Nationwide bank-union strike action is scheduled for 11 September to press for five-day banking and unresolved employee pension demands. Cash withdrawals, deposits and other branch operations at public-sector banks may be affected. Union demands include a five-day working week, improved pensions, a uniform dearness-allowance formula for pensioners, and an option for National Pension System employees to move to the old pension scheme. A further three-day nationwide strike has been threatened from 28 September.

GST registration is impermissible without biometric-based Aadhaar authentication, addressing allegations of fraudulent registrations obtained through misuse of PAN and Aadhaar credentials. The requirement strengthens taxpayer identity verification in the GST registration process. Related issues include allegedly defamatory online posts, film release pending certification, sporting guidelines for women athletes returning after maternity, and the importance of an independent, ethical and fearless Bar to judicial independence.

Arunachal Pradesh revises the State GST rate schedules by removing specified goods from Schedule I taxable at 2.5% and adding listed construction materials to Schedule II taxable at 6%, effective from 1 April 2022. The additions include fly ash bricks, fly ash aggregate with at least 90 per cent fly ash content, fly ash blocks, bricks of fossil meals or similar siliceous earths, building bricks, and earthen or roofing tiles.

Section 128A provides conditional waiver of interest or penalty or both for eligible section 73 demands relating to financial years 2017-18 to 2019-20, subject to full payment of tax and prescribed applications in FORM GST SPL-01 or SPL-02. Pending appeals, writ petitions and special leave petitions concerning the demand must be withdrawn. Tax paid through FORM GST DRC-03 for an adjudicated demand must be adjusted through FORM GST DRC-03A before filing SPL-02. Waiver is limited to eligible periods and non-erroneous-refund demands; unpaid residual interest, penalty, or additional tax within the prescribed period renders the waiver void.

Natural justice requires an assessee to receive all documents, statements and other material proposed to be relied upon in assessment proceedings where the assessee has specifically requested them. Reliance on undisclosed material denies an effective opportunity to answer allegations and renders the assessment invalid. The assessment must be undertaken afresh only after supplying the relied-upon material, allowing a response and personal hearing, and assigning the matter to a different jurisdictional Assessing Officer.

Arunachal Pradesh brings sections 2, 3 and 7 to 15 of the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2022 into force from 1 January 2022. The State Government fixes the appointed date under its statutory power to commence specified provisions of the Amendment Act within the State GST framework.

Sections 4 and 5 of the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services (Amendment) Act, 2022 are brought into force from 1 August 2021. The State Government appoints this date for the identified amendment provisions to become operative.

Section 6 of the Arunachal Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2022 is brought into force from 1 June 2021. The commencement is made by appointing that date under the State Government's authority to bring specified provisions of the amending legislation into operation. The measure is limited to activating section 6 within the Arunachal Pradesh GST framework.

Share capital and premium received through banking channels cannot be treated as unexplained cash credits where the assessee establishes subscriber identity, creditworthiness and transaction genuineness through PAN and corporate records, tax returns, confirmations, bank statements and audited financial statements. The evidentiary burden then shifts to the Revenue, and non-production of subscriber directors alone does not justify an addition absent contrary material. Section 56(2)(viib) applies only from assessment year 2013-14 and cannot be invoked retrospectively for share premium received in an earlier assessment year. The subscription receipts therefore remain accepted as genuine capital receipts.

Intelligence-led customs enforcement against organised gold smuggling led to seizures of foreign-origin gold across airport, rail, road and Indo-Bangladesh border routes. Gold was concealed through melting, defacing, conversion into chains, dust or paste, and hiding in vehicles, baggage, machinery and body-worn articles. Seizures under the Customs Act, 1962 followed failures to produce documentation substantiating licit possession. The activity also identified transit passengers, airport staff, recipients and handlers involved in clandestine removal and movement of smuggled gold.

Office rent paid by a proprietor from a savings account recorded in the proprietor's books raises the accounting treatment and appropriate journal-entry issue for recognising the rent expense and reflecting payment through that account. The issue concerns bookkeeping for a proprietor's office-rent payment within an accounting and auditing context.

