CBDT's monetary threshold for departmental appeals before the ITAT restricts Revenue challenges where the tax effect is below Rs. 50 lakh, unless a specified exception applies. Where no exception is shown, such Revenue appeals are not maintainable; related assessee cross-objections, being connected to those appeals, do not survive. The threshold applies across the relevant assessment years.

Punjab GST compliance permits notified classes of registered persons to be required or exempted from HSN-code disclosure. Nil GSTR-3B, GSTR-1 and CMP-08 filings may be made through SMS using registered-mobile OTP, only where every relevant table contains no entries. For financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20, registrants exceeding five crore rupees aggregate turnover must obtain audit and furnish certified reconciliation statements. The amendments also relax specified e-way bill restrictions, make pre-notice communication discretionary, restructure GSTR-2A disclosures, revise annual-return and non-resident return reporting, and standardise refund, assessment, demand, recovery and arrears forms.

Cross-objections filed under Section 253(4) of the Income-tax Act operate as independent appeals and require adjudication even where connected Revenue appeals are dismissed for low tax effect. Dismissing cross-objections solely on that basis disregards their independent character. Failure to consider binding and co-ordinate decisions affirming this principle constitutes a mistake apparent from the record, requiring the cross-objections to be considered.

Natural justice requirements were not breached because the records established that a show-cause notice had been issued and answered before the assessment order. The claim that the notice was not furnished lacked evidentiary support. The availability of a statutory appellate remedy within the prescribed period also remained relevant, and the assessment order was not treated as vitiated on the asserted ground.

Where sales corresponding to disputed purchases are accepted, an addition for alleged non-genuine purchases should be determined by the gross-profit difference attributable to grey-market procurement and accommodation bills, rather than by applying a uniform 8% rate. The 8% addition was remitted for fresh determination using this gross-profit-differential approach, favouring the assessee.

Failure to transcribe a Document Identification Number on an assessment order was treated prima facie as a factual issue rather than a substantial question of law, particularly because it had not been raised before appellate authorities. Asserted ownership and prior disclosure of seized cash required cogent supporting evidence. An additional affidavit was directed to substantiate the alleged owners' disclosures, and the appeal was listed for further hearing.

Supplies by domestic tariff area manufacturers to 100% export-oriented units against CT-3 certificates are deemed exports within Rule 5 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004, entitling suppliers to refund of accumulated CENVAT credit attributable to those supplies. Physical export by the supplier is not required for that entitlement. For quarterly refund claims concerning such supplies, limitation runs from the final day of the relevant quarter. Claims filed within the prescribed period calculated on that basis are not time-barred, making denial on deemed-export exclusion or limitation grounds unsustainable.

FORM GST INV-01 is substituted by an e-invoice schema governing invoices, credit notes and debit notes through mandatory, optional and conditional data fields. A valid e-invoice requires an Invoice Reference Number generated by the Invoice Registration Portal. The schema requires structured basic, supplier, recipient, item and document-total details, including supply classification, HSN/SAC classification, taxable value and applicable GST reporting. It accommodates delivery, payment, export, supporting-document and e-way bill information, with specified fields becoming mandatory where the relevant section or transport mode is selected.

Anticipatory bail under section 438 CrPC requires assessment of allegation gravity, absconding risk, interference with investigation, cooperation, and the necessity of custodial interrogation. Allegations of overridden objections, unauthorised advances, altered contractual terms favouring private parties, and resulting cooperative-society losses supported investigation into the alleged nexus and tracing of funds. Civil recovery or arbitration proceedings did not prima facie rule out criminal liability, and a detailed examination of alleged offence ingredients was unnecessary at the bail stage. Custodial interrogation was considered necessary for an effective investigation, precluding anticipatory bail.

Third-party statements proposed as adverse material must be furnished to the assessee, with a meaningful opportunity to rebut them and seek cross-examination where reliance is placed on those statements. Freight cash payments require consignment-contract-wise verification: separate goods consignment notes, supporting vouchers and distinct TDS deductions may establish independent transport contracts, making vendor-level aggregation inappropriate where each payment remains within the prescribed limit. Freight expenditure cannot be disallowed solely because vendors do not respond to notices or because confirmations differ. Payments, PAN details and TDS records require verification through vendors' jurisdictional Assessing Officers, after which the assessee must substantiate any expenditure not so confirmed.

