Special Court designation under tax law enables dedicated trial jurisdiction for offences under income-tax and undisclosed foreign assets provisions.
The Central Government, under powers conferred by the income-tax enforcement provision and the black money legislation and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of Meghalaya, designates the court of the senior-most Judicial Magistrate First Class of East Khasi Hills District, Shillong as the Special Court for the State of Meghalaya to adjudicate offences within the scope of the income-tax enforcement provision and the undisclosed foreign income and assets provisions.

Special Court designation establishes specified magistrate courts in Gujarat to hear cases under the Black Money Act.
Central Government, invoking powers under the Income-tax Act and the Black Money Act and after consulting the Chief Justice of the High Court of Gujarat, designates specified Additional Civil Judges and Judicial Magistrates of First Class and a Metropolitan Magistrate as Special Courts, each mapped to a named district or city area in Gujarat to exercise jurisdiction for purposes of the Black Money Act.

Tax exemption for Real Estate Regulatory Authority: specified income notified exempt subject to conditions on activity, returns, and audit.
Notification treats the Real Estate Regulatory Authority constituted under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act as a class of Authority for specified income comprising government grants/loans, fees/penalties from stakeholders, and interest thereon, subject to conditions: no commercial activity, unchanged nature of activities and income across listed years, prescribed income-tax return filing, and filing an audit report with a chartered accountant's compliance certificate.

Tax exemption under section 10(46) for National Council of Science Museums' specified income, subject to compliance and reporting.
Notification grants income-tax exemption to National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata, for specified income: government grants-in-aid and subsidies; ticket fees or subscriptions; maintenance charges for auditoria and public scientific/educational facilities; and interest on investments. Exemption is subject to conditions: no commercial activity, unchanged nature of activities and specified income during the applicable financial years, filing of return of income as prescribed, and submission of an audit report verified by the accountant plus a chartered accountant's certificate confirming satisfaction of these conditions.

Late fee waiver for delayed GSTR-3B returns extended with graded relief for specified taxpayers and tax periods.
Late fee for delay in filing FORM GSTR-3B is rationalised by amending the existing Uttar Pradesh GST waiver notification and by extending conditional relief for specified tax periods and classes of registered persons. The amended table revises the period of late fee waiver for taxpayers with aggregate turnover above five crore rupees and for taxpayers up to five crore rupees who furnish returns under section 39, with different waiver periods linked to March, April, May 2021 and January-March 2021 tax periods. Further provisos grant waiver of late fee under section 47 for delayed FORM GSTR-3B returns for July 2017 to April 2021 filed between 1 June 2021 and 31 August 2021, and prescribe separate waiver limits for later tax periods.

Penalty waiver for GST non-compliance under Uttar Pradesh law extends to breaches of the specified notification during the covered period.
Penalty payable by a registered person under section 125 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 is waived for non-compliance with Notification No. 429 dated 30.04.2020. The waiver is issued under section 128 on the recommendation of the Council and applies to non-compliance during the specified period, subject to prior acts or omissions before supersession.

GST compliance due date extended by amending the earlier notification for specified periods.
Extension of the due date for specified GST compliances under the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax framework by amending the earlier notification issued under section 168A of the Uttar Pradesh GST Act, 2017 read with section 20 of the Integrated GST Act, 2017. The amendment substitutes the relevant dates in the parent notification so that compliances falling within the period from 15 April 2021 to 29 June 2021 are treated as payable or performable up to 30 June 2021, with certain connected references also revised from 15 June 2021 to 15 July 2021.

Independent director governance strengthened with tighter pecuniary limits, shareholder approval and enhanced appointment safeguards.
Amendments strengthen board independence and governance by recalibrating pecuniary relationship thresholds and time frames for disqualification, requiring shareholder approval for independent director appointments and removals by special resolution, imposing a post resignation cooling off for independent directors before executive appointments in group companies, mandating audit committee approval of related party transactions only by independent directors, and requiring nomination committees to define skills and capabilities for independent director appointments.

Accredited investor recognition expanded-accredited investors expressly included as clients under Investment Advisers Regulations by amendment.
Amendment imports definitions of accreditation agency and accredited investor from the Alternative Investment Funds Regulations, 2012 into the Investment Advisers Regulations, and expressly inserts "including an accredited investor" into Regulation 15A so that references to a client in that provision encompass accredited investors.

Accredited investor framework enables large value funds tailored exemptions and adjusted investment concentration limits.
The amendment introduces accredited investors via Board-recognised accreditation agencies and creates a new category, large value funds for accredited investors, where investors must be accredited and meet a minimum investment. Regulatory relaxations for such funds include exemptions from certain eligibility and compliance provisions, permitted tenure extension beyond two years subject to fund documents and Board conditions, and adjusted investment concentration limits for Category I/II and Category III large value funds.

