Request-driven road restoration performed by the PWD for a business's pipeline operations is treated as a distinct service, with work-linked charges constituting consideration rather than compensatory damages. Although routine road maintenance serves a governmental function, targeted restoration for a commercial entity is not treated as a governmental-function non-supply or public-utility exempt service. Taxable Government services supplied to registered business entities fall under reverse charge; revenue neutrality or alleged dual tax incidence does not displace that liability without proof of forward-charge payment. Electronic GST notices and orders issued through the authenticated portal remain valid without a physical DIN where the notice identifies the case and no prejudice or natural-justice breach arises.

Road restoration charges paid to a Public Works Department for repairing roads excavated for a commercial gas pipeline constitute consideration for a taxable service because the planned arrangement involved reciprocal obligations, not compensation for a wrongful act. Non-supply treatment and public-function exemptions do not apply where restoration is a targeted, fee-based service supplied to facilitate a business activity. The registered recipient remains liable under reverse charge for taxable Government services absent evidence of supplier tax payment; alleged revenue neutrality does not displace that liability. Electronic GST adjudication remains valid without a physical Document Identification Number where portal authentication establishes source and integrity and the notice adequately permits a response. The refund rejection was sustained and the appeal dismissed.

Section 311 CrPC permits a court to summon, examine, recall or re-examine witnesses and requires that power to be exercised where evidence is essential to a just decision. The provision serves truth-finding and a fair trial rather than either party's advantage, even where a party failed to produce necessary evidence earlier. Where a complainant witness and supporting documents were necessary to resolve facts in issue and their proof was indispensable, the cost condition attached to allowing their production was set aside as unnecessary.

Reassessment beyond three years requires books of account, documents or other evidence revealing income escapement; an audit objection alone is an opinion and cannot satisfy this condition or justify review of concluded scrutiny assessments. Re-examination of already disclosed material, including limited-scrutiny records, constitutes a change of opinion, rendering reassessment proceedings time-barred and without jurisdiction. Writ jurisdiction may be invoked on admitted material to challenge a reassessment notice lacking jurisdiction despite an alternative statutory remedy or completion of reassessment. Excise-duty refunds under an industrial incentive scheme for establishing a new undertaking are capital receipts, while goodwill arising on amalgamation qualifies as a depreciable business or commercial right.

Conditional release of a lien over provisionally attached fixed deposits can be granted where the outstanding revenue demand is adequately secured. A 20% deposit ordinarily supports a stay during appeal under the applicable CBDT circular; a 25% deposit, through a post-dated cheque, together with an undertaking not to transfer assets or create third-party rights, secured release of the lien. The Assessing Officer was required to lift the lien or recall the attachment and notify the bank once those conditions were met.

DFIA exemption reducing Basic Customs Duty to nil means that no tariff-rate BCD is added to the value of imported polyester viscose fabrics for IGST computation. IGST valuation includes only customs duty chargeable on the imported goods, rather than a notional tariff duty that disregards an available exemption. Zero duty debit in the Bills of Entry, together with DFIA requirements to disclose import value and quantity rather than duty debit, supports treatment of BCD as nil. A precedent concerning interest on delayed IGST payment does not govern this valuation issue.

Consequential penalties imposed on Chartered Engineers for alleged undervaluation of imported second-hand printing machinery cannot continue where the underlying demand, interest and penalties against the principal parties have been set aside as legally unsustainable. Because the Engineers' penalties rested on the same allegation of undervaluation, setting aside the foundation proceedings removed the basis for those penalties. The penalties were set aside, with consequential relief available in accordance with law.

Section 138B safeguards govern the use of statements recorded under customs law in adjudication. Third-party statements cannot be relied upon against a noticee where their makers were not examined in chief, as the statutory conditions for their admission have not been met. Penalty for dealing with goods liable to confiscation also requires independent evidence that the person consciously dealt with the goods and knew, or had reason to believe, that they were liable to confiscation. Mere allegations that a person was an intended recipient of seized gold do not establish the required knowledge; penalties imposed without such proof are unsustainable.

Interest paid on import duty due to ICEGATE technical glitches was refundable despite Bills of Entry being filed after the cut-off under the Customs (Waiver of Interest) 3rd Order. The Tribunal applied a High Court ruling that an advisory acknowledged glitches continuing beyond the stipulated cut-off. Because the refund denials relied solely on late filing, the rejection orders were set aside and consequential relief was granted according to law.

Provisional release of used digital multifunction print and copying machines was considered where a model-wise import cap was allegedly breached. Without an all-India centralised mechanism to monitor the cap, withholding any part of consignments lacked a valid basis where security for the full consignments had been furnished through a provisional duty bond and bank guarantee. The applicable precedent on identical imports supported release against the stipulated security, and the orders permitting provisional release were sustained.

