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By: - DR.MARIAPPAN GOVINDARAJAN
Creditors may approve, modify, or reject the repayment plan at the meeting. Each proposed modification requires the debtor's consent, and approval requires support exceeding three-fourths in value of creditors present, represented by proxy where applicable, and voting. The Adjudicating Authority considers the creditor-meeting report, or the resolution professional's report where no meeting occurs, and may approve, reject, or require reconsideration of the repayment plan.
By: - Raj Jaggi
Urgent listing of a GST appeal may precede ordinary Registry scrutiny where cancellation of registration causes continuing commercial prejudice and delay may make appellate recourse practically ineffective. Sufficient cause requires exceptional, supported circumstances showing ongoing harm, not merely a request for priority. Registry scrutiny remains applicable, but its sequence may be adjusted under procedural powers. Early listing concerns scheduling only and does not waive limitation, statutory pre-deposit, prescribed fee, maintainability, defects or other mandatory conditions governing the appeal.
Revised Customs prosecution threshold permits consideration of withdrawal for pending gold-smuggling complaints below the prescribed value limit.
Under the revised Customs prosecution threshold, a Magistrate may consider withdrawal of a pending complaint for outright smuggling of precious metals where the value falls below the revised limit. The earlier threshold was increased while the remaining circular terms continued. Prior issuance of a prosecution sanction does not, by itself, bar consideration of withdrawal under the revised threshold. The operative effect is to permit reconsideration of pending prosecutions that no longer meet the prescribed value criterion.
Best-judgment assessment for unregistered GST persons must precede tax-demand proceedings under the general show-cause mechanism.
Section 63 provides the statutory mechanism to determine the tax liability of a person liable for GST registration who failed to obtain it. It requires a best-judgment assessment and an opportunity of hearing before an assessment order is made, and operates notwithstanding Section 74. For an unregistered person, assessment proceedings through notice in ASMT-14 are required before a tax-demand show-cause notice under Section 74 is pursued. Eligibility for any claimed exemption remains to be determined under the applicable GST enactment.
Alternative statutory remedy bars a delayed writ challenge where portal notices and tax orders were received but not timely contested.
Writ jurisdiction is not available to challenge a portal-uploaded tax notice and consequential final order when the recipient received the notice but failed to use the prescribed statutory remedy. Objections that the electronic notice was merely a summary or lacked required particulars had to be raised through a timely reply before the final order. Unsubstantiated claims of not viewing the portal notice or order, despite accessing the portal for input tax credit purposes, do not excuse continued inaction. Rejection of the writ petition for failure to pursue the alternative statutory remedy therefore stands.
GST portal authentication validates unsigned demand PDFs and treats upload as service triggering statutory limitation periods.
Chapter XVIII GST notices, orders and DRC summaries may be validly authenticated through DSC-based portal processes even where taxpayer-facing PDFs show no visible physical or digital signature. Electronic authentication through the officer's certificate, protected key, immutable record and hash value satisfies Information Technology Act requirements; Rule 26(3) does not impose a signature requirement on Chapter XVIII communications. Upload on the GST common portal constitutes valid service and starts limitation from the upload date, including communications placed under the Additional Notices and Orders tab after 16 January 2024. Portal communications must carry either a Document Identification Number or a verifiable Reference Number; absence of both invalidates the communication.
Electronically authenticated GST show-cause notices, adjudication orders and DRC summaries uploaded on the common portal remain valid even where taxpayer-facing PDFs display no physical or digital signature. Registered digital signature certificates, immutable electronic records, hash values and officer-certificate mapping satisfy electronic-authentication requirements; form signature fields cannot add to the Rules. Portal uploads constitute valid service and begin limitation; after the portal expressly identified the Additional Notices and Orders tab, taxpayers cannot claim ignorance of communications uploaded there, while challenges concerning earlier uploads remain open. GST communications may bear either a DIN or an independently verifi.....
Section 63 assessment of a person liable to GST who failed to obtain registration must precede tax-recovery proceedings under section 74. The proper officer must issue notice and make a best-judgment assessment for the relevant period after providing an opportunity of hearing. An educational institution may raise its exemption claim in those assessment proceedings. A recovery show-cause notice issued without first initiating the section 63 process was quashed, while the Department retained liberty to issue notice in ASMT-14 and pursue assessment; the exemption claim and other contentions remained open.
Revised Customs prosecution thresholds for precious-metal smuggling may extend to pending complaints if the goods' value is below the updated limit. The later circular changes only the monetary threshold and preserves the earlier circular's other conditions. Neither circular prohibits consideration of withdrawal after prosecution sanction has issued; the Magistrate retains discretion under the earlier framework to decide whether the prosecution should continue. Where withdrawal was rejected solely because sanction had issued, reconsideration under the applicable circulars is required.
Section 37 bail conditions can be met where prolonged custody and weak contraband linkage support regular bail.
Regular bail in a commercial-quantity narcotics prosecution remained subject to the twin conditions under Section 37 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, despite prolonged incarceration. More than three and a half years of custody, minimal trial progress, first-time-offender status, and the absence of credible material linking the accused to the contraband beyond presence in a vehicle supported satisfaction of those conditions. The presumption of culpable mental state under Section 35 was rebuttable. Regular bail was granted.
Limited public-policy review preserves maritime arbitral awards where untimely bias challenges and unjustified termination fail.
