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By: - DR.MARIAPPAN GOVINDARAJAN
The resolution professional supervises repayment-plan implementation and may seek directions from the Adjudicating Authority. Completion requires a notice and implementation report to persons bound by the plan and the Adjudicating Authority. If the plan ends prematurely, the resolution professional must report payments, reasons, and unsatisfied claims; a debtor or unsatisfied creditor may seek a bankruptcy order. PGIRP-5 records implementation, discharge, and premature-closure information, while quarterly PGIRP-6 records process status, stays, withdrawals, delays, and completed activities.
Excise-duty demands require corroborated clearance evidence; reliance on ER-6 discrepancies alone cannot sustain liability or extended limitation.
Excise-duty liability cannot rest solely on a discrepancy in an ER-6 return where the corresponding ER-1 return is available but not examined and no independent evidence establishes unaccounted or clandestine clearance. The extended limitation period is unavailable where the relevant ER-6 return and the assessee's explanation were already within departmental knowledge, because suppression is not established. A show-cause notice issued after the normal period is therefore time-barred, leaving the related duty demand and penalty without an adequate evidentiary or limitation basis.
Extended Limitation and Excess Freight Collections Defeat Excise, Refund-Recovery, and Earlier Service Tax Demands Entirely
Extended limitation for central excise and erroneous-refund recovery requires suppression of facts with intent to evade duty. Below-cost cement sales under an area-based exemption, without evidence of additional consideration flowing back, do not by themselves establish suppressed value or evasion, particularly where refund claims underwent departmental verification. For freight transactions before 1 July 2012, service tax liability under the applicable rule is confined to freight actually paid; the excess collected from customers is transportation profit rather than taxable freight. Consequently, the excise, service-tax and refund-recovery demands, with related interest and penalties, were unsustainable, while the independent fixed penalty under Section 77 remained operative.
CENVAT credit for mixed dutiable and exempt production survives where capital goods are not exclusively used for exempt goods.
CENVAT credit on capital goods is disallowed only where they are exclusively used to manufacture exempt final products. Where a manufacturer produces both dutiable and exempt biscuits and no exclusive exempt use is established, credit on capital goods, inputs and input services remains available; the reversal demand is unsustainable. Recording credit availment and utilisation in RG-23C registers and ER-1 returns negates suppression of facts or wilful misstatement. The extended limitation period therefore cannot apply, leaving the associated interest and penalty unsustainable.
Extended-period service-tax demands fail absent suppression or intent to evade where main contractor paid tax on contract value.
Extended-period service-tax recovery from a subcontractor requires established suppression, misstatement, fraud, collusion, or comparable conduct intended to evade tax. A bona fide belief that no separate liability arose after the main contractor paid service tax on the full contract consideration, combined with conflicting views on subcontractor taxability, does not establish those conditions. Limitation therefore prevents an extended-period demand where the required default and intent are not proved.
Statutory levy classification determines reverse-charge service tax liability where State payments constitute consideration for services rather than taxes.
Statutory payments to State Governments are outside service tax only when they are taxes; payments constituting consideration or fees for services attract service tax under the reverse charge mechanism. Rural infrastructure and road development levy and forest transit fee were characterised as fees for services rather than taxes and were therefore liable to reverse-charge service tax. As payment of the tax entitled the assessee to corresponding Cenvat credit, no mala fides arose and the demand was limited to the normal limitation period. Cenvat credit becoming available after payment may be refunded in cash under the CGST transitional provisions.
Reverse charge payment by the recipient removes further service-tax liability for the road transport provider.
Transportation of goods by road does not create further service-tax liability for the provider where the recipient has discharged the tax under the reverse charge mechanism. The absence of a consignment note, together with tax payment by the recipient, supports the conclusion that no additional tax is payable by the transport service provider. Consequently, a service-tax demand and associated penalty against the provider are unsustainable in these circumstances.
