Final personal insolvency admission and closure orders cannot be collaterally challenged through an appeal against a consequential bankruptcy order when the available objections were not raised earlier. Service of the closure application and bankruptcy petition at the debtor's admitted email address, combined with the absence of a statutory requirement for prior notice before a bankruptcy order following closure, defeated the natural justice challenge. Limitation and invocation of the personal guarantee had been determined in the unchallenged admission order; the application was also filed within three years of the demand invoking the guarantee. Separate proceedings against a co-guarantor did not affect the binding orders against the appellant.

A continuing personal guarantee remained operative until outstanding dues were paid and extended to renewed credit facilities because the guarantor signed the renewal at the existing level. The principal cap did not exclude contractual interest: liability covered the specified principal amount together with interest at the stipulated rate or any rate notified by the bank from the date of demand. Consequently, the personal guarantor insolvency application was admitted without appellate interference. The governing principle is that a continuing guarantee, where the guarantor assents to renewal, covers renewed facilities and the agreed interest component in addition to the principal limit.

GST treatment of services supplied by an advocate acting as an Insolvency Professional depends on the capacity and nature of the service, not the supplier's advocate qualification or enrolment. Forward charge is the default under the CGST Act, while reverse charge applies only to notified legal services supplied by advocates. Insolvency and receivership services fall under the specific service classification 998241, distinct from legal services under 99821; the specific classification governs. Such services are therefore subject to forward charge, requiring GST registration and GST-compliant invoicing. Reverse charge remains limited to services rendered in the capacity of an advocate as legal services.

Termination of a disclosed share purchase agreement constitutes material information requiring clear and conspicuous disclosure under Regulation 30. Mentioning the termination only in small print within a note to unaudited financial results, while omitting it from the principal board-meeting disclosure, does not adequately inform investors. Proposed ventures and their termination may materially affect investors' assessment of a listed entity's prospects and share price. The disclosure requirement therefore was not met, and complaints concerning the inadequate communication required evaluation in the proper perspective.

Bulk drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients qualifying as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013 fall within the description-based IGST rate entry for drugs and medicines, regardless of classification under Chapters 28 or 29. Import for manufacture, testing, clinical trials, bioavailability or bioequivalence studies does not change their character as drugs. The phrase "any Chapter" extends the entry to APIs classified outside Chapter 30, and the specific drugs entry prevails over general chapter-based entries for inorganic and organic chemicals. IGST applies at 5%, unless the goods fall within the specified nil-rated entry.

Warehousing permission confines imported goods to the specifically approved bonded warehouse, preserving continuous customs control. Diversion to an unauthorised private yard breaches warehousing conditions even where the same operator retains custody. Such breach can make goods liable to confiscation without proof of clandestine clearance, duty evasion, sale, or mens rea. An importer may remain responsible for diversion by an authorised warehouse operator unless evidence rebuts the presumption of knowledge and consent. Search or electronic-evidence objections do not affect proceedings where independent transport, gate, warehouse, statement, and physical-verification evidence establishes non-deposit in the designated warehouse. Provisional release does not preclude confiscation, redemption fine, or penalty.

Mandatory pre-deposit under Section 129E may be satisfied through an employer's payment where the payment is demonstrably made on behalf of and attributable to each appellant. ICEGATE's electronic voluntary-payment facility requires registration and an IEC, which foreign-national appellants may be unable to obtain independently because of IEC, PAN and Indian mobile-number requirements. Challans identifying each appellant and the challenged order, together with employer indemnity bonds accepting liability for penalties and related losses, establish the required attribution. Such employer-funded payment is treated as the appellants' payment, allowing the customs appeal pre-deposit requirement to be met.

Writ challenges to orders-in-original should ordinarily yield to the statutory appellate remedy under the Customs Act, 1962. Similarly placed noticees were required to pursue appeals, and the appeal against the later order-in-original could be filed within one month without a limitation objection. Attached bank accounts could be released pending appeal where Revenue interests were secured by appropriation of the statutory pre-deposit from those accounts and an unconditional bank guarantee for the remaining amount, allowing continued business operations.

Limitation for customs appeals may exclude time spent pursuing refund and amendment proceedings where the importer acted diligently under binding jurisdictional law that treated refund as an independent remedy. A subsequent requirement to modify the assessment before seeking refund created transitional circumstances supporting application of principles underlying limitation-law exclusion. The period up to 02.06.2020 was treated as excludable, and statutory time extensions further preserved appeals filed on 31.08.2020. Separately, an appeal filed within twenty-eight days of the out-of-charge date fell within the prescribed customs appeal period. Limitation objections therefore did not prevent merits adjudication of the restored matters.

Customs-duty refund issues include whether FOB value may be treated as cum-duty value, the applicability of the CBEC circular dated 10 November 2008, and the effect of a final assessment that was not challenged. The scope for correcting an assessment under Section 154 of the Customs Act is distinguished from reassessment under Section 17(4). These issues arise in considering whether a customs-duty refund can be determined after an assessment has attained finality.

