Common Adjudicating Authority appointment redirects adjudication of allegations concerning import of used equipment to designated customs commissioner.
Under the notification-based delegation under section four of the Customs Act, the Board assigns a specified Show Cause Notice concerning alleged irregular importation to the Commissioner of Customs (Sea Port Import), Custom House, Chennai, for adjudication by the designated customs adjudicating authority, with administrative copies circulated to relevant customs and excise commissioners and departmental web contact.

Adjudication of penalties: officers may impose penalties after notice and hearing, with appeals to Regional Director and prescribed procedures.
These Rules provide the statutory procedure for adjudicating penalties under the Companies Act by appointed adjudicating officers: issuance of a written show-cause notice specifying alleged non-compliance, minimum response periods with limited extension, opportunity of hearing, powers to summon persons and documents, and authority to proceed in absence after recording reasons. They require dated signed orders communicated to parties and the Central Government, prescribe factors for fixing penalty quantum (disproportionate gain, loss to investors/creditors, repetitiveness), direct penalty receipts to the Consolidated Fund, and establish an appeal regime to the Regional Director in Form ADJ with prescribed filing, scrutiny and disposal procedures.

Substance-over-form in merger filings: restructuring that avoids notice will be disregarded, altering filing assessment and fees.
Substance-over-form is made determinative for notice obligations, disregarding any transaction structure designed to avoid filing; filing fees are increased; Schedule changes omit a regulation and a category; Form I now requires disclosure of horizontal or vertical overlaps and whether filings exist in other jurisdictions with certified orders; Form II prescribes audited two year asset and turnover reporting for India and worldwide and removes the instruction requiring signature verification on each page.

Foreign exchange threshold for manner of receipt and payment increased; Reserve Bank empowered to stipulate the applicable limit.
Amendment substitutes the previous specified monetary ceiling in the relevant regulation clause with "five lakh rupees or any such amount that Reserve Bank may stipulate," thereby vesting Reserve Bank discretion to determine the operative threshold for receipts and payments; the amendment is effective retrospectively from 13 March 2014 with a certification that no person will be adversely affected.

Double taxation avoidance pact limits source state taxation and prescribes residence, PE, and withholding rules between India and Sri Lanka.
Bilateral Agreement to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion between India and Sri Lanka applies to residents of one or both States and taxes on income. It defines residence and permanent establishment rules, allocates taxing rights (immovable property to source State; business profits to residence except profits attributable to a PE in the source State), prescribes withholding ceilings for dividends, interest and royalties/technical services, and provides mechanisms for mutual agreement, exchange of information, assistance in tax collection, limitation of benefits, non discrimination and procedural entry into force and termination rules.

Form nomenclature clarified: alphanumeric, chapter-based prefixes for company e-forms and an online roll-out announced for stakeholders.
The notification mandates alphanumeric form identifiers for Companies Act, 2013 e-forms, using two- or three-letter prefixes based on Chapter subject followed by a serial number. It provides a chapter-wise mapping of prefixes (e.g., INC, PAS, SH, MGT, AOC, ADT, DIR, DPT, CHG, DIV, MBP, MR, URC, FC, GNL, NDH, MAC, ADJ, MSC), notes twenty-nine Chapters exist with Chapters I and XXIII having no prescribed forms, and directs stakeholders to the Ministry website for the separate chapter-wise e-forms roll-out plan.

Appointment of Value Added Tax Inspectors establishes designated officers to assist the Commissioner in VAT administration.
Officers are appointed as Value Added Tax Inspectors to assist the Commissioner in administering the Value Added Tax framework, pursuant to statutory authority and the applicable rules, effective from the date each appointee assumes charge; the notification lists the officers by name and their dates of physical joining.

Unpaid and unclaimed amounts: companies and successor banks must identify and report dormant dividend funds annually for Fund uploading.
A new definition of corresponding new bank is added and the rules require companies and corresponding new banks to identify funds transferred to the Unpaid Dividend Account under the Banking Companies transfer provisions which remain unpaid or unclaimed for the dormant period, to be done annually within the prescribed post-AGM timeframe. Form 5INV is amended to substitute "company" with "company and corresponding new bank."

Unclaimed bank dividends of corresponding new banks to be transferred to Investor Education and Protection Fund after seven years.
The rules define "corresponding new bank" and require amounts transferred to a corresponding new bank's Unpaid Dividend Account that remain unpaid or unclaimed for seven years to be credited to the Investor Education and Protection Fund; Form I is amended to substitute "company" with "company and corresponding new bank."

