Subscribers holding an Electronic Signature Certificate must perform duties prescribed in relation to that certificate. The provision does not enumerate those duties, leaving their content and scope to prescribed requirements. Compliance is therefore a subscriber obligation linked specifically to the Electronic Signature Certificate.

Software export revenue generated by Technopark reached Rs 17,092 crore in FY 2025-26, reflecting year-on-year growth of approximately 17.3 per cent. Growth is attributed to IT infrastructure, a skilled talent base, and company performance. Technopark also operates as an IT and ITeS hub and startup ecosystem centre, with ongoing campus development intended to expand its position among major IT hubs.

Personal hearing under Section 27 is mandatory where the governing assessment provision requires it. Assessment orders passed without affording that hearing violate the statutory requirement and principles of natural justice, including where the assessee has filed no reply or objections. Where an earlier remand required a reasonable opportunity and objections were filed, failure to provide a personal hearing renders the assessment unsustainable. A fresh hearing is required before a lawful assessment determination can be made.

Custodian and Customs Cargo Services Provider status for M/s. Central Warehousing Corporation, D' Node Container Freight Station is renewed for five years from 15 March 2020. The custodianship covers imported goods until clearance for home consumption, warehousing or transhipment, and export cargo until exportation after examination and stuffing. The provider must comply with the Customs Act and cargo-area regulations. Approval remains subject to review before expiry for regulatory non-compliance or Government directions.

Special leave petitions were dismissed after similar petitions filed against an interim order had already been dismissed. No substantive GST issue, statutory interpretation, or merits-based determination is identified. Pending applications were disposed of consequentially, leaving the challenge without further consideration before the Court at this stage in the special leave proceedings.

SCMTR registration is mandatory for authorised custodians, carriers, sea agents, terminal operators, e-seal authorisees and transhippers before their Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment obligations commence. Unregistered stakeholders must complete onboarding immediately. A dedicated SCMTR Cell facilitates registration, and stakeholders required to furnish a bond or bank guarantee must submit the relevant security to the Cell for system registration and approval by the concerned officer.

Section 10A affirms that contracts formed through electronic means remain enforceable. Electronic communication or electronic records may be used for proposals, acceptances, and revocations during contract formation, and the use of such electronic form or means alone cannot render the contract unenforceable.

GST applicability to concession payments relating to arrival and departure duty-free shops beyond customs frontiers remained subject to final adjudication. The claim that the shops were outside the taxable territory provided a prima facie basis for protection, while non-payment risked termination under the concession agreement. Interim restraint against interference and GST levy operated pending adjudication, subject to indemnity bonds and bank guarantees.

Statutory audit requirements for documents, records or information apply equally where the material is processed and maintained in electronic form. Electronic records are therefore subject to the same audit framework as non-electronic records, ensuring technology-neutral application of audit obligations.

Online registration or modification of AD Code and bank-account details through ICEGATE requires electronic upload of prescribed documents in E-Sanchit. Fresh registration requires a bank authorisation letter, IEC, GST registration certificate, entity and authorised-signatory PAN cards, and a cancelled cheque. IFSC or bank-account modification additionally requires a no-objection certificate from the previously registered bank. Bank documents should be sent directly from the bank branch email address; otherwise, their genuineness is verified by email before same-day system processing.

Electronic governance service delivery may be outsourced by the appropriate Government for efficient provision of public services through electronic means. By an order, it may authorise service providers to establish, maintain and upgrade computerised facilities and perform specified services. Authorised service providers may be permitted to collect, retain and appropriate prescribed service charges from users.

Electronic signatures may authenticate electronic records where the technique is reliable and specified in the Second Schedule. Reliability requires uniquely linked signature-creation or authentication data, exclusive control by the relevant signatory or authenticator at signing, and detectability of later alterations to the signature and authenticated information. The Central Government may prescribe verification procedures and, by Official Gazette notification, add or omit reliable techniques and related procedures in the Second Schedule; each notification must be laid before both Houses of Parliament.

Crowdsourcing of stakeholder suggestions is instituted for reviewing existing Customs duty exemption notifications and for examining Customs laws and procedures in light of changing business needs and ease of doing business. Importers, exporters, domestic industry, trade associations, Customs staff, and the public may submit suggestions through the MyGov Innovate online portal by 21 August 2020. Portal-related difficulties may be raised with the designated Appraising Main (Import) office.

Interim protection concerning GST liability was confined to GST-related claims and did not bar enforcement action for non-GST claims, including termination of a licence or arrangement. Liability for interest, if the interim protection were later vacated or the petition dismissed, remained reserved for further or final orders. Impleadment was permitted, and consideration of vacating or modifying the interim protection was deferred pending a reply. No final adjudication occurred.

Public-service appointments secured through forged documents, made by unauthorised appointing authorities, or made without sanctioned posts and prescribed open recruitment are void from inception rather than merely irregular. A committee enquiry satisfies natural justice where affected employees receive representation and hearing opportunities and individual findings of unlawful appointment remain unrebutted; a report is not invalid merely because all members do not sign it. Regularisation is confined to qualified persons irregularly appointed against sanctioned vacant posts and cannot validate an illegal entry. Length of service, humanitarian considerations and legitimate expectation do not create rights to salary, pension or retirement benefits without a valid appointment.

Voluntary election of the Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, followed by part payment of declared dues, precludes a trust from later denying taxability or alleging coercion in exercising the option. A reminder seeking proof of payment or the unpaid balance does not itself affect rights or create an enforceable cause of action. Declared but unpaid dues remain recoverable with interest under the scheme, while substantially false declarations may trigger separate action. The scheme therefore requires payment of the outstanding declared liability, subject to recovery under its provisions and applicable law.

Declaratory writs challenging service-tax liability after participation in the Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, 2013, require a valid challenge to the underlying departmental proceedings. Participation under the Scheme is voluntary; an unsupported assertion that the application was made under pressure does not establish otherwise. A departmental communication that creates no cause of action cannot sustain declaratory relief. The challenge is therefore premature and misconceived absent legally sustainable grounds against the departmental action.

Special leave proceedings in an income-tax matter were dismissed after the Supreme Court declined to interfere, having regard to the facts. No substantive legal principle, statutory interpretation, or reasons for non-interference were specified. Pending applications were also disposed of.

The 48-hour clearance period for Direct Port Delivery containers excludes Sundays and holidays observed by the Port and Customs, while Saturdays remain included. Containers not cleared within that period are to be shifted by rail to Balmer Lawrie Container Freight Station within 72 hours of landing. Where Customs clearance is not obtained within 72 hours, the containers are treated as ordinary or non-DPD containers. All other DPD procedural conditions remain unchanged.

Duty-free shop supplies of goods to arriving and departing international passengers are treated as exports and zero-rated supplies, so GST is not payable on those outward supplies. Services provided to duty-free shops under concession agreements remain independently taxable despite the zero-rated character of the shops' outward supplies. GST paid on those input services may be claimed as input tax credit, and accumulated unutilised credit may be utilised or refunded through the statutory mechanism. The central principle is that zero-rated outward supplies do not themselves exempt taxable input services.