Expert Panel Valuers may be empanelled for import-export valuation of diamonds, jewellery, gemstones, pearls and other valuable articles. Selection involves scrutiny of qualifications and experience, practical assessment and interview. Applicants must establish relevant valuation competence, submit supporting records and references, maintain a clean professional record, and act independently without conflicts of interest. Appointed valuers must provide standardised reports, preserve relevant records, cooperate with proceedings, and render services voluntarily without remuneration. Appointments are non-transferable and remain subject to performance review, suspension, cancellation or removal for false valuation, negligence or professional misconduct.

Manual Container Movement Permission is discontinued in Mangaluru Customs Commissionerate for duty-free container imports. Manual Continuity Bonds must be recorded in ICES through a National Bond Number, enabling electronic debits and credits from manifest messages. Until full automation, quarterly Annexure A and B reports on bond balances, container imports, re-exports, pending containers and extensions remain mandatory. Non-compliance may lead to bond enforcement, customs-duty recovery with interest, and penalties.

Risk-based selective physical boarding at Karwar Port is determined through advance profiling based on compliance history, voyage details, cargo, operational conduct and declarations relating to crew effects, ship stores and satellite devices. Vessels not selected for boarding receive Entry Inward on advance electronic data, placing heightened responsibility on the Master and Shipping Agent for accurate declarations and safeguarding onboard stores. The Master must prevent prohibited unlading or consumption of restricted, high-duty or non-manifested goods, while the Shipping Agent must promptly report logistical, itinerary and documentation changes.

System-based e-scheduling through the ICEGATE Examination Application permits importers, IEC holders and authorised Customs Brokers to schedule, view and reschedule physical examination of imported goods. Examination slots are allocated according to officer availability, with online status visibility, automated stakeholder notifications and audit trails. Rescheduling, placing examinations on hold, or removing them from the schedule requires recorded and justifiable reasons by the Assistant or Deputy Commissioner in charge. Importers must provide correct Bill of Entry and Custodian/CFS Code details, while custodians and Customs officers must coordinate placement, officer mapping and examination conduct through the application.

Section 16(2)(c) of the CGST Act makes input tax credit conditional on actual payment of tax to the Government, but cannot be applied mechanically against a genuine purchasing dealer solely because a supplier defaults or faces retrospective registration cancellation. Before ITC reversal, the proper officer must examine the transaction's genuineness, the recipient's evidence, the supplier's default, available recovery action against the supplier, and any direct link between the recipient and fraud. Supplier cancellation, return discrepancies, or alerts may trigger inquiry but cannot independently justify denial.

Where tax is short-paid and later paid, but tax and interest are not paid within 30 days after issue of a show-cause notice, interest remains payable from the statutory due date until actual payment and penalty under section 73(9) is treated as applicable. The compliance guidance is prompt review of portal notices, segregation of disputed and undisputed demand, and early payment of undisputed tax with applicable interest. Minor procedural violations should not deprive a taxpayer of substantial benefits.

Effective FTA utilisation requires businesses to identify eligible products and markets, assess tariff preferences and rules of origin, and meet applicable quality, certification, documentation and importing-country requirements. Preferential access under agreements with the UAE, Australia, EFTA countries and the United Kingdom remains subject to each agreement's provisions and implementation status. Tariff preferences may improve price competitiveness and facilitate participation in international supply chains where product- and partner-specific conditions are satisfied.

Mission Yuva Raksha advances preventive drug awareness and demand-reduction efforts among students through programmes at educational institutions in Madhya Pradesh. Sessions addressed the harmful effects of substance abuse on physical and mental health, education, family life and careers, supported by interactive learning activities. Participants were encouraged to avoid drugs, adopt healthy lifestyles, take pledges and support awareness initiatives in their schools, families and communities. Preventive education and youth engagement complement enforcement-oriented work through informed choices and community-based resistance to substance abuse.

Intelligence-led narcotics enforcement addressed suspected coastal storage and maritime transfer of methamphetamine to Sri Lanka. Searches recovered crystal methamphetamine concealed in foil packets within duffel bags, which was seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Searches also recovered suspected drug-sale proceeds and vehicles allegedly used in transportation. Persons allegedly involved in organising coastal export, transport, storage and logistics were arrested and remanded to judicial custody.

GST appellate pre-deposit is mandatory, but an appeal should not be rejected without communicating the alleged deficiency, examining relevant payment records, and allowing the appellant to explain or address any shortfall. Deposits made during investigation and appropriated against the same demand must be considered, although appropriation does not automatically establish full pre-deposit compliance. The authority must reconcile the relevant demand, payment allocation, disputed tax, and applicable adjustment procedure, clearly identifying any remaining deficiency.

