Form No. 3CL certification by the prescribed authority determines eligible research and development expenditure for weighted deduction under Section 35(2AB). Once the authority has inspected the facilities and approved expenditure, the Assessing Officer cannot reassess the technical character of the research, employee qualifications, or qualifying capital expenditure. Later survey findings do not displace certification issued for the relevant assessment years. The weighted deduction remains allowable to the extent of expenditure certified in Form No. 3CL.

LFC reimbursements involving foreign travel did not qualify for exemption under section 10(5) read with rule 2B. However, an interim judicial direction treated LTC reimbursements as not constituting income for tax-deduction purposes and placed the eventual tax liability on employees. Compliance with that direction did not create an employer default under section 201(1), even if the substantive exemption was later found unavailable. Consequently, no interest under section 201(1A) or related demand arose for the earlier reimbursement periods covered by the interim direction.

Settlement applications before the Interim Board concern the availability of relaxation under section 119(2)(b) where an assessment case remained pending on the application date. A coordinate Bench decision governs the issue in connected settlement matters. The pending assessment requirement on the application date and the scope of statutory relaxation form the central legal points.

Reassessment cannot be initiated merely because the assessing authority later takes a different view of a capital-gain claim already examined in an original scrutiny assessment. Specific enquiries and disclosures concerning the sale of shares, capital-gain computation, and deduction claim established that the material relied on for reopening had been considered earlier. Sections 147 and 148 permit reassessment on legally sustainable grounds but do not confer a power to review a concluded assessment on the same material. Reopening founded solely on a change of opinion is therefore impermissible, rendering the order under section 148A(d) and the reassessment notice liable to be quashed.

Income tax or tax deduction at source cannot reduce compensation payable for compulsory land acquisition where no material justifies withholding. Earlier land-acquisition rulings establish that enhanced compensation remains payable without such deductions. Amounts withheld from enhanced compensation on this basis must be released, with release directed within three months. The principle prevents tax withholding from diminishing the compensation due to persons whose land has been compulsorily acquired.

Anticipatory bail in serious economic-offence investigations is exceptional and depends on the gravity of allegations, each accused's individual role, public interest, and the need for effective custodial interrogation. The alleged primary decision-maker, attributed overall control of the companies, acceptance of clandestine clearances, and responsibility for GST liability, was considered unsuitable for pre-arrest protection while the investigation continued. An ancillary field-level participant acting under that person's directions was treated differently because of the limited role and qualified for protection. Pre-arrest protection therefore turns on individual culpability and investigative necessity rather than identical treatment of all accused.

Tariff-rate-quota sugar exports from India to the European Union are allocated up to 5,841 MT for October 2026-September 2027, while the allocation also identifies an earlier quota period. Exports remain free subject to applicable restrictions. Where required for preferential treatment, Certificates of Origin depend on recommendations concerning the eligible entity and quantity. APEDA operates the quota, while other European Union-specific certification and prescribed reporting requirements continue to apply.

Paragraph 4.49 of the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 permits eligible foreign entities to import rough diamonds into a Special Notified Zone and undertake auction, sale and re-export on a consignment or outright basis. Eligible entities include foreign diamond-mining companies, their sightholders, and specified brokers, aggregators, tender entities and auction entities connected with rough-diamond sales, subject to applicable conditions. Activities remain under Customs supervision, while procedures for import, auction, sale and re-export of unsold rough diamonds are governed by specifications issued from time to time.

Data Fiduciaries must protect personal data through encryption or comparable controls, access restrictions, logs, monitoring, backups, processor-contract obligations, and technical and organisational safeguards. They must retain relevant personal data and logs for at least one year, subject to applicable law. On becoming aware of a personal data breach, they must promptly give affected Data Principals clear information on the breach, likely consequences, mitigation, protective steps, and contact details, and notify the Board without delay, followed by detailed information within seventy-two hours unless the Board allows more time.

The AITIGA Joint Committee directed its sub-committees to accelerate pending review chapters through firm, time-bound deliverables and close coordination. Work covers legal and institutional issues, national treatment and market access, and rules of origin. ASEAN and India reaffirmed their commitment to resolve outstanding policy issues, deepen economic integration, and modernise the Agreement into a balanced and mutually beneficial framework strengthening bilateral trade.

