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.

Form 26AS and income-tax-return data, maintained on a receipt basis for tax-deduction purposes, cannot alone establish the taxable value or actual rendition of taxable services. Service-tax liability requires independent verification of the nature of receipts and corroborative evidence, particularly where billing-based tax liability differs from figures reported in Form 26AS. An extended-period service-tax demand based solely on CBDT data was therefore set aside. Service-tax liability, if any, for the normal period, together with interest, remained payable.

Overseas local area representatives that only arrange third-party filming locations, equipment, personnel and production support qualify as intermediaries where the producer retains creative, budgetary and business control and the representatives' fixed fee is separately identifiable from third-party costs. The specific place-of-provision rule for intermediary services, or alternatively the later equally applicable rule, locates the service at the representatives' overseas location. Because that location is outside the taxable territory, reverse-charge service tax does not apply. Governmental production incentives routed through representatives do not establish independent provision of film-production services; the related tax demand and penalties are unsustainable.

Service-tax liability requires evidence establishing both the rendition and value of taxable services; Form 26AS and income-tax-return data alone do not establish taxable turnover. Where a registered taxpayer regularly filed service-tax returns, an extended-period demand based only on an income-tax mismatch, without independent verification or corroboration, was set aside, while properly quantified normal-period tax and interest could remain payable. A demand for part of 2017-18 calculated by proportionately allocating annual income was also set aside because supporting period-specific data was absent and that method was not proposed in the show-cause notice.

Reverse-charge service-tax liability arises independently of a recipient's entitlement to Cenvat credit. Under the Cenvat Credit Rules, credit becomes available only after actual tax payment, which is a condition precedent for credit; prospective credit eligibility therefore cannot avoid payment. Where tax paid under reverse charge would be available as Cenvat credit to the same recipient, the transaction is revenue neutral. Extended-period recovery is consequently unavailable, and the Section 78 penalty cannot be sustained, although recovery for the normal period, if any, and Section 77 penalty may remain.

Hiring transit mixture machines to transport ready-mix concrete falls within supply of tangible goods service where possession and effective control remain with the supplier. Retention of the driver, maintenance and diesel by the supplier indicates that the customer did not obtain such control. In the absence of consignment notes or evidence of goods transport agency services, the hiring receipts are taxable as supply of tangible goods service rather than goods transport agency service.

Money-laundering proceedings under the PMLA may continue independently, but pronouncement of judgment should await judgment in the scheduled-offence prosecution. Proceeds of crime arise from criminal activity connected with a scheduled offence; consequently, the predicate trial's result directly bears on the existence of proceeds of crime and money-laundering culpability. Deferring the money-laundering judgment avoids inconsistent or paradoxical outcomes while the predicate offence remains undecided. A person not party to earlier proceedings fixing a trial timeline may raise this objection where no earlier opportunity existed.

Redevelopment of a co-operative housing society may proceed despite a confirmed money-laundering attachment over a flat, provided the enforcement interest remains fully protected. Safeguards include identifying a replacement flat, continuing the attachment and possession in favour of the Enforcement Directorate, disclosing the attachment in redevelopment documents, and prohibiting transfer or encumbrance. All redevelopment-related accruals must be deposited directly into an account designated by the Enforcement Directorate. A bank guarantee is unnecessary where it would financially burden the society before the developer and redevelopment terms are finalised. Relevant development documents require enforcement vetting, and the Special Court must be informed of the arrangement.

Anticipatory bail in money-laundering matters is governed by the twin conditions in Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Money laundering is a standalone offence involving processes connected with proceeds of crime. Investigators may rely on material indicating a person's involvement with proceeds of crime even where that person is not named or charge-sheeted in the scheduled offence, and are not confined to amounts quantified in predicate-offence chargesheets. Financial transactions, digital records, witness statements, non-compliance with summons, and the need for custodial interrogation are relevant to assessing bail eligibility.

Section 45 PMLA bail analysis requires material showing that property was directly or indirectly derived from criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence before it can be treated as proceeds of crime. Refinancing or subsequent dealings with assets acquired before the alleged scheduled offences do not, without a temporal and causal nexus, establish that character. The statutory presumption operates only after foundational facts establish the nexus. Where evidence is secured, interference risks can be addressed through conditions, and trial is unlikely to conclude early, prolonged pre-trial custody may impair Article 21 rights; conditional bail may protect the investigation and trial process.

Commencement of CIRP vests management of the corporate debtor in the interim resolution professional, rendering an appeal filed in the debtor's name by a suspended director incompetent from inception. Substitution of that director individually after the statutory appellate period cannot relate back to cure the lack of authority. For operational-creditor insolvency proceedings, a Section 9 enquiry requires a real and plausible pre-existing dispute rather than unsupported objections. Rectified measurement issues, available material certificates, absence of objections from the principal employer, and unauthorised later laboratory reports limited to sampled goods did not establish a genuine quality or contractual dispute; operational debt and default remained established.

Customs penalties for acts rendering goods liable to confiscation require evidence that the person committed, participated in, or abetted the relevant act. Penalties for false documents similarly require proof of knowing or intentional involvement in making, signing, using, or causing their use. Mere introduction of persons or forwarding of documents to a licensed Customs Broker, without knowledge of concealment or misdeclaration, beneficiary status, or participation in the prohibited conduct, does not satisfy these statutory prerequisites. On those facts, penalties under both provisions were unsustainable.

Customs reassessment departing from an importer's declared classification or transaction value requires written acceptance or a timely speaking order under the Customs Act. Payment of differential duty under protest, or to secure clearance and avoid demurrage, does not constitute written acceptance. Classification of identical imported machinery should be applied consistently; absent cogent reasons, classification uncertainty favours the assessee. Rejection or enhancement of declared transaction value requires stated reasons and evidentiary support, including comparable-import material where relied on. Without a speaking order and lawful factual basis, revised classification and enhanced valuation cannot govern assessment.