The amendments revise associate identification, pre-close deployment of contributor monies, investment conditions and investor protections across Venture Capital, Restricted and Retail schemes. NAV computation, valuation and portfolio disclosure obligations are aligned with commencement of investment activity and scheme type. Sponsor contribution rules, exemptions for relocated, passive, index and fund of funds structures, and sectoral-cap treatment are updated. FMEs and fiduciaries must maintain and approve compliance policies, verify key service-provider appointments before investor agreements, and ensure prescribed investor approvals or disclosures.

Eligible existing and new-to-bank customers may access a simplified Auto and Two-Wheeler financing journey through a fully digital, end-to-end paperless process. Automated decisioning, straight-through processing, digital documentation and dealer integration are intended to enable application-to-disbursement within 30 minutes, reduce financing friction and accelerate access to vehicle finance. The broader initiative uses customer engagement and employee capability-building measures to convert customer feedback into faster action and improved service experiences.

Wizzmoni Financial Services Limited and Appreciate are integrating global-investing infrastructure into the Wizz Financial App. Retail and high-net-worth customers may access US-listed stocks, exchange-traded funds and Global Mutual Funds through a digital experience with onboarding, a single-KYC journey and multi-bank remittance support. International investing is routed through regulated GIFT City IFSC infrastructure and is positioned as a compliant pathway under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme framework, alongside existing foreign-exchange and cross-border payment services.

Money-laundering charges were ordered to be framed against nine accused on allegations that manipulation of a railway hotel lease tender enabled the transfer of undervalued land through DMCPL and subsequent share transfers to Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yadav. The land was treated as alleged proceeds of crime arising from abuse of public office. At the charge-framing stage, strong suspicion, rather than conclusive proof of criminal intent, was sufficient. Documentary material concerning land transfers, company control, loans, shareholding changes and subsequent transfers supported the allegations.

Financial-sector digitalisation is being advanced through proposed tokenisation of corporate bonds, digital public infrastructure for next-generation financial services, and recognition of an additional self-regulatory organisation. The Unified Lending Interface is identified as an example of such infrastructure. Trust is central to the financial system, and fintech entities are expected to treat data as a fiduciary responsibility rather than as a business asset. United Fintech Forum has received approval as the second self-regulatory organisation for the financial sector.

GST recovery involving business entities undergoing Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code proceedings must follow the previously issued recovery guidelines. Ward Incharges must take timely action on cases forwarded to their wards, strictly adhere to the prescribed framework, and submit monthly compliance reports through their respective Zonal Incharge to the Law and Judicial Branch from January 2022 onwards.

Rule 28(2) values related-party corporate guarantee services supplied to a banking company or financial institution at the higher of actual consideration and one per cent per annum of the guaranteed amount. The service is taxable independently of loan disbursal and is valued on the amount guaranteed. Fixed-term guarantees are valued for their full period, while renewals are valued on each renewal. Domestic intra-group guarantees follow forward charge and overseas related-party guarantees to Indian recipients follow reverse charge. Invoice value is accepted where full input tax credit is available, and Rule 28(2) excludes guarantees supplied to recipients located outside India.

Exemption from the suitability test for Graduate Typists and Confidential Assistants dispensed only with the qualifying-test requirement; it did not grant preferential promotion rights as Section Officers. The exemption expressly preserved the claims of eligible non-graduate candidates who had passed the test and awaited appointment. A later clarificatory order could not enlarge the original exemption into a continuing graduate preference after its effective date. Eligible non-graduates who satisfied the test requirement therefore retained their claims to appointment and consequential service benefits without being subordinated to exempt graduate candidates.

Deduction under section 80IB(10) extends to additional income disclosed during a search where unrecorded customer receipts arise from sales of flats in an otherwise eligible housing project. Such receipts retain the character of housing-project business income despite not being recorded in the regular books. Assessment under the search provisions requires total income to be computed by applying other applicable provisions, including Chapter VIA deductions, provided the prescribed conditions are met. The disclosed income therefore qualifies for the housing-project deduction when its source is the eligible project.