Estate Officer appointments designate income-tax commissioners to exercise eviction powers over departmental public premises within jurisdiction.
The Central Government, under section 3 of the Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971, appoints specified Gazetted Officers as Estate Officers empowered to exercise the Act's powers and duties within their jurisdiction. The notification designates all Commissioners of Income-tax and all Chief Commissioners of Income-tax as Estate Officers for public premises under the administrative control of the Department of Revenue within the local limits of their respective jurisdictions.

Section 149 applicability clarified: applies both before and after grant of clearance order under Customs clearance provisions.
The notification amends Notification No. 40/2012 Customs (N.T.) to clarify that Section 149 of the Customs Act applies both after the grant of an order for clearance of goods and before the grant of such an order, by substituting item (ii) at serial no. 2 and inserting item (xxxvii) at serial no. 3 in the TABLE.

Customs exemption for specified goods under prior notification, subject to original conditions and excluded for later imports.
Notification No. 06/2014 Customs amends Notification No. 21/2012 Customs by inserting a Table entry granting nil duty exemption for goods specified against S. No. 394A of the Table annexed to Notification No. 12/2012 Customs, subject to the conditions in that notification and excluding goods imported on or after 1st January, 2015.

Customs exemption amendments expand duty-free entries, add LNG and banknote paper mill machinery concessions and new road-construction goods.
Amends Notification No. 12/2012-Customs by inserting and substituting tariff entries to add duty-exempt classification for Human Embryo, concessional treatment for LNG imported for consumption by a specified SEZ plant and remnant LNG/NG cleared into the DTA subject to consumption certification, and concessional entries for goods imported by or on behalf of Bank Note Paper Mill India Private Limited; adds conditions requiring an undertaking for human embryo imports and quantitative billing plus SEZ certification for LNG exemptions; extends certain compliance periods and inserts List 16A enumerating eligible road-construction machinery.

Excise tariff amendment revises exemption timelines and reclassifies goods, altering duty rates and scope for specified vehicles and electronics.
Substitution of provisos narrows continued application of prior exemptions by specifying cessation dates; the tariff table is amended to reclassify mobile handsets, remove certain SUV references, and insert entries 345-369 that allocate distinct excise duty rates and explanatory definitions for diverse motor vehicles, chassis, hybrid and hydrogen vehicles, trailers and related goods; the ANNEXURE condition 43 compliance period is extended from thirty six to sixty months.

Service Tax amendment adds cord blood stem cell preservation and rice handling services to specified service descriptions.
Amendment to the Service Tax notification inserts two new entries: services by cord blood banks for preservation of stem cells or related services; and services by way of loading, unloading, packing, storage or warehousing of rice, thereby including these activities within the notification's specified service descriptions.

Newsprint control amendment adds an indigenous mill to the authorised manufacturers list upon Gazette publication.
The Central Government amends the Newsprint Control Order, 2004 by adding a new Schedule entry: S. No.118, M/s. Sri Vishnu Annaamalaiyar Paper Mills Ltd., Karaikudi, thereby recognising that mill as an indigenous newsprint manufacturer. The amendment, promulgated as the Newsprint Control (Amendment) Order, 2014 (S.O. 411(E)), is effective on publication in the Official Gazette and is issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

Appointment as Value Added Tax Inspector to assist Commissioner under statutory authority, effective from assumption of charge.
Appointment of Ramesh Chand Kataria as Value Added Tax Inspector is made under the authority of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act and Rules to assist the Commissioner of Value Added Tax in administration; the appointment is effective from the date of assumption of charge and notes physical joining on 20/12/2013, issued in the name of the Lt. Governor and signed by the Deputy Secretary (Finance).

Appointment of Assistant Value Added Tax Officers to assist the Commissioner under delegated powers, effective from assumption of charge.
The Lt. Governor, invoking clause (a) of sub section (2) of section 66 of the Delhi Value Added Tax Act, 2004 read with rule 47 of the Delhi VAT Rules, 2005, notifies the appointment of eight named officers as Assistant Value Added Tax Officers to assist the Commissioner; each appointment is effective from the officer's date of assumption of charge as shown in the notification.

Withdrawal of Audit Report Form AR-1 withdrawn with immediate effect under DVAT law; departments ordered to publicize and implement.
The Commissioner of Value Added Tax withdraws the requirement to file Audit Report Form AR-1 in its current format with immediate effect, exercising statutory powers under the Delhi Value Added Tax Act and applicable rules, and directs departmental publication, website uploading, and circulation to officers and professional bodies to ensure wide publicity and implementation.

