Section 54F may apply to two adjacent flats acquired under separate conveyances where they are physically interconnected and function as one composite residential house. Separate flat numbers, conveyances, parking spaces, and lack of municipal or RERA amalgamation are evidentiary factors, not conclusive statutory conditions; physical verification may determine eligibility for the balance exemption. Ownership of one pre-existing residential house does not trigger the first proviso, which applies only where more than one other residential house is owned on the transfer date. Joint registration with a spouse does not defeat exemption absent evidence of the spouse's contribution to the purchase consideration. The Revenue's appeal was dismissed, with a limited remand for verification.

Section 43CB applies to construction or service contracts, not to self-developed real estate projects undertaken and sold at the developer's own commercial risk. A consistently followed Project Completion Method may continue where the project predates the ICDS-III transitional cut-off and has been accepted in other assessments; the addition under section 43CB was therefore unsustainable. Under the Percentage Completion Method, recognised revenue must match related costs and reflect work performed during the year; using cumulative costs and advances against only current-year expenditure distorted income. Enhancement by treating capitalised work-in-progress as income also requires prior reasonable opportunity to show cause, and capitalised finance, administrative and sales costs do not alone establish accrued revenue.

Section 115JB(5) permits application of other Income-tax Act provisions in minimum alternate tax computation unless expressly barred. Capital gains eligible for section 54G relief under normal provisions may consequently receive corresponding exclusion while computing book profit, without fresh verification where eligibility and quantum are already accepted. An appellate authority may entertain an omitted consequential MAT claim when it arises from existing facts and the prescribed return form provides no specific adjustment field; the restriction on claims not made in the return applies to the Assessing Officer, not the appellate authority. Filing a return under section 139(4) within a CBDT-extended period does not by itself defeat substantive section 54G relief or require separate condonation.

Additional evidence supporting guest-house expenditure and the applicable head of income cannot be rejected solely for want of a separate Rule 46A application without independent merits adjudication; the dispute was remitted for fresh de novo consideration after hearing. The challenge to the appellate order issued after the assessee's death failed because the record did not show notices to a deceased person or that the appellate authority had been informed of the death. Objections to penalty initiation were premature absent a penalty order. Interest under sections 234A and 234B was treated as automatic, compensatory and consequential, for examination while giving effect to the order.

Transfer-pricing reference to the TPO for CCD interest requires actual non-disclosure of the relevant international transaction in Form 3CEB where selection occurred on non-transfer-pricing risk parameters. Form 3CEB identification and quantification of the CCD interest transaction satisfied that disclosure condition; differences between accounting and tax figures did not establish an unreported transaction. Notices, objections and approval could not cure failure of the substantive reference condition. The resulting transfer-pricing adjustment was deleted, while CCD characterisation, benchmarking and interest-deduction merits remained undecided and consequential tax and statutory interest required recomputation.

Under TNMM, the comparable set in a transfer-pricing study is not conclusive and may be revised during proceedings; functional comparability depends on functions performed, assets employed and risks assumed. A manufacturing entity was treated as incomparable to a medical-device trader undertaking related research and development activities, requiring recomputation of the arm's length margin. No notional-interest adjustment was warranted on an interest-free loan to an associated enterprise where the advance was commercially expedient in the context of goods sales, on the stated facts. A challenge to proposed penalty proceedings was premature, while an alleged double disallowance required document-based verification before relief.

Arm's length interest on Indian rupee-denominated NCDs issued to an associated enterprise requires benchmarking against the domestic lending environment and PLR. EBLR-based rates cannot be adopted merely because the PLR regime was replaced for specified bank lending; for fixed-rate NCDs, reliable comparability must be established across tenure, repayment terms, security, interest structure, credit profile, subordination and contractual terms. A credit-risk premium does not cure inadequate comparability analysis. Applying SBI BPLR/PLR to recompute arm's length interest was sustained, and the Revenue's appeals were dismissed for both assessment years.

Before deleting a TDS disallowance for alleged non-deduction on freight-forwarding payments, the appellate authority must conduct a thorough enquiry where the Assessing Officer failed to verify the statutory conditions for applying section 194Q. Co-terminus appellate powers require examination of transaction documents and, where necessary, verification from the Assessing Officer; presumptions based on sample transactions or entity names are insufficient. The appellate order was set aside and remanded to CIT(A) to verify the transactions and determine TDS liability afresh after hearing the assessee.

Demonetised cash qualifies as movable property for benami-law purposes. Where a person supplies cash to another person who deposits it in a proprietary bank account, lends their name, and retransfers the credited amount, the supplied cash may constitute consideration and the credited amount may constitute property held for the provider's benefit. Prompt retransfer does not negate the benami character. After tax remittance and deposit in an interest-free bond under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna, attachment may extend only to the unrecovered balance and bond amount; any unavailable balance may be traced through further investigation.

Imported educational software supplied on CDs to educational institutions was treated as packaged, rather than customized, software where identical unmodifiable products were marketed to varied users and related consultation, installation, training and support did not alter the software. MRP/RSP-based valuation applied because packages lacked the mandatory "not for retail sale" declaration required for the industrial or institutional consumer exclusion. Customer and sub-reseller invoices supported the retail sale price; installation, training and support costs were not deductible without a separate invoice break-up. Non-declaration of MRP supported extended limitation, confiscation and penalties, sustained alongside differential CVD.