The proviso to Section 223(1) of the BNSS requires an accused to be heard before cognizance is taken of an offence on a complaint. Enforcement Directorate complaints under the PMLA filed after the BNSS commenced are subject to the complaint procedure in Chapter XVI of the BNSS. Applying the repealed procedural code on authorities based on different facts was not appropriate. Cognizance taken without prior hearing was treated as illegal, so the cognizance and consequent rejection of discharge were set aside and the complaint restored for lawful proceedings.

Rule 26(2) personal penalty for invoices issued without delivery of goods requires proof that the individual issued, or abetted the issue of, such invoices. Penalty against a director was unsustainable where the company received no show-cause notice, the director was not an authorised signatory, and no finding established issuance, connivance, or abetment. Purchasers' reversal of credit did not independently establish liability. Truck-owner statements could not be relied upon without compliance with the mandatory procedure for admitting statements under section 9D. The penalty was set aside with consequential relief.

Pre-scheme voluntary tax payments attributable to undisclosed income declared under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 may be credited against Scheme liability. Although section 187 requires full payment by the notified date, it does not prohibit adjustment of earlier self-assessment tax where the payment is linked to the declared income, recorded in the declaration, and supported by proof of payment. Relatable prepaid tax retains its character as tax and must be adjusted against tax, surcharge and penalty payable under the Scheme. Declarations were therefore to be treated as fully paid, with Form No. 4 to issue.

Section 250(6) requires an appellate authority to determine the points in appeal on merits and record reasons for its decision. Non-compliance with hearing notices does not permit a cryptic ex parte affirmation of reassessment additions without addressing the issues, undertaking necessary enquiries, or obtaining assessment records. Although the assessee must comply with notices, any ex parte disposal must remain a reasoned decision on merits. The non-speaking appellate order was set aside and remanded for fresh adjudication after opportunity to both parties; continued non-compliance permits ex parte adjudication on merits.

Public charitable trusts are irrevocable by operation of law unless the trust deed expressly reserves a power of revocation. Absence of an express irrevocability clause or a dissolution clause governing application of net assets therefore does not alone justify refusing renewal registration under section 12AB where voluntary charitable activities are undertaken. Denial of approval under section 80G solely because registration was refused cannot survive when the registration refusal is set aside. The registration and approval refusals were quashed, and registration was directed in accordance with law.

Unutilised capital gains claiming section 54 exemption must be deposited in the Capital Gains Account Scheme by the section 139(1) return-filing date where they have not been used for eligible residential investment. Exemption remains available only for gains utilised by that date; later payments do not qualify. This limitation applies even where two adjacent residential units are treated as one residential unit. The exemption was restricted to timely utilised gains, and interest under sections 234B and 234D was sustained as consequential and mandatory.

Section 263 revision of a limited-scrutiny assessment requires conversion to complete scrutiny under applicable instructions before wider issues may be revised. Revision also requires the Principal Commissioner independently to call for and examine the assessment record and form the statutory opinion; an Assessing Officer's proposal responding to an audit objection does not itself meet that jurisdictional condition. Interest awarded on enhanced compensation under section 28 of the Land Acquisition Act is an accretion to land value and forms part of enhanced compensation, unlike interest for delayed payment under section 34. Later provisions taxing interest on receipt do not alter that character, and a debatable issue cannot render an assessment erroneous and prejudicial.

For non-notified betel nuts, the burden under Section 123 remains on Revenue to prove their smuggled character and cannot be discharged by assumptions, presumptions or uncorroborated statements. Transport documents identifying consignors in Mizoram and consignees in West Bengal do not establish cross-border movement. An expert opinion that samples merely appear to originate from the North-East, including the Myanmar region, is inconclusive of Myanmar origin. Without reliable proof of foreign origin and illicit importation, absolute confiscation of the goods and consequential penalties cannot be sustained.

Proceedings against a Customs Broker under the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations were invalid because the mandatory ninety-day period for issuing notice was breached. Where no date of receipt of the offence report was disclosed, the Department's knowledge of the alleged contraventions through its own customs notice, and at the latest their adjudication, constituted the relevant starting point. The regulatory notice was issued beyond the prescribed period even from the later event. The breach vitiated the proceedings, requiring the penalty order to be set aside; the merits of the alleged contraventions remained unexamined.

Composite car radio-DVD receivers combining radio reception and video reproduction are composite machines governed by the principal-function test under Note 3 to Section XVI. Revenue must establish a proposed tariff reclassification through cogent technical or trade evidence; promotional descriptions alone cannot prove that video reproduction is the principal function. Where no principal function can be determined, General Interpretative Rule 3(c) places the goods under the heading occurring last in numerical order among those equally meriting consideration. As video reproduction was not established as the principal function, classification under CTI 8527 29 00 prevailed and the linked customs-notification benefit followed.