consideration after a hearing, accounting for commercial hardship and national-security factors.

Physical service of show-cause notices is required where departmental adjudication begins after cancellation of a taxpayer's registration, if the applicable circular so prescribes. Uploading notices only to the common portal after cancellation does not effectively notify the taxpayer and cannot support ex parte adjudication or penalty orders. The taxpayer must receive an opportunity to reply, request documents or cross-examination, and adequate advance notice of the personal hearing. The ex parte orders are set aside and remitted for fresh adjudication with those procedural safeguards.