Appointment of adjudicating authority: Commissioner of Central Excise Thane-II authorised to adjudicate DRI show cause notices against FDC Limited and others.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, invoking section 4(1) and section 5(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 and sub rule (1) of rule 3 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002, appoints and authorises the Commissioner of Central Excise, Thane II to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of three specified Commissioners for adjudicating show cause notices concerning M/s. FDC Limited and others issued by a revenue investigative agency.

Appointment of Adjudicating Officers designating specific customs officers to adjudicate listed show cause notices.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs appoints designated Commissioners and Joint/Additional Commissioners at specified customs formations to act as the officers responsible for adjudication of the listed show cause notices concerning M/s Mahindra and Mahindra Limited and others, pairing each notice by file number and date with the corresponding officer and port for adjudicatory purposes.

Adjudication authority appointment reallocates customs adjudication jurisdiction to enable formal determination of a specified show cause notice.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs, exercising powers under the Customs Act, appoints the Commissioner of Customs (Import), Nhava Sheva to act as Commissioner of Customs (Import), Air Cargo, Mumbai for adjudication of matters arising from a show cause notice issued by the revenue intelligence agency in relation to M/s Microtrack Business Systems Pvt Ltd and others, effecting an administrative reassignment of adjudication jurisdiction for those proceedings.

Appointment of special adjudicator authorises central excise commissioner to adjudicate specified customs show-cause notices relating to import matters.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs appoints the Commissioner of Central Excise (Adjudication), New Customs House, New Delhi and authorises him to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of the named Commissioners of Customs and a Commissioner of Central Excise for adjudicating the show cause notice issued by the Additional Director General, Delhi Zonal Unit, in respect of M/s Baba Leather Impex Pvt Ltd and others.

Customs duty exemption for mega power projects broadens eligibility for certified large interstate power plants, subject to distribution privatization.
Customs duty exemption applies to goods for setting up any Mega Power Project certified by a Joint Secretary level officer in the Ministry of Power, with separate capacity based eligibility criteria for interstate thermal and hydel plants depending on whether they are located in specified frontier and North Eastern States or other States. The Annexure condition now requires the power purchasing State to undertake, in principle, privatization of distribution in all cities of the State above the one million population threshold within a period to be fixed by the Ministry of Power.

Customs duty reduction: specified textiles subject to a capped levy based on ad valorem rate or per square metre floor.
Certain imports under specified Chapter 51 sub headings are exempted from customs duty to the extent the duty exceeds the amount computed at the rate specified in the notification; that operative levy is the stated ad valorem percentage or a per square metre floor, whichever is higher, with an explanatory proviso that the percentage is ad valorem unless otherwise specified.

Deposit of VAT and sales tax: three banks notified as authorized treasuries subject to remittance, interest and reporting conditions.
Notification designates three banks and their branches in Delhi as the appropriate Government Treasury for deposit of all sales tax and VAT dues under the Delhi VAT Act, 2004. Conditions require remittance of realized funds to the VAT Account at the Reserve Bank within three days (subject to later review), interest on delayed remittances at bank rate plus two percent, deployment of on line computerized counters and software to generate and transmit prescribed electronic MIS reports, and mandatory acceptance of tax payments of any denomination at any authorized branch.

Income exemption for donations to Chief Minister's Earthquake Relief Fund subject to prescribed investment, accumulation, business and reporting conditions.
Notification under Section 10(23C)(iv) excludes from assessable total income any amounts received by persons on behalf of the Chief Minister's Earthquake Relief Fund, Maharashtra, subject to conditions: income must be applied wholly to charitable objects or accumulated within prescribed limits; investments limited to modes in section 11(5) (with narrow exceptions); business income only if incidental with separate books; regular filing of returns; and on dissolution surplus/assets transferred to a similarly purposed organization. The notification covers only receipts on behalf of the Institution, not other recipient income.

Tax exemption for institution receipts: income received on behalf of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh exempted subject to specified compliance conditions.
Notification grants tax exemption under section 10(23C)(iv) for income received on behalf of Rashtriya Mahila Kosh for AYs 2003-04 to 2005-06, subject to conditions: income applied or accumulated exclusively for institutional objects with accumulation over 15% limited to five years; permitted modes of investment; business income exempt only if incidental and separately accounted; regular filing of returns; and transfer of surplus on dissolution to a like-minded organization. The exemption applies only to recipients of such income.

Income exemption for institution receipts conditioned on exclusive application, restricted investments, return filing, and asset transfer on dissolution.
Income received by any person on behalf of Uttaranchal State Seed and Organic Production Certification Agency is exempt from inclusion in that person's total income for the specified assessment years under clause (23C)(iv) of section 10, conditional on exclusive application or limited accumulation of income, permissible modes of investment, exclusion of unrelated business income unless incidental with separate accounts, regular filing of returns, and transfer of surplus assets on dissolution to a like-minded organization.

