Right to be heard: foreclosure of the right to reply violates natural justice, requiring fresh adjudication with hearing.
Foreclosure of the noticee's opportunity to respond to a notice breaches the right to be heard and principles of natural justice. Where the adjudicating authority has foreclosed the reply, the matter should be returned to the original authority for fresh adjudication after the noticee is given opportunity to reply and to present factual and legal submissions, and after the authority issues notice of intent and completes adjudication with procedural fairness.

Duomatic principle upheld: unanimous member acquiescence prevents oppression or mismanagement findings in family company governance dispute.
The Duomatic Principle was applied to validate informal corporate acts where members gave unanimous or tacit assent: a director's withdrawal of resignation, the appointment of a managing director, and share transfers were held bona fide and not fraudulent. The appellant's prior knowledge and acquiescence estopped subsequent challenges, and she lacked locus to sue on behalf of trusts. Fraud remains an exception to Duomatic application; absent fraud and public prejudice, the facts did not constitute oppression or mismanagement.

Duomatic principle: unanimous member assent can validate informal corporate acts and bar oppression claims without fraud.
The Duomatic Principle validates informal corporate acts effected with unanimous or tacit member assent, permitting departure from strict statutory formalities where transactions are bona fide and free from fraud. Prior knowledge, acquiescence and estoppel by a complainant can negate claims of oppression or mismanagement arising from appointments, withdrawal of resignations, share transmissions, and conduct of meetings, preserving corporate finality and internal decision-making.

Dishonor of cheques enforcement: special courts, pre-summons mediation and a summons portal to reduce case pendency.
Dishonor of cheques under the Negotiable Instruments Act is being approached through pre-summons mediation, a National Portal for summons, and establishment of special courts in high-caseload districts; proposals include using retired judicial officers and court staff, with coordination among the Union, High Courts and State Governments to reduce pendency in proceedings arising from cheque dishonour.

Dishonor of cheques procedure: streamline service of summons and preserve magistrate discretion on trial conversion.
Dishonour of cheques proceedings require prompt service of summons and retention of summary-trial procedures; reforms include shortening dishonour-slip practices, mandatory contact disclosure, creating a nodal agency for electronic service and issuing unique dishonour identifiers. Magistrates must record reasons when converting summary trials into summons trials; summary-trial procedure applies as far as may be. Inquiry mechanisms under the Code permit affidavits and document examination to test sufficiency of grounds. High Courts should direct that service in one complaint arising from the same transaction be treated as deemed service for related complaints and encourage use of inherent powers and mediation to reduce pendency.

International commercial arbitration: sole proprietorships qualify when a party has a foreign nexus, triggering arbitration rules.
A sole proprietorship is equated with its proprietor and, when a party has a foreign nexus-foreign national status, habitual residence abroad, foreign incorporation, or foreign government involvement-the dispute qualifies as international commercial arbitration, even if that party operates through a local office; statutory procedures govern appointment of arbitrators and extraordinary discretionary relief cannot bypass those appointment mechanisms.

Summons issuance to company management must target authorised representatives, not routinely the managing director absent necessity.
Issuance of summons under section 108 should ordinarily be made to a Board authorised company representative; summonses to top management, including the managing director, are to be used sparingly only where representatives are non cooperative or there is demonstrable necessity. Administrative Circular guidance requires this sequence and places responsibility on departmental officers, including Collectors, to enforce these procedural limits.

Cognisable offence status: Copyright infringement is cognisable and non-bailable, allowing criminal proceedings to continue.
The legal classification of copyright infringement offences depends on the imprisonment bracket in the Code's schedule: offences meeting the statutory threshold qualify as cognisable, while lesser-punishment offences are non-cognisable. Applied to the relevant copyright provisions, the correct legal consequence is to treat the infringing conduct as a cognisable and non-bailable offence, allowing FIR registration and investigation to proceed under the Code's procedures.

Writ jurisdiction protects rights against arbitrary administrative action, permitting High Court supervisory challenges to commission orders.
Writ jurisdiction under Articles 32 and 226 allows enforcement of fundamental rights via writs such as Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Certiorari, Quo Warranto and Prohibition, particularly where no statutory appeal exists; challenges to National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission orders may be pursued before the High Court under its supervisory jurisdiction, with any interim relief subject to the rigours and constitutional limits of Article 227.