Input tax credit is made conditional on the absence of restrictions in electronically communicated credit details. An auto-generated input tax credit statement must distinguish available credit from unavailable credit based on prescribed supplier-risk indicators. Credit relating to supplier-unpaid tax must be reversed with applicable interest and may be re-availed once tax is paid. Return filing may be barred where prior returns or outward-supply details remain unfiled, subject to notified exceptions. The Government may cap the proportion of output tax liability discharged through the electronic credit ledger.

Preferential tariff concessions apply to specified goods imported from New Zealand, subject to tariff classification, product description and proof of origin. Listed entries receive exemption from basic customs duty, AIDC and, where applicable, Health Cess to the extent those levies exceed the prescribed rates. Separate treatment applies to value-linked goods, Ma nuka honey and kiwi fruit, and annual tariff rate quotas for Ma nuka honey and albumins. Tariff quota imports require electronic authorisation, transmission to the Indian Customs EDI System and electronic quota debit. Ma nuka honey additionally requires prescribed product certification.

Non-service of notice for the final hearing, supported by an affidavit, prevents an ex parte first-appellate order from being sustained where the assessee had no opportunity to participate or furnish relevant material. Observance of natural justice requires a fresh hearing and adjudication before assessment issues are decided on their merits. The assessment issues themselves remain unexamined until that opportunity is provided.

Government shareholding in IDBI may be reduced or divested because the IDBI (Repeal) Act, 2003 contains no restriction on dilution of the Government's stake. A proposed amendment to limit dilution was rejected and not incorporated into the enacted law. Parliamentary statements cannot override statutory text, and promissory estoppel cannot be invoked on the basis of legislative debate statements to prevent dilution of Government shareholding. Successive Union Budget speeches also reflected a policy of transformation and strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank.

InvITs may issue depository receipts on their units subject to applicable requirements and the manner specified by the Board. Specified unitholder approvals require votes in favour representing at least seventy-five per cent of total votes cast, rather than approval by unitholders holding a prescribed value of units. For transaction-related approvals, votes cast by related parties are excluded. A sponsor exit in a multiple-sponsor InvIT requires an exit option for dissenting unitholders through purchase of their units.

Section 122(1A) may impose personal GST penalty on a registered or unregistered person only for a covered invoice or input tax credit transaction. Liability requires cumulative proof that the individual retained an identifiable personal benefit and that the transaction was conducted at that person's instance. Directorship, employment, registration, signature authority, or association with the taxable entity neither independently establishes nor excludes liability. Proceedings require transaction-specific and person-specific allegations and findings. The provision operates prospectively for underlying acts or transactions occurring on or after 01.01.2021.

AT-1 bond write-downs triggered by a Point of Non-Viability must occur before a reconstruction scheme takes effect and require RBI's independent regulatory determination. Subsequent financial developments cannot determine the validity of administrative action taken earlier. Where a notified reconstruction scheme omits the draft's express write-down provision, a general savings clause preserving existing instruments does not empower an Administrator to extinguish the bonds. An Administrator exercising board powers cannot assume the regulator's distinct authority under the Master Circular. The write-down is therefore ultra vires, the bond extinguishment remains invalid, and coupon payments continue under the Information Memoranda.

CENVAT credit earned by a centrally registered provider of taxable output services may be maintained in a common credit pool and used to pay excise duty without separate input service distributor registration where no inter-office distribution occurs. Credit for services at declared service stations, marketing offices and branch offices may qualify where connected with taxable services, sales up to the place of removal, advertising or sales promotion. Recovery of ISD credit requires proof that underlying services were used by multiple units. Extended limitation requires fraud, wilful misstatement, suppression or intent to evade; audit detection, available records and revenue neutrality do not by themselves establish those conditions. Previously reversed credit cannot be re-availed or refunded if it produces double availment.

Amounts paid during an investigation before any assessment or adjudicated excise liability arises are deposits, not excise duty, even if credited under a duty accounting head. Where accepted towards an appeal and not released beyond the mandatory amount, those payments must be treated as pre-deposit under Section 35F. Interest on their refund is statutory rather than equitable and cannot be awarded at a non-statutory rate. Section 11BB, concerning delayed refunds of duty following an application, does not govern such deposits. Section 35FF instead requires interest at the applicable statutory rate from the date of deposit until refund.

Investment-linked VAT remission under a State industrial incentive scheme is a subsidy, not additional consideration paid by buyers for excisable goods. Where VAT is first determined and then substantially remitted subject to investment, production, entitlement-period and capital-investment conditions, the retained remission does not form part of excise transaction value. Central excise duty and consequential interest on that amount are therefore unsustainable. Extended limitation and an equal penalty are also unavailable where the Department knew of the VAT retention through audit and supplied particulars, with no suppression of facts or intent to evade duty established.