New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) The CPI(M) slammed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday for approving a repayment plan of Rs 6.5 crore against claims of Rs 22,006.57 crore involving Zee Group founder and chairman Subhash Chandra, calling it a "mockery" of fair justice. In a statement, the party's Politburo said lenders would suffer a loss of 99.97 per cent under the approved settlement and alleged that the decision reflects a "class bias" in favour of influential corporate borrowers. ... ... ...

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.

Penalty for furnishing inaccurate particulars cannot survive where it rests solely on a bad-debt disallowance that has been deleted. Once the Tribunal deleted the quantum addition and the High Court confirmed that deletion, no tax liability remained in respect of the disallowance. The consequential penalty for concealment or furnishing inaccurate particulars was therefore deleted, with the Tribunal's deletion sustained and the revenue's appeal dismissed.

Refunds arising from TDS assessments under section 201 or appellate orders constitute crystallised entitlements payable with statutory interest, without requiring Form 26B. Section 200A, Rule 31A and Form 26B govern CPC processing and adjustment of TDS before assessment and do not apply to post-assessment refunds. Such refunds may be withheld or set off against outstanding demands only through a statutory adjustment order under section 245; demands linked to the taxpayer's PAN or related TANs alone do not justify withholding. The Department was directed to release the refunds with applicable interest, with additional interest for delayed credit.

TDS credit cannot be denied where the assessee establishes that tax was deducted from its income, merely because the deductor failed to deposit it with the Central Government. A claim admitted in the deductor's insolvency process for unpaid receivables does not preclude such credit. The Assessing Officer must verify the claim under the prescribed procedure and grant credit and consequential relief if established. An intimation under Section 143(1), as a deemed notice of demand, must be served on the assessee before the demand can be enforced. In the absence of proof of service, recovery and refund adjustment under Section 245 cannot stand; the demand is quashed and adjusted amounts must be refunded with applicable interest.

Section 148A requires the assessee to receive information suggesting income has escaped assessment, not the source of that information. Particulars in the annexure to a reassessment show-cause notice may satisfy this requirement where they identify the basis and reasons sufficiently for a response; non-disclosure of an audit objection does not invalidate the notice. However, where an assessee asserts that a taxable marked-to-market hedge-reserve amount was included in an earlier year, the assessing authority must verify that claim and its consequences. Failure to do so requires reconsideration after hearing the assessee, including additional supporting material.

Draft assessment procedure under section 144C applies mandatorily where an assessee's non-resident status is accepted and the assessment falls within that provision. A final assessment made directly under section 143(3), without first forwarding a draft assessment order, is void. The appellate finding invalidating the assessment was sustained, and the Revenue's appeal was dismissed.

Under section 68, an assessee initially establishes unsecured loan credits by proving creditor identity, transaction genuineness and prima facie creditworthiness. Confirmations, tax particulars, bank statements and ledger accounts showing banking-channel transactions shift the burden to the Revenue. Low lender income, cash deposits before cheques or incomplete records may warrant further inquiry but do not alone displace that evidence; continuing accounts and banking-channel repayments support genuineness. The unsecured-loan addition was therefore deleted. Employees' PF/ESI contributions are deductible only when deposited within the due date under the relevant welfare legislation; payment before the income-tax return filing due date does not cure the delay. The related disallowance was sustained.

Assessing Officers must independently evaluate material and determine assessment issues; administrative supervision cannot displace their quasi-judicial discretion. Incorporating superior-authority directions or inputs without independent satisfaction renders an assessment legally unsustainable. For alleged on-money receipts, electronic communications and third-party statements require an opportunity for confrontation and cross-examination. The presumption concerning seized material is rebuttable and applies against the person from whom it is seized. WhatsApp chats concerning developed plots, unsupported by cash evidence, purchaser admissions, acknowledgments or other corroboration, cannot be extrapolated to undeveloped-plot sales where val.....

Penalty for accepting cash sale consideration under section 271D was examined in a co-owned property transaction involving an alleged contravention of section 269SS. The relevant circumstances included disclosure of the full sale consideration for taxation after receipt of cash and the absence of penalty against a co-owner participating in the same transaction. Applying the coordinate Bench approach on identical facts, the penalty was deleted. The discussion treats subsequent tax disclosure, comparable treatment of co-owners, and reasonable cause as material considerations in determining whether a cash-acceptance penalty should stand.