Service tax exemption for single residential construction covers entire recorded contract consideration where no distinct taxable works are proved
Original works relating to a single residential unit, other than as part of a residential complex, qualify for service-tax exemption. Where the recorded construction agreement and acknowledged contract value establish that the full receipt relates to construction of the residential house, the service recipient's inability to explain the payment mode does not by itself prove consideration for separate taxable works. The entire construction consideration is therefore exempt, with no service tax or penalty payable.
Transfer of right to use an excavator constitutes a deemed sale, not taxable tangible goods supply.
Leasing an excavator falls outside the taxable category of supply of tangible goods where the lease transfers the lessee's exclusive right to use the equipment. Section 66E(f) of the Finance Act, 1994 applies only where goods are hired or leased without such transfer. Exclusive control, operation, maintenance and related expenses borne by the lessee support treatment as a deemed sale. VAT paid on the consideration is consistent with the transaction being a transfer of the right to use, leaving no service tax payable on the lease charges.
Liquidated damages for damaged cement deliveries are not taxable declared-service consideration for tolerating breach, while compliance penalties remain.
Contractual recoveries from transporters for short or damaged cement deliveries are liquidated damages for failure to perform, not consideration for agreeing to tolerate a breach under Section 66E(e). Where service tax has already been paid on freight, such compensation cannot be taxed again as a declared service; the related service-tax demand and interest were annulled. As the underlying non-payment allegation did not survive, the Section 78 penalty was also set aside. Penalties under Sections 77(1)(a) and 77(2) for contravention of Section 70 remained operative as independent compliance penalties.
Reverse-charge liability for GTA services prevents duplicate service-tax recovery where freight-paying corporate recipients have paid tax.
Reverse-charge liability for goods transport agency services rests with specified freight-paying corporate recipients; where they have discharged tax, the service provider cannot face duplicate service-tax and interest recovery. Income-tax return turnover alone does not establish taxable-service liability without verification of the nature of services. Extended limitation requires suppression with intent to evade, which registration and information received from the Income Tax Department did not establish. Mandatory pre-show-cause-notice consultation applies unless an identified exclusion operates; failure to consult renders the demand unsustainable. With no surviving substantive demand or suppression, the equal penalty is unsustainable, while a separate penalty for statutory contravention remains applicable.
Service Tax demand verification requires transaction-level evidence, reverse-charge treatment, works-contract valuation and meaningful pre-notice consultation.
Service Tax demands founded on return and challan discrepancies require verification of underlying transactions, service-wise quantification, and consideration of revised returns and statutory treatment. Manpower supplied to body corporates may shift tax liability to recipients under reverse charge. Contracts involving materials may constitute works contract services, attracting applicable partial reverse charge and valuation treatment, subject to CENVAT credit adjustment. Services for authorised SEZ operations may receive exemption despite procedural-form lapses where substantive eligibility is established. Mandatory pre-show cause notice consultation is material where its omission prevents reconciliation and consideration of statutory benefits; failure may prejudice the validity of demand proceedings.
Likelihood of concealment limits attachment of seized or mortgaged assets, while equivalent-value property may secure dissipated proceeds.
Section 5(1) attachment requires recorded, reasoned grounds showing that property is likely to be concealed, transferred, or dealt with to frustrate confiscation. That requirement is not met for assets under lawful seizure, court custody, or bank mortgage because they remain beyond the affected person's effective control; attachment may be reconsidered if those restraints cease. Section 50 statements may support attachment where coercion is unsubstantiated and no prompt formal retraction exists. Where direct proceeds have been dissipated, equivalent-value assets may be attached. Persons claiming legitimate acquisition must corroborate funding through reliable banking and contemporaneous evidence; income-tax returns alone do not establish untainted funds.
Resolution-plan clean slate permits surviving debtor claims while limiting extinguished operational creditor claims to defensive set-off in arbitration.