Effective rate of duty expanded to include LPG and CNG driven vehicles alongside petrol driven vehicles under Central Excise amendment.
The notification substitutes the words "Petrol driven vehicles" with "Petrol, Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPG) or Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) driven vehicles" in the Table to the principal Central Excise notification, thereby extending the stated effective rate of duty to vehicles driven by LPG and CNG alongside petrol. The amendment is made under the power conferred by sub section (1) of section 5A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and notes its connection to the principal notification and its earlier amendment.

Customs exemption for NATRIP equipment permits duty-free imports subject to departmental certification at import.
A new tariff entry (S.No. 545; heading 9801) grants duty exemption for all equipment for NATRIP, conditional on the importer producing at import a certificate from an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Department of Heavy Industry certifying that the goods, by description, quantity and technical specifications, are intended for use in NATRIP.

Project imports notification adds National Automotive Testing and Research and Development Infrastructure Project to exempted projects under customs tariff heading.
The Central Government amended the miscellaneous exemption notification under the Customs Tariff Act to insert the National Automotive Testing and Research and Development Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) as a notified project under Project Imports, adding it as a new serial entry within the schedule for goods falling under heading 9801 and thereby extending project-import exemptions and special treatment to NATRIP.

Anti-dumping duty on viscose rayon filament yarn from China imposed, duty calculated against landed value per kilogram.
Definitive anti-dumping duty imposed on viscose rayon filament yarn up to 150 deniers from the People's Republic of China, following findings of dumping below normal value and material injury to domestic industry. Duty is calculated as the difference between specified reference amounts in the notification schedule and the landed value per kilogram, with producer and exporter specific rates and residual rates for other combinations. Notification defines "landed value" and the applicable "rate of exchange" and remained in force up to 24 February 2012 unless revoked earlier.

Customs notification amendment updates port handling permissions, specifying unloading of imports and loading of exports at listed ports.
The Central Board amends Notification No. 62/94 (NT) to substitute, omit and insert Table entries specifying permitted cargo handling: Kakinada and Vishakapatnam column (4) entries are replaced with the permissive description "Unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods." Kozhikode is identified as Kozhikode (at Beypore) and certain item entries omitted. A new serial for Minicoy Islands (Lakshadweep) is added, Mumbai Port is inserted with the permissive wording, Chennai Sea Port is substituted, and Kolkata and Haldia Ports are added with the same permissive cargo handling entry.

Service tax amendment expands definitions to include structures alongside plant, machinery and equipment in the notification.
Amendment expands the entry in Notification No. 1/2006-Service Tax by replacing "plant, machinery or equipment" with "plant, machinery, equipment or structures" in column (3), and replacing "plant, machinery, equipment" with "plant, machinery, equipment, structures" in column (4) of the Table against the specified serial number, thereby including structures within the notified terminology.

Derivatives trading: mutual funds may transact on recognised exchanges subject to Board guidelines and scheme provisions.
Mutual funds may enter into derivatives transactions on recognised stock exchanges subject to Board guidelines; initial issue expenses of close ended schemes must be amortised per the Tenth Schedule and initial launch expenses shall not exceed six per cent of initial resources raised. No entry load shall be charged by any close ended scheme after commencement. On repurchase of units in qualifying close ended schemes, the mutual fund may deduct the proportionate unamortised initial issue expenses from repurchase proceeds, credited to the scheme's unamortised initial issue expenses. Dividend declarations are permitted per the offer document and Board guidelines.

Special Economic Zone designation at Kishangarh notified for Electronics Hardware, Information Technology and ITES under SEZ rules.
Central Government notified land at Kishangarh Village, Taluka Chandigarh as a Special Economic Zone for Electronics Hardware, Information Technology and Information Technology Enabled Services under the Special Economic Zones Act and Rules by S.O. 738(E) dated 19 May 2006, following grant of a letter of approval and fulfillment of statutory conditions; the notification lists the specific khasra numbers and their areas, aggregating to a total notified area of 31.4966 hectares.

Age limit establishes retirement cap for SEBI chair and members, preventing service beyond specified statutory age.
The amendment substitutes the proviso to rule 3, sub-rule 2 of the 1992 service rules to provide that no person shall hold office as the Chairman or a Member after he attains the age of sixty-five years, with the amendment taking effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Import standards for fish lipid oil set; imports allowed subject to prescribed quality specifications and licensing conditions.
Import policy amended to allow free import of Fish Lipid Oil (Exim code 15042020) subject to a new Import Licensing Note requiring compliance with prescribed quality standards, including limits on free fatty acids, moisture and peroxide value and a minimum combined content of Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid; imports are governed by the licensing regime and the amendment is issued under the statutory foreign trade authority in the public interest.