Section 144C's amended definition of "eligible assessee" extends draft-assessment and Dispute Resolution Panel protection to non-residents other than companies for assessments made after 1 April 2020. Where a proposed assessment includes a prejudicial variation, the Assessing Officer must issue a draft order and allow the eligible assessee 30 days to accept the proposal or file objections before the Dispute Resolution Panel. Failure to follow this process because of an intervening statutory amendment is a remediable procedural defect and does not abate the assessment proceedings; however, a direct final assessment order issued without the prescribed procedure cannot be sustained.

Recognised market infrastructure institutions must comply with applicable IFSC and securities-market legislation and directions, apply due diligence, and maintain effective risk management, governance, investor-protection and investor-education measures. They must treat applicants and members fairly and transparently, promptly inform the Authority of violations by members, participants or issuers, safeguard system and market integrity, avoid conflicts and unfair competition, assign clear management responsibilities, and monitor participant compliance. They remain responsible for employee conduct and must promote sound business practices.

Regulation 63C requires each recognised market infrastructure institution to appoint a chief information security officer separately and in addition to a chief technology officer. The chief information security officer oversees the institution's cyber security posture and reports directly to the managing director or chief executive officer. The requirement took effect from 1 November 2024.

Recognised market infrastructure institutions that are neither subsidiaries nor joint ventures must appoint a chief legal officer. Subsidiaries and joint ventures may rely on legal assistance from a parent entity, but must appoint the officer if that assistance is not provided. The Authority may require appointment by institutions beyond a specified size and scale of operations. The officer must mitigate legal risk, including by vetting bye-laws, amendments, and legal documents for proposed cross-border arrangements.

Each recognised market infrastructure institution must appoint a Chief Risk Officer to identify and monitor risks associated with its functioning, initiate necessary mitigation measures, and assume overall responsibility for risk management. The Chief Risk Officer must submit a report to the Authority every half-year, combining risk oversight with recurring regulatory reporting.

Computer resources relating to the Core Banking Solution and Unified Payments Interface Switch, including associated dependencies, are declared protected systems under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited may specify authorised users by written order, including designated employees, need-based managed-service-provider personnel or third-party vendors, and consultants, regulators, government officials, auditors or stakeholders on a case-by-case basis. The designation takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Recognised clearing corporations must maintain a bye-law-based framework for voluntary and involuntary winding down of critical operations and services. The framework must provide for timely and orderly settlement, cessation, or transfer of positions, and for transfer of members' collateral, deposits, margins, and other assets to a recognised clearing corporation taking over the operations.

Section 69(2) of the Indian Partnership Act bars an unregistered firm only when it seeks to enforce a contractual right against a third party under a contract entered into in the course of its business dealings. It does not prevent claims based on statutory or common-law rights, or claims where a contract merely forms the source of title. A declaration and injunction claim seeking avoidance of a sale deed for fraud, misrepresentation, and non-payment of consideration falls outside the bar where the property sale was independent of the firm's business. Such a plaint remains maintainable and is not liable to rejection under Order VII Rule 11(d) CPC.

The amended pre-deposit requirement for GST appeals raises an unresolved question of temporal application where the show-cause notice predates the amendment. The issue concerns whether the vested right of appeal preserves the earlier pre-deposit position; a subsequent precedent on appellate stay may also bear on that question. Pending affidavits and final adjudication, interim protection permitted a timely appeal to be entertained without the 10% pre-deposit.

Recognised market infrastructure institutions must constitute a Nomination and Remuneration Committee to determine key management personnel compensation under a governing board-approved compensation policy. The policy must include malus and clawback arrangements. Compensation payable to the managing director, and each change to it, must be intimated to the Authority.

Outbound Hajj/Umrah package-tour services performed in Saudi Arabia fall outside the domestic service-tax levy because the place of provision for performance-based services and event-related activities is where they are actually carried out. Service tax is destination-based and has no extra-territorial operation, so services provided and consumed outside India are not taxable. Religious-ceremony exemption and treatment of Hajj pilgrimage tours as export of service independently support non-taxability. Where non-registration and non-payment result from a bona fide belief in this position, reasonable-cause relief prevents penalties.

Regulation 10A requires each recognised market infrastructure institution to abide by the Code of Conduct specified in Part A of Schedule I to the International Financial Services Centres Authority (Market Infrastructure Institutions) Regulations, 2021. Inserted with effect from 1 November 2024, it makes adherence to that Schedule-based Code of Conduct mandatory for recognised market infrastructure institutions within the regulatory framework.

UIDAI's Central Identities Data Repository facilities, information assets, logistics infrastructure and dependencies installed at UIDAI locations are designated as a Protected System under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Role-based access to the CIDR facility is limited to authorised personnel, including designated UIDAI officers and support staff, authorised managed service provider personnel, authorised third-party vendors and partners, and authorised business partners.

The First Schedule to the Information Technology Act, 2000 is amended to revise exclusions concerning negotiable instruments and powers of attorney. Negotiable instruments remain excluded except for cheques and specified demand promissory notes or bills of exchange issued in favour of or endorsed by regulated financial entities. Powers of attorney authorising such regulated entities to act for, on behalf of, and in the name of the executing person are also excluded from the relevant Schedule entry. Serial number 5 and its related entry are omitted.

Protected-system status is declared for computer resources relating to South Indian Bank's Core Banking Solution, Unified Payments Interface Switch, and associated dependencies. South Indian Bank may identify authorised persons through written orders, including designated employees, need-based managed-service-provider personnel and third-party vendors, and consultants, regulators, government officials, auditors and stakeholders on a case-by-case basis. The designation takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Look Out Circulars restricting a guarantor's foreign travel engage the constitutional protection of personal liberty. Such coercive action ordinarily relates to cognizable offences; the exceptional power to restrain departure for detriment to India's economic interests requires higher gravity and a significant national economic impact. It cannot be used routinely for business loan defaults or ordinary recovery claims. A guarantor who lacked prior knowledge of the alleged fraud and was not accused in the related criminal proceedings did not meet that threshold. The Look Out Circular was therefore unsustainable and quashed.

Under section 69B of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Central Government authorises CERT-In to monitor and collect traffic data or information relating to any computer resource, including information generated, transmitted, received or stored therein. The authority supports cyber security through identification, analysis and prevention of intrusions and the spread of computer contaminants.

Within International Financial Services Centres, the prior 2022 registration frameworks for assignments of receivables and factors cease to apply, and guidelines on factoring and forfaiting of receivables are repealed from commencement. Actions taken or purportedly taken before commencement under those earlier instruments are deemed to have been taken under the corresponding provisions of the 2024 regulations, preserving legal continuity.

Trade receivables assignments financed through a Trade Receivables Discounting System require the concerned TReDS, acting for the Factor, to file assignment and satisfaction particulars with the Central Registry within ten days. Delayed filing may be permitted for an additional period not exceeding ten days on an application stating reasons for delay and payment of the prescribed fee. Registration forms for assignments or satisfaction upon realisation must be accompanied by the applicable fee.

Factors may undertake factoring business directly with an assignor or through an ITFS, subject to applicable law and regulatory directions. Entities other than Factors may undertake factoring only through an ITFS if they meet prescribed eligibility criteria. Both Factors and eligible non-Factor entities must furnish operational information to the Authority in the manner, intervals, and form specified by it.