Approval of a resolution plan under the IBC extinguishes pre-CIRP claims against the corporate debtor and successful resolution applicant, including claims omitted from the plan, while claims owed to the corporate debtor survive for pursuit by the successful resolution applicant. The arbitration agreement remains separable from the underlying contract and may continue despite termination and plan approval. Where reciprocal claims arise under the same contract, an extinguished operational creditor claim may exceptionally operate only as a defensive set-off against sums payable, not as an affirmative monetary counterclaim. Excluding the CIRP moratorium period, arbitration invocation and arbitrator-appointment proceedings remain timely if filed within the adjusted limitation period.
Inspection rights in regulatory proceedings exclude electronic material outside the record and not relied upon
Inspection and disclosure in regulatory proceedings are limited to material in the regulator's possession, forming part of its record, and relied upon in the proceedings. Access to a bank's Secretarial Portal and electronic data stored on its servers or devices is not required where that material is outside the regulator's record and the hearing notice confirms it will not be relied upon. Requests must identify documents clearly and precisely; blanket access may expose confidential third-party information. As the relied-on reports and documents were supplied, the access direction was unsustainable.
Director Liability for Regulatory Refunds Survives Resignation When Tenure Overlaps Investor Fund Mobilisation and Final Recovery Directions
Section 28A recovery may enforce a final regulatory refund direction against a director whose tenure overlapped with the relevant mobilisation of investor funds. Resignation after that period does not remove liability where the director remains named in the final refund order. Attachment and remittance of funds may implement the quantified outstanding liability following non-compliance, absent a jurisdictional error or illegality in recovery, computation, or remittance.
Representative stakeholder remedies cannot be pursued individually to reopen concluded oppression and mismanagement proceedings or challenge class-wide final relief.
Representative oppression and mismanagement proceedings require stakeholders to pursue relief through the representative mechanism made available for the affected class. An intervenor permitted to proceed collectively, but who does not use that avenue, lacks standing to bring an individual challenge against final directions governing share entitlement, dues, management and class-wide decision-making. Additional factual material sought after hearings have concluded and orders have been reserved should not be received where opposing parties lack an opportunity to rebut it, as this would breach natural justice. Material non-disclosure and repetitive individual proceedings may attract exemplary costs.
Fair valuation-based buy-out directions were stayed pending appeal amid disputed valuations and minority shareholder exclusion concerns.
Interim suspension of oppression-and-mismanagement directions was considered where a fair valuation-based buy-out was disputed as relying on earlier contested valuation reports. Uncertainty also arose from the coexistence of a fair valuation mechanism and a mutually agreed purchase price. The assessment further identified apparent exclusion of a minority shareholder from meaningful management participation following the founder's death. The directions were stayed on an interim basis pending further listing, while removal and nominee-director directions were addressed separately.
Project-import finalisation requirements: nil-duty concession cannot be denied without proving untimely documents and considering pending extension requests.
Regulation 7 of the Project Import Regulations, 1986 requires finalisation documents within three months of clearance of the last consignment, unless the proper officer grants an extension. Denial of the nil-duty project-import concession requires proof of the last-clearance date and non-submission within the applicable period. Where an extension request remains undisposed of, documents are furnished before show-cause notices, and record findings on the extension request or reconciliation statement are incorrect, non-compliance is not established. Applicable Board circulars allowing relaxation for public sector undertakings must also be considered before denying the concession.
Export due diligence failures support customs penalties for concealed substitution of prohibited red sander logs.
Attempted export of prohibited red sander logs concealed by substitution for granite slabs can justify a customs penalty where export documentation and handling circumstances fail to establish bona fides. A purchase order inconsistent with the declared quantity, description, and value, use of a low-value free shipping bill, loading outside the exporter's premises, and absence of the usual company seal on the container indicate inadequate due diligence. Prior genuine exports do not by themselves displace these adverse circumstances. The penalty's quantum was reduced.