International trade and investment law are increasingly shaped by sustainability-linked trade measures and digital trade and require rigorous legal analysis. CTIL supports trade capacity through legal analysis for free trade agreement negotiations, WTO processes, dispute settlement and institutional knowledge-building. International investment law increasingly recognises States' regulatory authority alongside investment protection, with institutionalisation, legitimacy and the balance between investment and public power identified as central concerns. Research and capacity-building also address climate, sustainability, supply chains, artificial intelligence and other emerging trade-policy areas.

Draft guidelines establish a uniform framework for compiling expenditure-side Gross State Domestic Product estimates using base year 2022-23. They cover data sources, estimation procedures and methodologies for private and government consumption, gross fixed capital formation, inventory changes, valuables and net exports. State-specific data and allocation indicators are preferred, while recommended allocation methods support consistent estimates where direct subnational data are unavailable. The approach is intended to harmonise estimation practices and strengthen subnational national accounts capacity.

Executed and authenticated mediation agreement resolving land-acquisition compensation claims was treated as a voluntary, comprehensive settlement under the Code of Civil Procedure framework for mediated compromise. Its terms on compensation, statutory benefits, interest, payment schedule, default, closure of pending claims and final discharge govern in substitution of earlier awards, judgments and decrees, with a decree drawn accordingly. Compensation for compulsory acquisition payable under the settlement is to be disbursed without tax deduction at source.

Protected-system status applies to the Indian Overseas Bank's Core Banking Solution, Real Time Gross Settlement system, Unified Payments Interface Switch, and associated computer-resource dependencies. Access is authorised for designated employees with written authorisation, authorised managed-service-provider or third-party-vendor personnel requiring need-based access, and consultants, regulators, government officials, auditors, and stakeholders granted written case-by-case authorisation. The designation takes effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

State-service reservation, including promotion, may be confined to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes native to Bihar where a residence-based classification seeks adequate representation. The third proviso to Section 4(2), effective from 11 June 1996 in line with the prior executive policy, excludes non-Bihar residents and does not impair a vested promotion right for candidates ineligible under that policy. The measure regulates reservation entitlement in State public services rather than inter-State migration and falls within the State legislative field. Lack of consultation with the National Commission for Scheduled Castes does not invalidate it. Reversion of ineligible promotees is corrective, not punitive, so an Article 311(2) inquiry is unnecessary.

The special regime in Section 115BBE is consequential: it applies only after the amount is properly brought within a specified deeming provision, and a survey surrender, book entry or return description cannot itself create that character. Mixed stock forming part of ordinary business inventory and credibly explained through business records may be assessed as business income at normal rates. Similarly, excess cash may be treated as business income where a commercial source is satisfactorily established and no separate or non-business source is shown.

Cyber Forensic Laboratory of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) was designated as an Examiner of Electronic Evidence within India under section 79A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Its permitted activities comprised computer (media) forensics, excluding floppy disk drives, and mobile devices forensics. The examiner designation was rescinded on 27 November 2024.

Dabhol Port's specified customs purposes are substituted to permit unloading of machinery and equipment for the Ratnagiri Gas and Power project, liquefied natural gas, naphtha, and goods for shipbuilding and repair. The revised entry also covers loading for export of imported project machinery and equipment, import of ships, barges, similar vessels and rigs for repair, and their export by the specified shipyard. These changes expand and define the authorised customs activities at Dabhol Port for power-project cargo, energy imports, and shipyard-related operations.

Cyber Forensic Laboratory, CERT-In, is designated as an Examiner of Electronic Evidence under section 79A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Its remit covers computer-media forensics, including drone storage media but excluding floppy disk drives; mobile-device forensics; and CCTV media recovery, excluding video authentication and enhancement. Cloud forensics may be performed from its premises using access-authentication tokens and credentials recovered from seized exhibits.

The Digital Personal Data Protection (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2026 corrects the child and disability consent provision to require verifiable consent before processing personal data of a child or of a person with disability who has a lawful guardian. It also replaces "audit" with "data audit" in the periodic-audit obligation applicable to Significant Data Fiduciaries, aligning that obligation with the requirement to appoint an independent data auditor. These textual corrections apply from 6 October 2026, the date of Gazette publication.