The Anonymised Escalation Mechanism enables importers and Customs Brokers to register anonymous ICEGATE grievances for delays in Bill of Entry assessment under faceless assessment. Tickets are routed in ICES to officers holding Virtual Designation Number or Actual Designation Number roles, according to whether assessment is pending at a Faceless Assessment Group port or the port of import. Tickets move with a transferred Bill of Entry, and close in the system upon completion of assessment.

Implementation of norms governing base price, price bands, pre-open session call auctions and close-out procedures for Exchange Traded Funds is deferred to September 7, 2026 to facilitate smooth implementation. All other requirements remain unchanged. Market infrastructure institutions must establish necessary systems, amend relevant bye-laws, rules and regulations where required, and disseminate the requirements to market participants, including investors.

Self-sealed containers that miss their vessel may be kept in the Central Parking Plaza Buffer Yard without prior Customs permission, eliminating the need to shift them to another buffer yard or container freight station. Hazardous cargo may be moved elsewhere only with case-specific permission, supported by weekly reporting and record maintenance. Custodians and service providers remain responsible for cargo safety, security, and compliance with the Customs Act and Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations.

Enhanced functionality in the Bank Guarantee Repository Module enables digital submission, monitoring and processing of bank guarantees. The module distinguishes fresh and replacement guarantees, sends automated expiry alerts, and permits digitally signed renewal, encashment and return communications. Structured status tracking covers pending acceptance, acceptance, replacement, EODC return and renewal or encashment notices. Bank guarantees in the Bills Repository remain pending acceptance until accepted by the Regional Authority, but automatically become accepted when a linked AA/EPCG invalidation file is approved.

MCA and IICA are developing a government-backed digital public good ecosystem for domestic professional services, particularly small and medium practices. The framework proposes curated technology access, learning and capability development, and knowledge and practice infrastructure. It is intended to improve access to technology and professional knowledge while complementing existing institutional and market-based systems. Consultations address interoperability, common standards, cybersecurity, affordable access, implementation, change management, openness, competition and technology adoption suited to differing levels of digital readiness.

Methamphetamine trafficking enforcement under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 involved intelligence-led seizures of tablets in Assam and Mizoram, along with the vehicles allegedly used for transportation and arrests of two vehicle occupants. Field testing indicated the presence of amphetamine. The tablets were concealed in fabricated cavities within a truck and car, with preliminary investigation indicating alleged cross-border smuggling into Mizoram. Methamphetamine is a notified psychotropic substance, and illicit manufacture, possession, transportation and trafficking attract stringent penal consequences.

SEBI restrained Trafiksol ITS Technologies Ltd. and its promoter-directors from accessing or dealing in the securities market for one year and imposed monetary penalties over irregularities in its SME IPO. The action concerned overstated financial disclosures, inadequate disclosure of issue expenditure and a potential merchant-banker conflict, and proposed use of IPO proceeds based on a fabricated software-vendor quotation. The listing was deferred and IPO proceeds were placed in an interest-bearing escrow account. One promoter was directly involved in procuring the quotation, while the other failed to exercise due diligence.

SEBI imposed securities-market restrictions, disgorgement directions and monetary penalties in relation to alleged accounting fraud involving fictitious sales, purchases, circular transactions and fraudulent ledger entries. The alleged inflation of financial results facilitated migration to the NSE main board and was followed by fraudulent preferential allotments, a bonus issue and a rights issue. Rights issue proceeds were found to have been diverted, requiring restoration with applicable interest. The company and its managing director received seven-year market prohibitions, with additional governance restrictions applying to the managing director.

CPI(M) criticised approval of a repayment plan involving Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra, asserting that repayment of Rs 6.5 crore against creditor claims of Rs 22,006.57 crore undermines fairness in insolvency debt settlement. It alleged severe creditor haircuts and bias favouring influential corporate borrowers. The party linked the settlement to an alleged pattern of large borrowers resolving liabilities at steep discounts, shifting the burden to taxpayers and small depositors while smaller borrowers face coercive recovery measures.

Tariff-value tables for specified imports are substituted with values unchanged for crude palm oil, refined palm oil, palmolein, soybean oil, brass scrap and areca nuts. Gold in specified forms, including eligible gold bars and coins, remains subject to the prescribed tariff value per 10 grams. Silver in specified forms, including eligible medallions, coins and semi-manufactured silver, remains subject to the prescribed tariff value per kilogram, subject to stated exclusions for foreign currency coins, silver jewellery and silver articles. The substituted tables take effect from 26 August 2026.

Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificates must be generated and issued only on the date of inspection; the portal will not permit later issuance. Inspection dates must use the DD/MMM/YYYY format. Authorised Pre-Shipment Inspection Agency users may upload inspectors' signature and official stamp images, which will be automatically embedded in certificates, removing manual signing and re-uploading. Inspectors must be selected from a system-generated list, with their details automatically populated. Registered inspection instruments will be selected by country and displayed as read-only. The portal also permits up to 10 inspection photographs and a larger mandatory video attachment, subject to specified formats.

Regular bail in alleged fraudulent input tax credit availment through fake invoices depends on more than the seriousness of an economic offence. Relevant considerations include custody period, maximum punishment, the nature of evidence, risk of evidence tampering or witness influence, cooperation with trial, prior antecedents, and the likelihood of early trial completion. The High Court found that the accused had spent about four months in custody, faced a maximum five-year sentence, had no antecedents, and confronted documentary evidence, with no material showing interference risk. Bail was granted on bonds, subject to conditions against interfering with proceedings, requiring address updates, and restricting foreign travel without permission.

Ex parte GST adjudication may warrant fresh consideration where a taxpayer did not answer a show-cause notice or contest proceedings because of asserted health-related inability. A justice-oriented approach supports reopening from the reply stage, permitting submission of supporting material and a reasonable hearing. A limitation-based dismissal of the statutory appeal did not involve examination on merits; the procedural focus is restoration of an effective opportunity to reply and be heard.

Composite GST assessment orders covering five distinct tax periods are unsustainable. Separate notices must be issued for each respective tax period, and the taxpayer must receive an opportunity of hearing before fresh assessment action is taken. The High Court declined to examine the assessment merits and set aside the composite order, subject to deposit of 20% of the disputed tax within the stipulated period. On default, the authorities may proceed in accordance with law. Fresh proceedings may be initiated separately for each tax period.

E-Way Bill requirements extend to movement of goods for reasons other than supply, including return of an excavator from a work site to registered premises. Ownership and return to the owner's premises do not independently remove that requirement. A short-distance exemption must be established with satisfactory evidence that the movement falls within Rule 138(14) or an applicable notification. Failure to prove the exemption, or to clarify the tax treatment of consideration for use of the equipment, may prevent the breach from being treated as merely procedural and may support tax-evasion consequences under CGST/UPGST enforcement provisions.

Transportation of taxable goods without an E-Way Bill is treated as substantive non-compliance where the bill is generated only after interception and the same lapse recurs. An E-Way Bill forms part of the statutory mechanism for monitoring taxable-goods movement; its absence alongside a manually issued invoice may permit subsequent account manipulation. Post-interception production, combined with repetition in a similar transaction, indicates a deliberate course of conduct and intention to evade tax rather than a technical or procedural breach. On that basis, tax and penalty proceedings were sustained, the first appellate order was set aside, and the Proper Officer's tax and penalty order was restored.

Concessional GST for job work on brass statues and carved wooden products applies only where the goods belong to a registered person and qualify as predominantly handmade handicrafts; processing goods of unregistered persons falls under the residual treatment-or-processing entry and attracts the higher rate. Commercially cast or moulded resin statues and ornamental vases are plastic articles, not original sculptures or statuary, and are classified under the relevant plastic-articles tariff items. GST exemption covers only marble or wooden idols or murtis of gods or goddesses, not decorative figures; qualifying marble deities fall in Chapter 68 and wooden deities in Chapter 44, irrespective of eight-digit classification.

Psyllium seeds supplied in raw form fall under sub-heading 1211 9013, as the tariff description and HSN Notes specifically cover Psyllium seed. GST exemption as fresh or chilled goods depends on the condition at supply. Seeds stored in dry, ventilated godowns, without evidence of storage duration supporting their fresh character, acquire the character of dried seeds and cannot qualify as fresh or chilled. The exemption for goods of seed quality is likewise unavailable where the supplies are treated as dried Psyllium seeds. Such supplies are taxable as dried seeds at the applicable concessional rate.

Beneficial DTAA withholding rates apply to royalty and fees for technical services paid to non-residents where those rates are more favourable than domestic law. Section 90(2) gives treaty provisions priority in such circumstances. The higher tax-deduction requirement for non-furnishing of PAN under section 206AA is procedural and does not override the applicable beneficial treaty rate. Accordingly, tax deducted at the relevant DTAA rate does not create a short-deduction liability merely because the PAN-based domestic withholding rate is higher; the related demand and consequential interest were deleted.

Statutory housing board functions directed at housing development and general public utility can retain charitable status despite receipts that resemble commercial activity. Charges collected while discharging statutory public functions do not, merely because of their commercial character, trigger the exclusion for trade, commerce or business under section 2(15) read with section 13(8). The housing board therefore remained eligible for income-tax exemption under sections 11 and 12, and the Revenue's challenge to that exemption failed.