Registered persons with aggregate annual turnover not exceeding two crore rupees in financial year 2023-24 are exempt from furnishing the annual return for that financial year. The exemption operates under the first proviso to section 44 of the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Fraudulent diversion of duty-free SEZ scrap into the DTA vitiates advance-licence exemption, permits recovery of customs and central excise duty with interest, and supports invocation of the extended limitation period. Non-existent buyers, forged, cancelled or suspended licence documentation, and cash-funded payment arrangements establish fraudulent availment where goods were neither received by stated recipients nor used to meet export obligations. Recovery proceedings for duty not levied or short-levied remain available despite prior assessment and clearance of bills of entry. DRI-issued show-cause notices and adjudication by the Commissioner of Customs are valid under the statutory jurisdictional position. Segregating and processing mixe.....

Registration of a partnership firm was proved by the Registrar of Firms' memorandum and a certified Form-VIII admitted as additional evidence because it enabled judgment and furthered justice. The firm was therefore competent to institute the suit. Limitation for invoice-based recovery was not extended or suspended by winding-up proceedings, which are independent of a civil money-recovery suit. The claim was based on individual invoices rather than a running account, and the relied-on communication neither acknowledged the disputed debt nor constituted part-payment for those invoices. As the relevant invoices were already time-barred, the recovery suit was dismissed.

Insider trading liability under the 2015 PIT Regulations arises where a person possesses unpublished price sensitive information and trades in the company's shares, subject to a rebuttable presumption that the trade was motivated by that information. The listed defences are illustrative rather than exhaustive, but any additional defence must be comparable in nature. The intended use of sale proceeds and absence of profit do not negate liability. Disgorgement may equal wrongful gain or loss averted through the contravention. Breach of the prescribed insider-trading code of conduct may also attract penalty, while penalties may be reduced to the statutory minimum where circumstances justify it.

Limitation for operational-debt insolvency applications runs from the individual date of default for each due and payable invoice or payment claim, not from continuing non-payment or subsistence of an EPC contract. A written acknowledgment by the corporate debtor before limitation expires is required to reset limitation; unilateral legal notices do not do so. Completed contractual milestones may constitute operational debt, while suspension, idling and demobilisation claims are uncrystallised damages unless adjudicated. Prolonged suspension does not automatically frustrate or terminate an EPC contract where termination requires election and time is not essential. A genuine pre-existing dispute must be evident from prior conduct or communications. The time-barred insolvency application was set aside, without affecting contractual dispute-resolution remedies.

Distribution under a resolution plan among secured financial creditors may be determined through the Committee of Creditors' commercial wisdom, subject to the statutory minimum payable to dissenting financial creditors. A dissenting secured creditor cannot demand a larger share solely by relying on the value of its individual security interest. Pro rata allocation based on claims admitted by the resolution professional during CIRP, including stage-wise receipt of plan funds, is consistent with this principle. The approved distribution according to admitted claim ratios, rather than individual security interests, was sustained and the appeals were dismissed.

Section 37A of FEMA permits seizure where available material establishes a prima facie Section 4 contravention; final proof is reserved for adjudication. Tally data, emails, witness statements and overseas bank deposits may support an allegation of unauthorised foreign-exchange transfers without proving the ultimate use of every remitted amount. Property in India may be seized at equivalent value even where overseas accounts are held by a separate foreign entity, because that entity's legal personality does not displace FEMA's seizure power against the alleged contravener. Income-tax settlement provisions operate separately and do not override FEMA consequences. The refusal to confirm seizure was therefore interfered with and the appeal succeeded.

Money-laundering proceedings may survive compromise-based quashing of a scheduled-offence FIR because such quashing does not establish that the predicate offence never occurred or that no proceeds of crime exist. Quashing, discharge or acquittal on merits finding that the scheduled offence did not occur would remove that foundation. The PMLA inquiry may extend beyond the predicate investigation to property derived directly or indirectly from scheduled criminal activity, including allegations linked to a wider conspiracy. Bail requires satisfaction of the statutory twin conditions on a probabilistic assessment, without a mini-trial. Alleged control of forex entities, dummy directors, fund conversion and flight-risk conduct may defeat bail. Parity is unavailable where a co-accused's circumstances differ materially.

