Settlement of specified proceedings may be sought at any stage through the prescribed application, undertaking and waiver, settlement amount computation basis, and applicable non-refundable fee. Facts established or admitted in proceedings in India or abroad concerning the same cause of action are deemed admitted for settlement purposes. A single application must cover all specified proceedings arising from that cause of action. Incomplete or non-compliant applications may be returned and must be revised within fifteen days, failing which they are deemed withdrawn.

For settlement of administrative and civil proceedings, alleged default means an act or omission contravening securities laws that attracts a specified proceeding. A specified proceeding includes proceedings capable of initiation by the Board, pending proceedings before it, and pending appeals for violations of securities laws. Securities laws include the principal securities enactments, other laws administered by the Board, and related subordinate instruments. Settlement amount, settlement terms, stage of proceeding, committees, reports and the Tribunal are defined for settlement purposes.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Settlement of Administrative and Civil Proceedings) Regulations, 2026 govern the procedure and terms for settlement of administrative and civil proceedings, including connected and incidental matters. Made under settlement-related and rule-making powers in the securities, securities contracts and depositories laws, they take effect on the day following expiry of 30 days from notification in the Official Gazette.

Section 6A of the Central Sales Tax Act places the burden on a dealer to establish that inter-State movement occurred otherwise than by sale. Before mandatory Form F declarations took effect on 11 May 2002, that burden could be discharged through Form F or other available evidence. Verification under Section 6A(2) is limited to declaration particulars; unsupported presumptions, common parties, or an alleged common modus cannot establish disguised inter-State sales. Inspection material confined to an earlier period cannot support disallowance for subsequent transfers where no further records were sought and depot receipts were treated as stock transfers and taxed locally.

Three Grievance Appellate Committees are constituted under rule 3A of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Each committee consists of an ex officio Chairperson and two whole-time members. Whole-time members serve for three years from assumption of office or until further orders, whichever occurs earlier. Substitutions recorded on 6 February 2026 revise membership particulars, including certain whole-time members and the composition of the third committee.

Sea Entry Inwards determines the amendment route for Cargo Summary Notifications and Sea Arrival Manifests. Before SEI, a CSN may be amended directly before SAM filing, except for VCN or rotation number changes. Where SAM has already been filed, the CSN submitter files an SCA and the shipping line follows with an SAA. Direct SAM amendments before SEI require no officer approval. After SEI, CSN changes require SCA followed by SAA, and direct SAM amendments also require officer approval before taking effect.

Article 226 writ jurisdiction could not be invoked to set aside an auction merely on a bidder's claimed confusion over its terms. Separate bids for the land and tower, even when aggregated, remained lower than the successful consolidated bid, undermining the claim of confusion or disturbance. The secured creditor and borrowing company did not challenge the auction process. These circumstances provided no basis to set aside the auction.

Filing a declaration under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, formed the basis for withdrawing a central excise appeal. The applicant requested dismissal of the appeal as withdrawn after making the declaration. The withdrawal application was allowed, and the appeal was dismissed as withdrawn, bringing the appellate proceedings to an end without determination of the underlying central excise dispute.

Accepted CSNs cannot be directly edited and permissible changes must use SCA; VCN and Rotation Number cannot be altered through SCA. If a SAM is filed, changes affecting SAM particulars require corresponding SAA action. After Sea Entry Inwards, CSN and related SAM amendments require jurisdictional Customs officer approval before system reflection. Structural changes involving Straight or Consolidated Bills of Lading, Consolidator PAN, or reference identifiers require deletion of the existing Bill of Lading line and re-addition through SAA.

Outdoor medical expense reimbursement is capped at actual expenditure or one month's basic pay plus dearness allowance, calculated as at 1 January, whichever is lower; increments and promotions later in the year do not revise that cap. The ceiling is inapplicable to listed conditions requiring special medical treatment. Claims require a doctor's prescription and original treatment or medicine bills; employees joining during the year receive pro-rata entitlement. Outdoor treatment must be obtained through government hospitals, authorised medical attendants, or hospitals empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme or Central Government medical-attendance arrangements.

HDFC Bank computer resources relating to Core Banking Solution, Real Time Gross Settlement and National Electronic Fund Transfer, comprising the Structured Financial Messaging Server, are declared protected systems and treated as Critical Information Infrastructure. The designation extends to associated dependency computer resources. Access is authorised for designated employees, authorised contractual managed service provider or third-party vendor team members requiring need-based access, and specified consultants, regulators, government officials, auditors and stakeholders on a case-by-case basis.

