Prospective operation of an amendment to an exemption notification prevents its use against imports covered by bills of lading issued before the amendment's commencement, absent an express retrospective provision. Provisional release of the imported goods must therefore be considered under Section 110A of the Customs Act, 1962, applying the established approach for similar goods where no distinguishing feature exists. The amendment cannot justify refusal to consider the importer's request for provisional release.

Steamer agents lodging and verifying an Import General Manifest act for the person in charge of the conveyance and may incur liability for manifested cargo not unloaded or for deficiencies not satisfactorily explained. Sections 2(31), 30, 31, 116 and 148 of the Customs Act treat an accepted cargo-handling agent as subject to statutory obligations concerning accurate cargo declarations. A substantial mismatch between manifested quantities and goods found in containers, without satisfactory explanation, can attract penalty under Section 116. Bill-of-lading clauses stating that cargo particulars were supplied by shippers and not checked by carriers do not displace these statutory duties.

Transfer-pricing benchmarking for imported finished SIM cards must reflect the assessee's actual reseller/distributor profile. Electrical embossing of customer logos or designs does not convert the distributor into a manufacturer, service provider, or risk-bearing group entrepreneur. Service, system-integration, software and manufacturing companies with research and development activities, intangibles, plants, technology or royalty arrangements are functionally unsuitable comparables and must be excluded. Comparable companies with an unchanged business profile and available annual reports should be retained. Where comparables are rejected solely for unavailable database data, financial information should be obtained through internal or statutory information-gathering mechanisms before a reasoned exclusion. The arm's length price requires fresh computation using functionally comparable distributors.

Transfer-pricing benchmarking of barite exports under the Transactional Net Margin Method requires functionally comparable trading entities and reliable operating-margin data. A company cannot be treated as persistently loss-making if it earned profit in one of the three relevant financial years, making Ashok Alcochem Ltd. eligible for inclusion. Entities predominantly engaged in processing or manufacturing, or lacking segmental information to isolate trading activity, are unsuitable comparables; HD Micrones Ltd., Shivom Minerals Ltd., Gimpex Pvt. Ltd. and Naga Ltd. are therefore excluded. The remaining comparable margins require verification against annual reports before recomputing the arm's length price.

For section 80IA purposes, captive electricity transferred from an eligible unit to a non-eligible unit may be valued at the industrial-consumer tariff charged by the distribution company, as this represents an appropriate comparable uncontrolled price for the specified domestic transaction. Short-term exchange rates are materially dissimilar to continuous captive supply and do not replace this benchmark. Steam is a separately valuable utility with ascertainable production cost and cannot be valued at nil merely as a by-product. Its inter-unit transfer must be valued at production cost. These valuations determine eligible-unit profits and support the corresponding section 80IA deduction.

Mistaken exercise of the concessional regime option through Form No. 10-IF under section 115BAD may permit assessment under the old regime and a section 80P deduction claim. The option ordinarily requires computation of total income without Chapter VI-A deductions, including section 80P. Where the filing was mistaken, income may be recomputed as if Form No. 10-IF had not been filed, provided verification confirms that the co-operative society had not opted for the concessional regime in any earlier year.

Search assessment proceedings initiated and completed in the name of a deceased assessee are invalid where the death occurred before the second-round proceedings and the legal heir was not brought on record. Issuing notices and passing an assessment order against a non-existent person cannot sustain a valid assessment, even where the legal heir subsequently pursues appellate remedies. The assessment is consequently void ab initio.

Section 110A of the Customs Act governs provisional release of seized imported goods through statutory discretion that executive circulars may supplement but cannot override or replace. Pending investigation into alleged misdeclaration, import-policy violations, and tariff classification does not by itself require continued detention, as those matters remain for adjudication. Revenue interests may be protected through conditions such as payment of duty at the departmental rate and execution of a personal bond for the remaining differential duty. Provisional release may therefore be granted without prejudicing investigation, adjudication, classification, import-policy compliance, or final duty liability.

Vital Wheat Gluten imported under a transferable DFIA authorisation permitting wheat flour is treated as wheat flour where the description, quantity and value conditions are satisfied. Exact correspondence of the ITC (HS) code is not required, and commercial or duty-rate differences do not alter eligibility. Customs seizure requires a reason to believe based on relevant and legally sustainable material; reliance on a public notice suspended before import and contrary to binding DFIA classification principles cannot support seizure. The seizure memo was quashed, with release and discharge of the bank guarantee and indemnity bond.

Classification of automotive electronic control units depends on their distinct functions rather than the generic label "ECU". Body Control Modules and Integrated Body Units fall under the tariff entry for electronic automatic regulators, following an earlier Tribunal order in the same party's matter; absent any superior forum order altering that position, judicial discipline requires consistent treatment. Tyre Pressure Monitoring Systems were also accepted under that entry because the proposed motor-vehicle-parts classification lacked evidence establishing the functional characteristics required for reclassification. Revenue bears the burden of proving classification under a tariff heading different from that claimed, and the related demand and interest were set aside.