Third-party material cannot sustain an addition for alleged unaccounted cash purchases unless the material is disclosed to the assessee and requested cross-examination is provided. The addition rested solely on software allegedly recovered from a supplier, while the assessee produced records of accounted purchases, bank payments and related export transactions. Withholding the underlying material, the supplier representative's statement and cross-examination denied the assessee an effective opportunity to rebut the allegation. The assessee was not required to prove the negative proposition that no cash purchases occurred before access to the alleged contrary evidence. The addition was therefore unsustainable and deleted.

Overdue interest on non-performing assets is not treated as accrued income where RBI prudential norms indicate uncertain recovery, despite mercantile accounting. Release of a provision for non-performing assets does not fall within section 41(1) where the statutory deduction for bad and doubtful debts is not a loss, expenditure or trading liability, unless it represents recovery of an actual written-off debt. Provision for standard assets may qualify for deduction under section 36(1)(viia), subject to the statutory ceiling, and aggregate average rural advances under Rule 6ABA include opening balances and monthly outstanding advances. Quantification requires verification of the provision created. Penalty is not justified merely because a fully disclosed deduction claim is disallowed without concealment or inaccurate particulars.

Bank branches were not liable as assessees in default for failing to deduct tax at source on leave travel concession reimbursements involving foreign travel during the period covered by binding interim directions. Although the exemption was unavailable on merits, the interim directions treated the reimbursements as not constituting income for tax-deduction purposes. A default can arise only where a legally enforceable obligation to deduct tax exists and remains unfulfilled; the subsisting directions displaced that obligation for the relevant period. Consequently, no consequential interest was chargeable.

COVID-19-related unabsorbed fixed overheads that are exceptional, identifiable and non-recurring should be excluded from operating costs when computing the tested party's operating margin, where they materially impair comparability. Capacity-underutilisation adjustment requires comparable-company data and may be determined afresh using statutory information-gathering powers, with an opportunity for the assessee to respond. Under TNMM, transfer-pricing adjustment is confined to international transactions with associated enterprises and cannot extend to unrelated-party dealings. Bad-debt treatment requires verification to prevent double addition. Working-capital adjustment requires evidence of material differences between the tested party and comparables and their effect on price, cost or profit.

Reassessment may cover issues subsequently noticed under the Explanation to Section 147, but only where the reassessment results in an addition or modification on the issue that formed the basis for reopening. Additions arising solely from later verification and enquiries cannot be sustained when no addition is made on the information underlying the Section 148 notice. The stated position requires a nexus between the reopening foundation and an operative reassessment addition before other subsequently detected issues may be assessed.

Section 153D prior approval is a mandatory safeguard in search assessments, requiring an independent, quasi-judicial examination of draft assessment orders, seized material, enquiries and taxpayer replies. Approval spanning multiple assessees and assessment years without showing consideration of relevant records or incriminating material is characterised as mechanical. For non-abated years, additions based on financial material and Form 3CD rather than incriminating material further indicate non-application of mind. Section 292BC applies only to approvals granted on or after 1 April 2021 and does not validate earlier approvals. Mechanical Section 153D approval vitiates assessments framed pursuant to it.

Exemption under Section 11 remains available where a trust registered under Section 12A pursues education, medical relief and relief of the poor, despite earning rental income and licence fees from trust property. These objects fall outside the residual general-public-utility category subject to the restrictive proviso to Section 2(15). Substantial or systematically collected property receipts do not constitute trade, commerce or business without an independent commercial venture, particularly where they fund charitable objects. In the absence of changed objects, non-genuine activities, diversion of funds, or disputed application of income, the proviso does not apply and additions based on denial of exemption are deleted.

Composite letting principles treat receipts for ancillary amenities, furniture and fixtures as income from house property where the facilities are contractually inseparable from, co-terminus with and incapable of independent enjoyment apart from the commercial premises. Separate agreements or apportioned consideration do not change that character where the dominant intention is to enable beneficial occupation; the statutory deduction for house-property income consequently applies. Interest on refinanced borrowings remains deductible where records trace the refinancing to earlier loans used to acquire the property. Continued borrowing from the original lender is not required, although limited verification of fund utilisation and arithmetic may be necessary.

Registration under section 12AB cannot be refused merely because a charitable institution established otherwise than under a written instrument does not furnish a trust deed or memorandum of association. Rule 17A(2) permits such an institution to provide documents evidencing its creation or establishment, including statutory registration records. The relevant enquiry remains charitable objects, genuineness of activities and compliance with laws material to those objects. Where no independent adverse finding exists under section 80G(5), approval cannot be denied solely because section 12AB registration was refused; the approval must be granted.

Penalty proceedings for concealment under section 271(1)(c) require the Assessing Officer to record satisfaction during assessment proceedings, forming the jurisdictional basis for initiation. The deeming provision in section 271(1B) applies only where an assessment or reassessment contains an addition or disallowance and a clear direction to initiate penalty. Where reassessment accepts the returned income without adjustment, a statement that penalty proceedings will be initiated separately is merely prospective and does not establish present satisfaction. Notices issued under section 274 only after assessment completion cannot remedy invalid initiation. Explanation 5A may deem concealment for penalty purposes but does not cure the absence of valid jurisdictional initiation.