Fixation of tariff values sets updated import valuation baselines for specified commodities affecting customs assessment and duties.
Amendment substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 in Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.), fixing commodity-specific tariff values for import valuation. The new tables establish prescribed tariff-value baselines for goods including crude and refined palm oil and palmolein, crude soybean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts, and specified gold and silver imports where notification benefits apply, to be used for customs assessment and tariff administration.

Amendment to tax notification revises specified public entity entries and replaces certain Table entries accordingly.
Amendment to an income-tax notification under clause (15) of section 10 exercises the Central Government's power to alter the Table in Notification No. 61/2013 by omitting the entry at serial number 3 and substituting new entries for serial numbers 7, 8 and 13, identifying Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC), National Housing Bank (NHB) and NTPC Limited (formerly National Thermal Power Corporation) with their respective Table values.

Export of arms to Government of Iraq permitted subject to No Objection Certificate requirement from defence production authority.
The prohibition on import/export of Arms and related material to/from Iraq is replaced by an exception permitting export of such material to the Government of Iraq, provided exporters obtain a No Objection Certificate from the competent defence production authority; this substitutes Para 2.1.1 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2009-14 and takes immediate effect.

Export of arms to Government of Iraq now permitted subject to No Objection Certificate from Department of Defence Production.
Export of arms and related material to the Government of Iraq is permitted subject to a No Objection Certificate from the Department of Defence Production, following substitution of Sl. No. 3 D (i) in Schedule 2 of the ITC(HS) Classification; exports to other recipients remain prohibited.

Customs baggage declaration: amendment revises form wording and raises the duty-free baggage allowance affecting arriving travellers.
Amendment to the Customs Baggage Declaration Regulations modifies Form 1 by substituting the baggage count label with "Number of Baggages (including hand baggages)" and by replacing the prior monetary figure in item (vii) of sl. no. 10 with a higher figure, thereby changing the applicable duty free threshold for baggage declarations under the Customs Act.

Double taxation agreement amendment updates residency, dividends tax treatment, information exchange and tax collection cooperation.
Protocol amends the India-UK tax convention and, effective 27 December 2013 in India, revises treaty definitions of person and resident, replaces the Dividends article setting ceilings on source taxation where the beneficial owner is a resident of the other State, deletes Partnership provisions, expands Exchange of Information to permit foreseeably relevant information sharing, inserts Tax Examinations Abroad and Assistance in Collection of Taxes articles, and adds a Limitation of Benefits clause to deny treaty benefits when benefit seeking is a main purpose.

SEZ membership amended to add new industry members, substituting two notified entries under the governing provision.
The Central Government amended notification S.O. 2475(E) to substitute entries at Sl. Nos. 5 and 6 of the Kandla Special Economic Zone Authority, adding Shri Pawan Malani, Director, M/s Dinesh Pouches Pvt. Ltd., KASEZ, and Shri Ankur Garg, Partner, M/s Vishnu Exports, KASEZ, pursuant to powers under Section 31 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, with prior substitutions and amendment history recorded in the notification notes.

Extension of SEBI Chairman appointment continued for a limited tenure subject to age and further orders.
The Central Government, invoking Sub Section (1)(a) of Section 4 of the SEBI Act read with Rule 3 of the SEBI (Terms and Conditions of Service of Chairman and Members) Rules, 1992, extends Shri U. K. Sinha's appointment as Chairman of SEBI effective 18 February 2014. The extension is for two years, but will cease earlier if he attains sixty five years of age or if further orders are issued, whichever occurs first.

Exchange rate determination for foreign currencies set effective, governing conversion for imported and export goods.
Determination fixes rates for converting specified foreign currencies into Indian rupees, and vice versa, for customs valuation of imported and export goods effective 7 February 2014, superseding the earlier notification of 16 January 2014, and prescribing distinct import and export conversion rates in Schedule I (per unit) and Schedule II (per 100 units).

Submission of Annual Performance Report based on unaudited JV/WOS accounts allowed when host law lacks audit mandate, subject to certification.
Corrigendum to Regulation 15 adds sub regulation (v) (deemed effective March 28, 2012) permitting submission of the Annual Performance Report (APR) based on un audited annual accounts of a JV/WOS where the host country does not require mandatory auditing, provided: (a) the Statutory Auditors of the Indian party certify that the un audited accounts reflect a true and fair picture of the JV/WOS affairs; and (b) those un audited accounts have been adopted and ratified by the Board of the Indian party.