Secondary evidence may be admitted where an original is unavailable after required notice, has been lost or destroyed without fault, cannot readily be moved, or where its contents are admitted in writing. The admissible form varies by circumstance: written admissions are admissible for admitted contents; only certified copies may prove public documents or documents legally provable by certified copy; and a skilled examiner may prove the general result of numerous documents that cannot conveniently be examined.

National Assessment Centre Portal operates as a public digital repository supporting uniform and consistent Customs assessment under the Faceless Assessment framework. It provides searchable access to audit objections, advance rulings, judicial and quasi-judicial decisions, meeting records, advisories, alerts, circulars, and classification, valuation, and policy-related material. Importers, Customs brokers, and trade stakeholders may use these resources to obtain assessment references, support informed compliance, and reduce divergent practices. Authenticated departmental users have role-based functions to upload and manage assessment reports, policy references, audit objections, investigations, rulings, legal decisions, meeting records, no.....

Section 64 establishes the general evidentiary rule governing proof of documentary evidence: documents must ordinarily be proved through primary evidence. Departure from that requirement is permissible only in subsequently specified cases. Primary evidence remains the ordinary and mandatory mode for establishing documentary contents, while alternative forms of proof are confined exclusively to recognised exceptions in legally specified evidentiary circumstances.

Secondary evidence in documentary proof includes certified copies; copies produced through mechanical processes that inherently assure accuracy and copies compared with them; copies made from or compared with an original; counterparts relied on against parties who did not execute them; and oral accounts of document contents by a person who has personally seen the document.

Permission for a customs freight station to handle international transshipment of less-than-container-load containers and related operations is renewed for a further two years, up to 10 September 2028. The facility must comply with prescribed conditions and procedures under the applicable customs circulars, public notices, the Handling of Cargo in Customs Area Regulations, 2009, and the Customs Act, 1962. Any lapse in compliance may result in withdrawal of the permission without further notice.

Proper officers must verify applicable licences, permissions, registration certificates and other prescribed particulars against the relevant CDSCO checklist before granting Out-of-Charge for PGA-facilitated imports of cosmetics, drugs and medical devices. Importers, Customs Brokers and other stakeholders must upload mandatory compliance documents on e-SANCHIT to support expedited clearance. The verification requirement applies to the seven product categories covered by the prescribed checklists and takes effect immediately.

ICD-bound containers selected for scanning may be scanned at a Mobile Scanner regardless of their original allocation to a Drive Through Scanner, without further permission from the Container Scanning Division. Port Terminal Operators must ensure scanning before onward movement: containers from BMCT may use the nearest Mobile Scanner or DTCS02, while other terminals must use the designated Mobile Scanners. Containers reported clean are released under prescribed Customs procedures; suspicious containers must move to the nominated CFS for 100% examination. Operators must maintain records and submit consolidated weekly scanning reports each Monday. The arrangement takes immediate effect.

NDPS Act bail restrictions under Section 37 need not preclude release where alleged contraband from multiple bags was mixed before representative sampling, creating a prima facie concern over sampling validity. Prolonged custody, completion of the investigation and charge-sheet, an unlikely early trial, absence of criminal antecedents, and no material suggesting further offending or absconding support satisfaction of the statutory bail conditions. These factors collectively support release on bail despite the restrictions under Section 37.

Filing deadlines for electronic PGIRP-1 to PGIRP-6 forms monitoring insolvency resolution processes of personal guarantors to corporate debtors are extended until 31 December 2026. The extension applies to all applicable forms required through the e-platform. Penalties for delayed submission or modification of these forms will be levied only after 31 December 2026, allowing additional time for compliance during the transition.

Primary evidence consists of the document itself produced for the court's inspection. Each part of a document executed in several parts is primary evidence, and each executed counterpart is primary evidence against its executing parties. Documents produced through one uniform process, such as printing, lithography or photography, are primary evidence of each other's contents. Copies made from a common original, however, are not primary evidence of that original's contents.

Proof of the contents of documents may be established by either primary evidence or secondary evidence. Both forms are recognised as permissible evidentiary means for demonstrating what a document contains. Documentary contents may therefore be proved through primary evidence, or alternatively through secondary evidence, for use in legal proceedings.

Direct oral evidence must be given by a witness with firsthand knowledge of the fact asserted. Facts capable of being seen, heard, or otherwise perceived must be proved by the person who directly perceived them, while opinion evidence must come from the person holding that opinion. Expert treatises may prove expert opinions in specified circumstances of the author's unavailability. The court may require a material object, other than a document, to be produced for inspection.

Proof of facts may be established through oral evidence, subject to the exclusion of the contents of documents or electronic records. Oral testimony is available to prove facts generally, but it does not serve as the mode for proving documentary or electronic-record contents.

Section 58 removes the requirement to prove facts admitted by parties or their agents at the hearing, admitted before the hearing through signed writing, or deemed admitted under applicable pleading rules. The court may nevertheless require independent proof of an admitted fact.

Judicial notice makes proof unnecessary for facts the Court must recognise, including laws in force in India, specified legislative proceedings and enactments, official seals, notified public officers, recognised States, public holidays, territories, hostilities, court personnel, and rules of the road. The Court may consult appropriate reference materials on these matters and on public history, literature, science or art. A person seeking judicial notice may be required to produce material necessary for the Court to take such notice.

Judicial notice under section 56 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, removes the requirement of proof for any fact of which the Court will take judicial notice. Such facts are categorised as facts not requiring proof, so parties need not adduce evidence to establish them before the Court in a proceeding.

A counterclaim operates as a cross-suit, and its adjudication conclusively determines rights independent of the original suit. Dismissal of the plaintiff's suit and a decree on the defendant's counterclaim constitute distinct decrees even where they arise from a common judgment or formal decree. Each adjudication requires a separate appeal. Failure to independently challenge either determination permits it to attain finality and may trigger res judicata; consequently, a single composite appeal is not maintainable.

Character is relevant in civil proceedings where it affects the amount of damages to be assessed. Character includes reputation and disposition, but evidence is ordinarily limited to general reputation and general disposition rather than particular acts used to demonstrate either quality. This limitation remains subject to the applicable exception for character evidence.

Previous bad character of an accused is generally irrelevant in criminal proceedings, but becomes relevant where evidence of good character has been given in reply. The exclusion does not apply if a person's bad character is itself a fact in issue, and a previous conviction is relevant as evidence of bad character.

Consent in specified sexual-offence prosecutions cannot be assessed by reference to the victim's character or previous sexual experience. Where consent or the quality of consent is in issue in prosecutions for listed Indian Penal Code offences or attempts, such evidence is legally irrelevant.