Health cess exemption for X ray machine components maintained; concessional imports require compliance with specified end use import rules.
The notification amends notification 8/2020 Customs by omitting the figures "564A, 564B, 564C" and inserting a new entry listing goods for use in the manufacture of X ray machines (including static user interfaces, diagnostic tables, vertical buckys, tube suspensions, high frequency X ray generators, grids, multileaf collimators/irises, medical grade monitors, flat panel detectors including scintillators, and X ray tubes). Importers must follow the Customs (Import of Goods at Concessional Rate of Duty or for Specified End Use) Rules, 2022. The amendment takes effect 1 April 2023.

Customs exemption for FSMPs used in rare disease treatment permitted on import subject to certified medical authorization.
A new tariff entry S. No. 607B exempts from basic customs duty Drugs, Medicines or Food for Special Medical Purposes (FSMP) used for treatment of rare diseases specified in List 38, provided imported for personal use and accompanied by a certificate from specified health authorities as prescribed in newly inserted Condition 115; failure to produce the certificate or acceptable undertaking will render the importer liable to pay duty. The amendment also inserts List 38 enumerating specified rare diseases and makes related updates to medical and textile machinery concession entries.

No-deduction certificate under section 195: electronic filing via TRACES with AO processing and administrative approval required.
Notification prescribes electronic submission of Form 15C and Form 15D on the TRACES portal for certificates under section 195(3). Applicants must register/login and submit forms with supporting documents using digital signature, electronic verification code, Aadhaar authentication or mobile OTP (digital signature only for overseas applicants). Applications are assigned to TDS AOs in International Taxation; CPC(TDS) will retrieve prior ITRs, PAN demand, audit reports and assessment orders to assist processing. AOs may seek clarifications online, recommend approval or rejection under Rule 29B, and forward cases to the Range Head and CIT for administrative approval. On final approval the AO generates a system certificate on TRACES, which the applicant must share with deductors.

PAN inoperative for non-intimation of Aadhaar, reactivation subject to fee with refunds limited and higher withholding.
PAN becomes inoperative where a person allotted PAN by the cut-off has not intimated Aadhaar by the deadline; reactivation requires payment of the prescribed fee and Aadhaar intimation, after which the PAN becomes operative within thirty days. While inoperative, refunds are not made and no interest is payable for the affected period; higher rates apply for tax deduction and tax collection at source in accordance with sections 206AA and 206CC. The Board will specify the effective date for these consequences and the DGIT (Systems) will specify verification formats and procedures.

Appointment of airport for customs operations: Mopa added for unloading of imports and loading of exports.
The CBIC amends Notification No. 61/94 Customs (N.T.) to designate Mopa airport in Goa as an authorized location for the unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods, with Dabolim renumbered as item (a) and Mopa inserted as item (b).

Exemption for residential renting clarified: personal-capacity rentals by registered proprietors qualify; a specific schedule entry is omitted.
The amendment inserts an explanation to clarify that the exemption for renting of residential dwelling covers services to a registered person who is the proprietor of a proprietorship concern when the proprietor rents the dwelling in his personal capacity for use as his own residence and the renting is on his own account and not that of the proprietorship concern; additionally, a specified earlier entry in the schedule is omitted and the amendment is given effect from the date stated in the notification.

RoDTEP inclusion expands eligible HS 5208 tariff lines for export incentives from a specified date in March.
Eighteen tariff lines under HS Heading 5208 for specified cotton woven fabrics are added to Appendix 4R, making them eligible for RoDTEP. The notification prescribes a uniform RoDTEP rate, a per unit cap and uses square metre as the unit of quantity; it is issued under powers conferred by the Foreign Trade Act and Policy and applies to exports from a specified March 2023 effective date.

Exemption for renting of residential dwelling clarified to cover proprietors renting personally for their own residence; an entry omitted.
Amendment clarifies that the exemption for renting of residential dwelling to a registered person covers cases where the registered person is the proprietor and rents the dwelling in his personal capacity for use as his own residence, and where such renting is on his own account and not that of the proprietorship concern; additionally, S. No. 23A and its entries are omitted, with effect from the effective date of the corresponding Central Tax (Rate) notification.

GST rate amendment: substitution lists peppermint and other mint essential oils and applies to all persons from aligned effective date.
The amendment substitutes entry 3A in the State Tax (Rate) notification to list specified HS subheadings and to describe certain essential oils other than citrus - including peppermint and specified other mint oils - and states the substitution applies to any registered and any unregistered person, with the notification deemed operative from the effective date of the corresponding Central Tax (Rate) notification.