Customs valuation requires disclosure of the grounds for doubting the truth or accuracy of the declared transaction value, followed by sequential application of the valuation rules. NIDB data or routinely adopted rates cannot support value enhancement unless the relevant Bills of Entry, declared values, and comparability of goods by country of origin, commercial level and quantity are established. Enhancement founded solely on undisclosed routine rates is unsustainable. For alleged misdeclaration, examination differences that may be commercially addressed under a supply agreement do not establish fraud, suppression or wilful misstatement without supporting evidence. In those circumstances, confiscation, redemption fine and penalties are not justified.

Transferable Duty-Free Import Authorisations may cover Inshell Walnuts under generic SION input descriptions even where the goods' commercial description is not expressly named. Where a SION permits generic or alternative inputs, the specific input and quantity declared in export documents must correspond with the authorisation. Eligibility for customs-duty exemption depends on endorsement of the relevant input, prescribed quantity and value, validity, and compliance with DFIA and exemption-notification conditions. Technical correlation is confined to identified sensitive inputs. Percentage-based CIF value caps and actual user conditions based only on a Public Notice cannot independently curtail substantive DFIA entitlement or deny exemption; such restrictions require imposition through the legally required notification.

Rectification or modification of an advance ruling cannot reopen its merits or waive an express condition of a customs exemption. Exemption for imported goods repaired or refurbished and re-exported remains subject to Notification No. 134/94-Cus, including performance of prescribed operations under Section 65 of the Customs Act, 1962. A DTA unit's operational difficulty in not operating under the MOOWR scheme does not constitute a mistake apparent from the record or a legal or factual error. Alternative safeguards, conditions under other notifications, and proposed traceability measures cannot replace the governing notification's express requirement. The request to dispense with that condition was rejected, leaving the ruling operative subject to all notification conditions.

Committee of Creditors-approved resolution plans bind the Committee and the successful resolution applicant even before approval by the Adjudicating Authority. The withdrawal mechanism does not permit withdrawal of the insolvency application or the approved plan after Committee approval and submission for approval. The Committee cannot withdraw approval, initiate a fresh resolution process, or take decisions affecting the pending plan. The Adjudicating Authority must decide pending approval applications against statutory requirements, considering the corporate debtor's current financial position and cash balance; improved profitability alone does not justify refusing approval where those requirements are met.

Settlement agreements and agreements to sell must be read together to determine whether an admitted operational debt has been discharged or merely secured. Where payment of outstanding dues remains an option that cancels the proposed sale, and no consideration or possession has passed, the debt retains its operational character. A property-related specific-performance dispute does not constitute a pre-existing dispute over supplied goods where liability is acknowledged and no quality or quantity objection is documented. Novation requires a mutually agreed replacement or extinction of the original obligation; contingent sale terms that preserve payment liability do not satisfy that requirement.

Money-laundering jurisdiction under the PMLA depends on a registered and subsisting scheduled offence, because proceeds of crime require the existence of that predicate offence. An ECIR founded solely on an FIR cannot continue once that FIR is quashed; it cannot be sustained on an assumed criminal activity or the possible involvement of other persons or entities. The ECIR was therefore quashed only insofar as it concerned the petitioners, reflecting the scope of the relief sought.

Bail in a money-laundering prosecution involving alleged diversion of allottees' funds was refused. An independent audit report was treated as establishing the alleged diversion, while repeated absence of the applicant's counsel, recorded in the status report, was treated as contributing to trial delay. Expeditious disposal was directed without unnecessary adjournments, subject to legal impediments.

Section 142(5) of the CGST Act governs post-GST refund claims for service tax paid under the existing law where the service was not provided. Such claims are to be disposed of under the existing law, with any refundable amount paid in cash subject to unjust enrichment. For a claim arising from cancellation of a flat booking, the relevant-date limitation was treated as inapplicable, so the date of cancellation versus the date of tax payment did not determine entitlement. The time-bar rejection was set aside, and refund with applicable interest was directed within two months.

Equitable settlement of assigned debt resolved the assignee's claim through payment of an additional Rs. 125 crores within twelve weeks, beyond sums already paid. On payment, securities and guarantees must be released, and pending debt-recovery and insolvency proceedings are disposed of, subject to revival if payment is not made. The settlement leaves unresolved the validity of NPA classification and debt assignment, including whether compensation should be measured by debt value or acquisition value.

Statutory presumptions of consideration and legally enforceable cheque liability under the Negotiable Instruments Act are rebuttable. An accused may establish a probable defence on a preponderance of probabilities through direct evidence or circumstances, shifting the burden to the complainant to prove the debt. Pre-presentation misuse complaints, stop-payment instructions, a disputed signature, inadequate proof of loan source or financial capacity, missing security documents, and consultancy dealings may cumulatively make liability improbable. Non-reply to a statutory notice or non-production of the original stop-payment instruction does not bar that defence.