Regulation 11(2) of the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009 permits exceptional preventive suspension of Customs Cargo Service Provider approval only where an independently recorded, explicit satisfaction establishes an immediate and continuing threat to revenue or customs-area security. Allegations supporting regular proceedings or a pending DRI investigation do not replace the Regulation 12 inquiry. Continued suspension without verification of deficiencies, fresh evidence of a subsisting threat, prompt inquiry, or reasonable departmental action may become punitive and disproportionate. Restoration may be made subject to revenue-protection conditions and continued corrective measures, without preventing regular action under Regulation 11(1) following a proper inquiry.

Immediate suspension of a Customs Broker licence is an exceptional power subject to the mandatory safeguard of a post-decisional hearing within fifteen days. Administrative postponement cannot extend that statutory period. Where the licensing authority conducts the hearing after the prescribed period, continuation of the suspension lacks legal sanction and must be revoked. This does not determine the merits of the underlying allegations, which may be pursued through proceedings in accordance with law.

Leave to appeal was unnecessary because the appellants had applied for intervention and were parties to the order rejecting those applications; the rule requiring strangers to obtain leave did not apply. Their appeals were therefore maintainable without leave. Intervention in the already disposed writ petitions was nevertheless unavailable: erstwhile directors showed only apprehensions, not a tangible subsisting right making them necessary or proper parties in proceedings concerning defreezing of company bank accounts. Pending disputes did not justify intervention or recall, and final disposal rendered the writ court functus officio, precluding further revisiting of the writ petitions. The intervention rejections and dismissal of the intra-court appeals were sustained, without barring appropriate independent remedies against the final writ order.

Article 15 of the Articles of Association required a selling member to notify the Board in writing, enabled the Board to act as agent for sale to existing members, and required pricing at an agreed or auditor-certified fair value. Transfers by individual shareholders and a Trust to outsiders without following that procedure disregarded existing shareholders' pre-emptive rights and were treated as void. The same restrictions applied to both categories of shareholders, and acquiescence could not waive the mandatory process. The transfers were set aside, the company was required to rectify its registers and make consequential declarations, and any fresh sale had to comply with Article 15.

Default bail was unavailable because the supplementary complaint was filed within the prescribed period; its later return for compliance did not by itself create an indefeasible right to release. Bail under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was also refused because the material prima facie linked the accused to activities connected with proceeds of crime, including alleged interference with the auction of attached properties. The statutory twin conditions were not met: there were no reasonable grounds to believe the accused was not guilty or unlikely to commit an offence while on bail. The cited Supreme Court ruling was distinguished on facts, and the bail petition was dismissed.

Floating-rig services are classifiable as Supply of Tangible Goods Service, taxable only from 16 May 2008, rather than Mining Service. Service tax collected under the erroneous classification and borne by the service recipient lacked legal authority under Article 265, supporting refund even though the service provider had not challenged its assessment. Statutory refund limitation did not justify retention where payment arose from a mistake of law caused by misclassification. Certificates establishing that the recipient bore the tax burden supported the finding that refund would not result in unjust enrichment. Appellate authorities and the Tribunal could correct the classification error and grant refund without requiring a civil suit or writ petition.

DTA removal of identifiable goods taken over by an SEZ Developer after payment of applicable customs duty and IGST through a Bill of Entry for home consumption may not create a second customs-duty or customs-IGST incidence if the goods were not processed or transformed in the SEZ. Rule 49(4)(a) permits removal of already-duty-paid goods without duty where identity is established, and relevant Unit procedures apply to Developers. Depreciation need not apply if this relief is available. A later sale or supply may independently attract GST, and clearance requires permission, records and applicable DTA documentation.

Assam Cabinet approvals include first-phase funding for land acquisition and development of the Aerotropolis Satellite City Project and a lease deed for a hotel supporting the Jagiroad semiconductor ecosystem. Measures also provide Aadhaar enrolment relaxation for Moran and Matak communities, zero agricultural tax up to the prescribed net-income threshold, OBC Non-Creamy Layer certificates, and trainee and graduate-assistance funding. Government jobs will be provisionally held pending police verification, with automatic confirmation where no report is submitted within six months. Jail rules will be amended to promote non-discrimination, sanitation, security and fair work allocation.

Money-laundering investigation concerning an alleged liquor scam led to the Enforcement Directorate's arrest of Ramgopal Agrawal and seven days' custodial remand under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency alleged his connection with proceeds of crime, non-attendance despite multiple summonses, and evasiveness during questioning. Allegations concern purported control of the state excise department, illegal liquor sales, and sharing of commissions. The Congress has denied the allegations and described the investigation as politically motivated.

Precise charges are required in a show cause notice initiating disciplinary action against a Customs Broker. Mere reference to allegations in another notice and a list of allegedly contravened regulations, without factual allegations supporting each contravention, does not provide a valid foundation for licence revocation proceedings. The vague notice invalidated the disciplinary action; consequently, revocation of the Customs Broker licence, forfeiture of the security deposit, and penalty were set aside.