International commercial arbitral awards are subject to limited public-policy review, and patent illegality is unavailable. Prior service by arbitrators in related specialised maritime proceedings does not itself create justifiable doubts about independence or impartiality without material indicating closed-mindedness, partiality, or lack of objective judgment. A known challenge to an arbitrator's appointment must be raised within the prescribed period or is waived. Clause 62, read with the agreement and its force-majeure mechanism, does not permit a charterer to terminate for its own failure to issue shipment nominations. Damages based on the contractual-versus-spot freight differential for affected tonnage, after mitigation notice, and interest are sustainable where they rationally measure contractual loss.
Additional evidence under Section 311 CrPC may be admitted after closure when necessary to explain disputed payment records.
Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure permits additional evidence at any stage where it is material and necessary for a just decision. The stage of proceedings, including closure of the complainant's evidence, does not itself prevent admission of relevant documents. An invoice and related payment records directly connected with a payment raised in the defence may be produced to clarify whether that payment concerned the liability in issue. Such production is distinguishable from filling a lacuna in the original case. The documents may be placed on record where the opposing party receives a full opportunity to challenge their admissibility, authenticity and evidentiary value.
Disciplinary misconduct proceedings continue despite complaint withdrawal, while review requires demonstrable grounds and Article 226 intervention remains limited.
Professional disciplinary proceedings for other misconduct may continue once a complaint has been filed and cannot be withdrawn. Pending proceedings remain governed by the pre-amendment legal framework. Judicial intervention under Article 226 is limited, while removal from the Register of Members may serve as a disciplinary sanction. Review requires grounds warranting reconsideration; where no such grounds are established, the review petition is dismissed.
Self-assessed VAT refunds remain payable when no assessment, audit, or void arrangement proceedings justify withholding them.
Accepted self-assessed quarterly VAT returns require refund of excess tax after adjustment of outstanding dues under the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004. Where no default assessment, audit, or other applicable statutory proceeding has begun and no outstanding demand exists, the unadjusted refund remains payable; reassessment provisions do not govern the refund application. Allegations that transactions are paper transactions do not by themselves permit rejection under the anti-avoidance provision. That provision requires an identified arrangement intended to defeat the Act, supported by inquiry or investigation and declared void. Accordingly, unsubstantiated collusion allegations cannot justify withholding the statutory refund.
CERSAI-registered security interests take priority over unregistered GST charges, invalidating restraints on NOCs for secured assets.
Section 26E of the SARFAESI Act gives first priority to a secured creditor's dues where the security interest is registered with CERSAI. A bank's registered security interest therefore prevails over revenue dues supported only by an unregistered CGST charge. A provisional attachment under the CGST Act does not displace that statutory priority. Consequently, a restraint on issuing no-objection certificates for secured flats cannot stand where it impedes the registered secured creditor's rights.
Penalty for dealing in excise goods requires a finding that the goods were liable to confiscation.
Penalty under Rule 26 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 requires that the goods be liable to confiscation and that the person knew or had reason to believe this. Rule 25 requires consideration of the goods' confiscability. Where a show-cause notice neither proposes confiscation nor establishes that the goods were liable to confiscation, and no such finding is recorded, the statutory conditions for a Rule 26 penalty are not satisfied. The penalty is therefore unsustainable and must be set aside.
Specific excise exemptions for savoury foods prevail over residual packaged-food entries, despite sealed retail packaging or detailed tariff classification.
Specific nil-rate excise exemptions for Bhujia, namkeen and similar ready-for-consumption preparations apply to Bhujia and Cheese Balls even when sold in sealed retail packages. Residual entries for packaged ready-to-eat foods, including entries limited to goods not cleared in sealed containers, apply only where the goods do not meet the specific exemption description. A sealed-container restriction stated in a separate residual entry cannot be read into the specific exemption. Tariff Item 2106 90 99 remains within parent Tariff Sub-heading 2106 90; classification at the eight-digit level therefore does not exclude qualifying goods from an exemption referring to that sub-heading.
Post-completion construction receipts fall outside declared-service tax, while notices issued beyond limitation cannot support Service Tax demands.
Construction intended for sale falls outside the declared-service category where the entire consideration is received after the competent authority issues a completion certificate. Accordingly, receipts obtained after the occupancy certificate are not liable to Service Tax. Proceedings based on a show-cause notice served after expiry of the applicable limitation period are unsustainable, so a Service Tax demand founded on post-completion receipts and a time-barred notice cannot be sustained.
Service tax suppression triggers extended limitation, recoverable tax, statutory interest, and penalties for non-deposit and non-disclosure.
Collection of service tax from recipients requires immediate deposit under the Finance Act, 1994. Non-deposit of collected tax, coupled with non-disclosure in balance sheets and failure to file statutory returns, constitutes suppression of facts and intentional evasion for invoking the extended limitation period under the proviso to section 73(1). A confirmed service-tax demand attracts statutory interest under section 75. Failure to pay collected tax may attract penalty under section 77, while suppression of facts justifies penalty under section 78. Liability for collected, undisclosed and unpaid service tax remains enforceable with consequential interest and penalties.
Amended service-tax exemptions require provider vigilance, supporting extended recovery periods and statutory penalties for non-payment.
Failure to track an amendment withdrawing or limiting an exemption notification does not excuse non-payment of service tax. A registered service provider claiming an exemption must monitor changes affecting eligibility. The extended period under the proviso to section 73(1) applies where taxable services remain unpaid after available exemption and abatement are allowed. For the post-amendment period, reasonable-cause protection under section 80 is unavailable, and section 78 requires an equal penalty. Surviving service-tax liability, interest and penalty remain enforceable.