Section 67(7) establishes a six-month return rule where no notice in respect of seized goods is issued. Any further period requires sufficient cause, action by the proper officer, and a maximum further period of six months; ongoing investigation cannot replace an actual extension order. Although Section 67(7) uses "goods" while Section 67(2) also covers documents, books and things, its application to seized mobile phones and bank debit cards indicates that classification cannot be used to avoid the temporal restriction where articles are held under statutory seizure.

Section 70 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 declares the computer resources of CCTNS, NAFIS and I-MoT, including associated dependencies, to be protected systems forming part of Critical Information Infrastructure. Access is limited to authorised employees, need-based authorised managed service provider personnel and vendors, and consultants, regulators, Government officials, auditors and stakeholders authorised in writing on a case-to-case basis.

Section 151A and the e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022 require randomised automated allocation for reassessment functions, including the section 148A process and issuance of section 148 notices. General concurrent-jurisdiction directions cannot permit a jurisdictional Assessing Officer to bypass the prescribed faceless allocation, because allocation determines the officer's statutory competence. Risk-based selection of a matter is distinct from algorithmic allocation of the officer. Section 147A's retrospective deeming rule was held unconstitutional because it did not amend the continuing statutory and scheme-based requirements for automated allocation, and therefore did not remove the legal foundation of prior jurisdictional rulings. Administrative instructions cannot override the Act or a valid notified scheme.

Doctrine of merger under Article 136 depends on whether the Supreme Court granted leave and exercised appellate jurisdiction, not merely on disposal of a special leave petition. A non-speaking refusal of leave neither merges the challenged order nor confirms its reasoning, creates automatic res judicata, or independently bars review or writ proceedings. A speaking refusal likewise does not cause merger, although legal propositions expressly declared may bind under Article 141. Merger follows when leave is granted and the appeal is decided. In remanded GST proceedings, an earlier dismissal of special leave therefore does not prevent consideration of residual grounds or reliance on a later binding ruling, subject to applicable review, limitation, and procedural requirements.

Section 37 of the NDPS Act imposes cumulative conditions for bail in commercial-quantity offences: after the Public Prosecutor has an opportunity to oppose, the court must record reasonable grounds that the accused is not guilty and is unlikely to commit an offence while on bail. General bail considerations and Article 21 concerns, including prolonged custody and trial delay, remain relevant but do not replace this statutory inquiry. Non-recovery, procedural objections, or exclusion of inadmissible statements cannot alone satisfy either condition; the available record requires broad assessment. For foreign nationals in commercial-quantity matters, verified sureties, passport deposit and other enforceable safeguards may be required, while technological tracking must remain proportionate.

Customs-duty liability for pilfered imported goods arises under Section 45(3) only where the goods were unloaded in a customs area and pilfered while in the custody of a person approved under Section 45(1). Approval is a necessary precondition, so liability does not extend to pilferage before the approval became operative. A statutory port authority may be an approved custodian, and its civil responsibilities as bailee do not displace its separate revenue liability. The importer's duty exemption for pilferage operates alongside the custodian's statutory obligation. Pilferage, rather than an unexplained cargo discrepancy or non-pilferage loss, must be established through contemporaneous custody and security records.

STA micro-cuvettes containing an enclosed steel ball are assessed as complete functional components of a blood-coagulation analyser, rather than merely as plastic laboratory articles. Classification turns on their objective design, analytical role, exclusive or principal suitability and absence of practical general use. Chapter 90 Note 2 requires consideration of an independent specific heading first and then classification of other dedicated parts or accessories with the relevant instrument. Disposable or single-use status and plastic composition do not by themselves establish classification as residual plastic articles.

The substituted wording removes the earlier limitation to contraventions relating to Chapter IX of the Information Technology Act, 2000. It extends the scope to contravention of any provision of the Act and of any rule, regulation, direction or order made under it. Adjudicating officers may therefore conduct enquiries concerning contraventions across the Act and its subordinate regulatory instruments.

Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 may apply to special-law appeals through Section 29(2) unless the governing enactment excludes it expressly or by necessary implication. A special limitation period alone is insufficient; exclusion may arise from phrases such as "but not thereafter" or "not exceeding", a defined condonable ceiling, or a self-contained scheme that selectively confers condonation. For appeals under Section 9 of the Chhattisgarh Rajya Suraksha Adhiniyam, the 30-day period and certified-copy exclusion do not bar Section 5 because no outer limit or equivalent restrictive language exists. Delay remains condonable only upon sufficient cause, while applicability before non-court statutory forums depends on the forum and enactment.