Abuse of revenue authority: improper recoveries and refund adjustments contrary to statutory stay and intimation safeguards.
The note addresses revenue practice of effectuating recoveries and adjusting taxpayer refunds without complying with statutory safeguards, characterising such conduct as an abuse of authority and a breach of constitutional taxation limits under Article 265. It emphasises that filing an appeal precludes an assessee from being treated as an 'assessee in default' for recovery purposes under the statutory stay framework, and that automatic adjustment of refunds against demands without prior intimation and opportunity of hearing conflicts with the statutory process for refund adjustment and recovery.

Suspension of limitation: moratorium under the insolvency code halts limitation, prioritising resolution before limitation resumes post-resolution.
Section 60(6) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code suspends the running of limitation for as long as a company is under the moratorium imposed by Section 14, and this suspension should be read in harmony with the Resolution Professional's duty under Section 25(2)(b). Insolvency shifts control from the company's management to the Resolution Professional and the Committee of Creditors, who focus on resolution rather than litigation, and limitation resumes when the company emerges from insolvency.

Reverse charge on ocean freight invalidated as conflicting with composite supply and double taxation principles.
Notifications 08/2017 and 10/2017 that impose tax on ocean freight in CIF contracts by treating the importer as the recipient under a Reverse Charge Mechanism were challenged as ultra vires, producing double taxation because freight is included in customs value, lacking territorial nexus, and mischaracterising the exporter/importer relationship; the Supreme Court refused to treat GST Council recommendations as binding and held that separate taxation of the freight service contravenes the statutory composite supply framework.

Retrospective GST exemptions and reclassifications bar refunds on tax already collected despite prior tax treatment.
Two retrospective GST amendments reclassify past tax treatments and bar refunds: unintended waste from fish meal production (excluding fish oil) is retrospectively exempted for the earlier period but collected tax is non refundable; and grant of alcoholic liquor licences is retrospectively treated as neither supply of goods nor supply of services, with tax already collected likewise not refundable.

Interest rate under section 50(3) CGST Act set retrospectively to a prescribed statutory rate affecting tax interest liability.
Notification No. 10/2017 (Union Territory Tax) is amended retrospectively from 1 July 2017 to prescribe the rate of interest under sub-section (3) of section 50 of the CGST Act as 18%, thereby fixing the statutory interest chargeable under that CGST provision for the retrospective period.

Interest rate under CGST Act fixed retrospectively, establishing a statutory uniform rate effective from July 2017.
A retrospective amendment to Notification No. 6/2017 fixes the statutory interest rate applicable under the CGST interest provision, with effect from 1 July 2017, by specifying the rate of interest under subsection (3) of the relevant CGST provision.

Input tax credit restrictions clarified: availment conditioned on communication and extended rectification windows provided.
Amendments condition availment of input tax credit on absence of restrictions in communications to recipients and extend the claim and rectification window to the thirtieth day of November of the following financial year; they remove two way return communication, replace it with prescribed one way auto generated communication of inward supplies and credits, require tax period sequential filing of outward supplies, substitute provisional credit claims with self assessed credit subject to conditions, limit utilisation and transfer of electronic ledgers, restate interest on wrongly availed credit retrospectively, and clarify refund claim procedures and withholding scope.

Retail sale price valuation provisions superseded to align central excise valuation with the post GST legal framework under new notification.
Notification No. 49/2008 set out retail sale price based valuation and abatements under section 4A of the Central Excise Act; it has been superseded by Notification No. 01/2022 dated 1 February 2022 to align excise valuation and abatement treatment with the post GST legal framework.

NCCD schedule amendment: reclassification of petroleum crude tariff item to a designated central excise heading changes levy application.
Amendment substitutes Central Excise tariff item 2709 20 00 with 2709 00 10, classifying the entry as petroleum crude in the Seventh Schedule to the Finance Act, 2001, via the Finance Bill, 2022, thereby reclassifying the tariff heading for NCCD schedule purposes.

Additional excise duty on unblended fuel imposed to promote blending from October, affecting petrol and diesel sales.
An additional Basic Excise Duty of Rs. 2 per litre will be levied on petrol and high speed diesel sold to retail consumers without blending, effective from 1 October 2022, to promote petrol blending with ethanol/methanol and diesel blending with bio-diesel by creating a tax differential between blended and unblended fuels.

Ethanol blend tariff classification updated; new excise tariff entries align Fourth Schedule with Customs Tariff provisions.
Insertion of two new tariff items into the Fourth Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944 establishes excise classifications for ethanol-blended petrol conforming to BIS IS 17586 and aligns those Fourth Schedule entries with the proposed corresponding amendment in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975; amendments take effect on enactment unless otherwise specified.