Accredited investor status expands contractual and investment flexibility, permitting broader unlisted exposure for qualified investors.
The amendment defines accreditation agency, accredited investor, and large value accredited investor; exempts Schedule IV agreement contents for large value accredited investors; waives the minimum investment amount per client requirement for accredited investors subject to disclosure and agreement; and permits portfolio managers, with appropriate disclosures and client terms, to invest up to one hundred percent of a large value accredited investor's assets under management in unlisted securities.

Regulatory sandbox amendment removes technological limitation, expanding sandbox applicability across SEBI regulations upon publication immediately.
The amendment regulations remove the phrase "in technological aspects" from specified sub regulations across a broad list of SEBI regulations, thereby eliminating that textual qualifier from the identified provisions. The notification names each affected regulation and sub regulation and directs the omission of those words. The instrument is titled the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Regulatory Sandbox) (Amendment) Regulations, 2021, and comes into force on publication in the Official Gazette.

Credit rating regulation alignment with Companies Act enhances definitional consistency and limits investigatory scope to listed securities.
Amendments align regulatory definitions and cross references for credit rating agencies with the Companies Act, 2013, replace references to public or rights issues by focusing on securities that are listed or proposed to be listed on a recognized stock exchange, and provide that undefined terms shall have meanings assigned in the Act, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, the Companies Act, 2013, or related rules. An explanation confirms ratings under financial sector regulators remain within those regulators' purview and SEBI's investigatory remit is limited to ratings of listed or proposed listed securities.

Constituency rules for foreign portfolio investors expanded to permit NRIs, OCIs and resident Indians subject to tax-law eligibility and approvals.
Amendment substitutes Regulation 4(c) to permit non-resident Indians, Overseas Citizens of India and resident Indian individuals as constituents of an FP-in applicant subject to Board conditions; resident Indian non-individuals may be constituents only if they are eligible fund managers under the Income Tax Act and the applicant is an eligible investment fund under the Income Tax Act with approval under the Income Tax Rules.

Designation of Special Court for money laundering trials in 2G spectrum matters centralizes trial jurisdiction.
The Central Government, under section 43(1) of the Prevention of Money laundering Act, 2002 and in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court of Delhi, designates the Court of Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act) (CBI)-09 at Rouse Avenue Court Complex, New Delhi as a Special Court to deal with offences of money laundering under the Act, superseding prior notifications and assigning jurisdiction for matters relating to the 2G spectrum scam.

Tariff classification correction replaces the notified commodity code at Sl. No.8 with 3808 94 in the State notification.
Corrigendum to Notification No. 05/2021-State Tax (Rate) dated 14 June 2021 substitutes the commodity classification code against Sl. No. 8 in the Table, directing that the earlier entry "3804 94" shall be read as 3808 94, issued as S.O. 126 dated 3 August 2021 by the Commercial Taxes Department and signed by the Commissioner State Tax-cum-Secretary.

Exclusion from e invoice requirement exempts government departments and local authorities under GST rules by amendment to existing notification
Exclusion from the e invoice issuance requirement is effected by inserting the words "a Government department, a local authority" into the operative paragraph of a prior notification under the GST rules, thereby exempting those public entities from being treated as persons required to issue e invoices, enacted by the state revenue department on the GST Council's recommendation.

Input tax credit adjustment: cumulative April-June period requires GSTR-3B for June to include cumulative ITC adjustments.
The Fifth Amendment, 2021, amends GST Rules to extend a deadline in rule 26(1) from end of May to end of August 2021; requires that the condition for input tax credit adjustments apply cumulatively for April-June 2021 with FORM GSTR-3B for June 2021 furnished including the cumulative ITC adjustment; and allows registered persons to furnish May 2021 details via the Invoice Furnishing Facility from 1 June to 28 June 2021.

Refund withholding and withdrawal procedures clarified, including ledger re credit and deficiency period exclusion from limitation.
Amendments to the Andhra Pradesh GST Rules refine revocation of cancellation timelines by permitting Commissionerial extensions; exclude the period between filing a refund claim and communication of deficiencies from the two year refund limitation when deficiencies are rectified; allow applicants to withdraw refund applications prior to any refund sanction with automatic re credit of debited electronic ledgers; and reconfigure FORM GST RFD 07 to separate withholding (Part A) and release (Part B) orders, while introducing FORM GST RFD 01W for withdrawal of refund applications.

Timing of tax liability redefined to the tax period when the completion certificate or first occupation falls.
The amendment substitutes two phrases: replacing "in whose case the liability to" with ", who shall ", and replacing the clause on when liability arises with a timing rule that liability arises "in a tax period not later than the tax period in which the date of issuance of the completion certificate for the project, where required, by the competent authority, or the date of its first whichever is earlier, falls."