Export exemption for pulses allows specified shipments to Maldives under bilateral agreement despite general prohibition by government notification.
The Central Government amends prior FTP notifications to permit, as an exception to an existing prohibition, specified annual quantities of pulses to be exported to the Republic of Maldives under the bilateral trade arrangement for 2014-15 through 2016-17; the specific Public Sector Undertaking authorised to export these quantities will be notified separately.

Export ceiling for stone aggregate to Maldives permitted under bilateral trade agreement, subject to CAPEXIL no-objection and clearances.
Export of stone aggregate to the Republic of Maldives is authorised under the bilateral trade agreement by substituting Export Licensing Note 1 in the ITC(HS) Schedule to prescribe annual export ceilings. Exports require a No Objection issued by CAPEXIL within the annual ceiling, CAPEXIL monitoring and quarterly reporting to the Export Cell, and confirmation that suppliers/extractors have obtained appropriate clearances.

Export of River Sand allowed under bilateral trade agreement subject to yearly ceilings and environmental clearances.
Export of river sand to the Republic of Maldives is permitted subject to annual quantity ceilings and issuance of No Objection by CAPEXIL, which will monitor ceilings and report quarterly to the DGFT Export Cell. CAPEXIL must ensure suppliers/extractors hold appropriate clearances and that mining is not undertaken in the Coastal Regulation Zone. Exports also require environmental clearances or No Objection Certificates from the designated State nodal authority and remain subject to applicable State legislation or judicial orders.

Rescission of industrial park notification under Section 80 IA after withdrawal of approval by commerce ministry.
The Central Government rescinds the earlier Gazette notification recognising M/s Creative Infocity Ltd.'s undertaking as an Industrial Park for income tax incentive purposes, in consequence of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's withdrawal of its prior approval, and declares the rescission effective from the date of the original notification.

Industrial park notification rescission under income tax deduction provision withdraws prior tax recognition for the undertaking.
The Government rescinds the earlier notification recognising M/s. Finest Promoters Private Ltd.'s undertaking as an Industrial Park for purposes of income-tax deductions, following withdrawal of approval under the Industrial Park Scheme; the rescission is effected with retrospective effect to the date of the original notification.

Commencement of Companies Act provisions set to come into force, bringing extensive corporate law provisions into effect.
The Central Government appoints 1 April 2014 as the date on which the listed provisions, clauses, sub sections and Schedules of the Companies Act, 2013 shall come into force, specifying numerous sections across governance, incorporation, meetings, accounts, audits, compliance and enforcement, and identifying particular exceptions and provisos to certain sections that do not commence on that date.

Digital signature recognition enables online VAT return filing using IT Act provisions, extending electronic governance to VAT procedures.
The notification extends the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules to procedures under the Delhi Value Added Tax Act and Rules, permitting dealers and persons to submit information and returns online using digital signatures and incorporating provisions on secure electronic records, secure digital signature certificates, attribution, acknowledgement and dispatch of electronic records.

Rescission of industrial-park recognition nullifies prior tax recognition after withdrawal of scheme approval.
The Central Government rescinds the earlier notification recognising M/s Pantheon Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.'s undertaking at Logitech Park, Andheri, as an Industrial Park for the purposes of the income-tax provision, following withdrawal of Scheme approval by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and declares the rescission to have retrospective effect to the date of the original notification.

Amendment to Section 10(15) updates notified entities, substituting Indian Railway Finance Corporation and inserting IFCI Limited.
Amendment to the income-tax notification substitutes the entry at serial number ten with Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited and inserts, after serial number thirteen, a new entry for IFCI Limited, thereby revising the table of notified entities in the earlier Gazette notification.

VAT exemption extended to specified diplomatic mission and international institute enabling relief on official and diplomat purchases.
Grant of VAT exemption/refund is extended to the High Commission of the Republic of Malawi and the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development by inserting them into the Sixth Schedule of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004, identifying each by registration/tax identification and enabling VAT relief on official purchases and applicable personal purchases of diplomats, under the powers conferred by the Act.

De-notification of Special Economic Zone land reduces notified area under SEZ Act following state no-objection and recommendations.
De-notifies 8.92 hectares from the sector-specific Special Economic Zone for Aviation at Village Mamidipally, reducing the notified area from 101.92 hectares to 93 hectares by specifying survey parcels and acreages removed. The de-notification is made under the Special Economic Zones Act and Rules following the applicant's proposal, the State Government's no-objection, and the Development Commissioner's recommendation, and records prior administrative approvals and changes in sectoral classification.