Compulsory selection for complete scrutiny during FY 2026-27 covers returns involving surveys, searches or requisitions, reassessment proceedings, withdrawn registrations or approvals of exempt entities, qualifying recurring additions, and specific tax-evasion information. Selection may be undertaken through the Systems Directorate, Jurisdictional Assessing Officers, Central Charges, or the National Faceless Assessment Centre, depending on the parameter. Supporting documents must be uploaded for specified reassessment, exemption, recurring-addition, and tax-evasion cases. International Taxation and Central Charges retain their selected cases outside the faceless stream. The framework does not specify how the assessee will be informed of the scrutiny basis or scope.

GST cross-charging arises where separately registered establishments are treated as distinct persons, while units under a single registration do not become distinct solely because of physical location. Once a supply is identified, Rule 28 valuation applies independently. For covered internally generated head-office services, where the recipient is eligible for full input tax credit, invoice value is accepted as open market value; if no invoice is issued, the declared value may be treated as Nil. Absence of an invoice alone neither removes the supply nor assures Nil valuation.

GST interception of goods is shifted from routine roadside checks to intelligence-led enforcement. Flying Squads must remain at the Joint Commissioner (Intelligence) office and move only on specific, written and electronically time-stamped intelligence input with authorisation. Taxpayers must still carry proper e-way bills and tax invoices, as deficiencies may obstruct movement. The approach seeks to prevent harassment of bona fide taxpayers while maintaining documentary compliance and ensuring proportionate enforcement.

Sugar export controls may move between restricted and prohibited treatment, with the 2026 prohibition for raw, white and refined sugar preserving exceptions for European Union and United States quota exports, Advance Authorization Scheme exports, government-permitted food-security exports, and consignments already in the physical export pipeline. The transitional arrangement is excluded, and the policy reverts to restricted treatment if the prohibition is not extended. Quota exports remain subject to quantitative ceilings, certification, reporting, and implementing-agency procedures, while organic sugar exports require prescribed certification and are subject to an annual ceiling.

Gift of inam land dedicated to a religious institution is void where the governing law prohibits gifts and permits no sanction for them; registration cannot cure that invalidity. The land remains vested in the Temple. Statutory custodianship requires the State and trustees to administer religious endowment property prudently and for the institution's benefit, precluding gratuitous transfers. Government occupation of temple land for a public office may continue only under a lease from the Temple. Fair rent must reflect prevailing market rental value under the prescribed formula, with periodic refixation and future lease terms determined in the trust's best interests; arrears are payable to the Temple.

Limited liberty granted on withdrawal of a revision, confined to seeking relief before the Tribunal, does not permit a renewed High Court challenge to the same appellate order. Revisional jurisdiction under the Himachal Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005 extends only to expressly listed appellate orders. An order disposing of a rectification application falls outside those categories and cannot be challenged through statutory revision. Relief against such a rectification order must therefore be pursued through any other remedy available in law.

Rule 5 of the CENVAT Credit Rules permits refund of unutilized credit attributable to export clearances. Supplies made without payment of duty to a 100% Export Oriented Unit qualify as deemed exports where the unit's production is export-linked, because such supplies possess the essential attributes of exports. A contrary position based on a departmental circular concerning a distinct Export-Import Policy context does not govern these refund claims. Refund of unutilized CENVAT credit is therefore available for such clearances, and rejection or recovery of sanctioned refunds is unsustainable.

DTA clearances of instant tea manufactured by a 100% EOU wholly from indigenous raw materials fall under Serial No. 3 of Notification No. 23/2003-C.E. where policy conditions are met and like domestic goods are dutiable. Duty is therefore confined to the excise duty applicable to like goods produced by a domestic unit; an incorrect serial entry cannot defeat the substantive exemption. Extended limitation cannot rest on wilful suppression where the department already knew the manufacturing process, input segregation and DTA clearances through verification, audits, returns or prior notices. Penalty requires fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement or intentional suppression, and is unavailable where disclosed facts show only an incorrect exemption-entry selection. Any liability remains subject to normal limitation, adjustment of duty paid and applicable interest.

Central-excise allegations of clandestine manufacture, removal, under-invoicing, or undervaluation require admissible, cogent evidence independently linking the assessee to unaccounted production, clearance, or additional consideration. Third-party records require corroboration through material such as raw-material procurement, production, electricity use, transport movement, or receipt of unaccounted funds. Computer-generated printouts require statutory compliance, certification, and established custody; unidentified handwritten ledgers lack reliability without proven authorship and provenance. Witness statements require examination and an opportunity for cross-examination under the applicable procedure. Transaction value cannot be displaced solely by uncorroborated third-party rates, and penalties require a sustainable duty basis and proof of knowing involvement.

Road transportation without issuance of a consignment note does not qualify as Goods Transport Agency service because issuing that note is required for that classification. Such transportation falls within the negative-list exclusion for road transport provided otherwise than by a Goods Transport Agency or courier agency and is therefore not liable to service tax. Transportation of food-grains is also not liable to service tax as Goods Transport Agency service. Consequently, the related service-tax demand, interest, penalties and late fee are unsustainable, and tax already paid is refundable.