GST rate amendment: broadens feed classification and adds husk of pulses entry, effective from central notification date.
The state notification substitutes the schedule entry for animal and agricultural feeds to include shrimp and prawn feed, poultry and cattle feed, grass, hay, straw, supplements and additives, wheat bran and de-oiled cake (other than rice bran), and inserts a new schedule entry for husk of pulses and related concentrates, with the amendment effective from the effective date of the corresponding central tax notification.

GST rate amendments revise commodity descriptions for ethyl alcohol, feed residues, fruit drinks and school kits altering state tax treatment.
Amendment to Notification No. 01/2017 substitutes schedule entries to clarify classifications: ethyl alcohol supplied to Oil Marketing Companies or petroleum refineries is specified for blending with motor spirit; bran, sharps and residues from cereals or leguminous plants are redefined with explicit exclusions; fruit pulp or fruit juice based drinks and mathematical/geometry/colour boxes are reclassified in Schedule II; and denatured ethyl alcohol is included in Schedule III except for supplies to Oil Marketing Companies or petroleum refineries for blending. The notification takes effect concurrent with the related Central Tax (Rate) notification.

GST rate amendment adds rab not pre-packaged or labelled to state tax schedule with effect from central notification.
The State tax rate notification is amended to insert "Rab, other than pre-packaged and labelled" into the Schedule against the relevant serial number, enacted under section 11(1) of the Chhattisgarh GST Act, 2017, and deemed effective from the effective date of the corresponding Central Tax (Rate) notification.

Tax Rate Amendment: inclusion of rab (other than pre-packaged and labelled) into state GST schedule, altering tax coverage.
Amendment to the State GST rate notification inserts Rab, other than pre-packaged and labelled as item (iii) against S. No. 94, column (3) of the Schedule, amending Notification No. 02/2017-State Tax (Rate). The change, made on the recommendation of the Council and notified by the Finance Department, is effective from 1st March, 2023.

GST rate amendment: reclassifies jaggery and moves pencil sharpeners to a lower state tax schedule, effective from central notification.
Amendment to Notification No. 01/2017 replaces the Schedule I entry for S. No. 91A to list various types of jaggery and pre-packaged Khandsari Sugar and Rab; inserts a new Schedule II entry classifying pencil sharpeners under the specified commodity code; and amends Schedule III to exclude pencil sharpeners from the S. No. 302A entry. The changes are made under section 9(1) and section 15(5) and are deemed to have come into force from the effective date of the corresponding Central Tax (Rate) notification.

GST rate amendment revises classification and rates, adding pencil sharpeners and clarifying jaggery tax treatment.
The notification amends the state GST rate schedules by substituting the jaggery entry to specify types of jaggery and pre-packaged sugars for reduced-rate treatment, inserting a new tariff entry for pencil sharpeners under the intermediate rate, and excluding pencil sharpeners from a separate higher-rate entry; the changes take effect on the stated commencement date.

Addition of judicial bodies to the tax notification's Explanation expands the scope of entities referenced under the rate provision.
The notification amends the Explanation to Notification No. 13/2017 State Tax (Rate) by substituting the words ", State Legislatures, Courts and Tribunals" for the previous phrase in clause (h), thereby expressly including judicial and tribunal references; the amendment is made under sub section (3) of section 9 of the State GST Act and is effective from the first day of March, 2023.

State GST notification amendment adds courts and tribunals to clause listing public institutions, effective from central notification date.
The notification amends a State GST rate notification by substituting in the Explanation to clause (h) the words "and State Legislatures" with ", State Legislatures, Courts and Tribunals", thereby expressly including Courts and Tribunals within that explanatory provision; the amendment is effective from the operative date of the corresponding Central Tax (Rate) notification.

Educational institution classification clarified: examination authorities treated as educational institutions for entrance exam services under state tax rules.
The notification inserts clause (iva) into the Explanation to paragraph 3 of the State tax rate notification, clarifying that any authority, board or body set up by the Central Government or State Government, including testing agencies, shall be treated as an educational institution solely for the limited purpose of providing services by way of conduct of entrance examinations for admission to educational institutions.

Educational institution classification clarified: authorities conducting entrance examinations treated as educational institutions for providing entrance-exam services under GST.
The notification inserts a clause clarifying that any authority, board or body set up by the Central or State Government, including the National Testing Agency, shall be treated as an educational institution for the limited purpose of providing services by way of conduct of entrance examinations for admission to educational institutions; the amendment is effective from the effective date of the corresponding Central Tax notification.

Delegated approval for protected-system declarations channels critical infrastructure designations through cyber-law review and technical evaluation.
Delegation of approval powers authorises the Additional Secretary responsible for cyber-law matters to approve Official Gazette declarations designating computer resources as protected systems where they directly or indirectly affect Critical Information Infrastructure. Approval follows recommendations from the relevant Central Ministry or Department and necessary evaluation by the National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre. Written authorisation may permit specified persons to access protected systems after designation.