Property of equivalent value may be seized or frozen where direct proceeds of crime are unavailable; prior acquisition alone does not exclude property from action under the proceeds-of-crime definition. Retention of seized documents, digital devices and cash, and freezing of bank and Demat accounts were sustained where a majority shareholder and authorised signatory was linked to the company involved in alleged investment fraud, failed to deny material particulars, and did not disclose the property's source. A connected person likewise failed to establish an independent source for held funds and shares. The appeals challenging retention and freezing were dismissed.

Goods Transport Agency classification does not depend on a document being expressly titled a consignment note. Bills containing essential transportation particulars may qualify as consignment notes, and recipients' certificates confirming receipt of GTA services and reverse-charge tax payment support that classification. Service tax demands cannot rest solely on differences between ST-3 returns and Form 26AS or other Income Tax data without verification of books of account and underlying transactions, because such data do not determine taxable turnover under service tax law. Extended limitation cannot be invoked for alleged suppression where relevant facts were already available to the Department and ST-3 returns were regularly filed. The impugned demands were set aside with consequential relief.

Copyright was expressly excluded from the scope of intellectual property right service, which covered only rights recognised under Indian law. Royalties for a non-exclusive licence to pre-install and sub-license Microsoft operating software therefore concerned copyright exploitation rather than taxable intellectual property rights. Commercial use of information technology software became separately taxable only from 16 May 2008. Extended limitation could not apply where departmental audit and correspondence established knowledge of the activity, and reverse-charge tax would have been available as CENVAT credit, supporting revenue neutrality and absence of intent to evade.

Service-tax show cause notices based on foreign-currency expenditure remain valid where they identify the alleged services sufficiently for the assessee to provide service-wise and amount-wise replies; further elaboration during adjudication does not exceed the notices' scope. Extended limitation cannot rest on a bare statutory reference without pleaded facts showing fraud, collusion, wilful misstatement or suppression with intent to evade tax, particularly after an earlier audit-based notice and where employee secondment involves interpretive issues. Overseas employee secondment constitutes manpower supply, subject only to the normal limitation period. Other service-tax demands require fresh reasoned determination after considering submissions, accounting evidence, the Chartered Accountant certificate, and relevant accounting standards and procedures.

Time-share accommodation arrangements fall outside Club or Association Service where purchasers receive only contractual occupancy rights for specified periods, without ownership, voting, management or other club-membership rights. Contractual use of the term "member" does not determine classification; consideration linked to accommodation categories, absence of conventional subscriptions and resort access for ordinary guests support treatment as accommodation services. A later distinct taxable entry for short-term accommodation further supports that conclusion. Pre-notice payment of tax and applicable interest, absent fraud, collusion or wilful suppression, attracts statutory protection and precludes penalty-only proceedings. Suppression penalties also require evidence of deliberate evasion, not merely a bona fide classification dispute disclosed in regular audited accounts.

CENVAT credit attributable exclusively to trading is inadmissible because trading is not an eligible output activity. Common input-service credit used for trading and taxable output services requires reasonable reversal, with the rule 6(3D)(c) formula proposed for quantification even before trading was expressly included as an exempted service. Proportionate credit on rented premises remains available where evidence establishes use for taxable services; a landlord's service-tax default does not by itself defeat that credit. Short-payment demands based on discrepancies between service-tax and income-tax returns require proof of deliberate intent to evade for extended limitation. Conflicting views remain on whether trading-related credit permits invocation of the extended period and consequential penalties, requiring Third Member determination.

Section 141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act extends liability for dishonoured company cheques beyond the signatory to directors who were in charge of and responsible for the company's business when the offence occurred. At the summoning stage, a Magistrate need only determine whether the complaint and supporting material disclose a prima facie case, not whether conviction is supported. Allegations that directors controlled company affairs, together with the petitioner's directorship during relevant transactions, were treated as sufficient foundational averments for trial. Questions concerning actual managerial involvement and non-participation require evidence before the Trial Court. The challenge to the summoning orders and cheque-dishonour proceedings was rejected.

Manufacturing performance is assessed under the revised National Accounts Statistics series using 2022-23 as the base year. Manufacturing's share of total Gross Value Added at current prices remained broadly stable through 2025-26, and Manufacturing GVA at constant prices achieved a compounded annual growth rate of 10.88% from 2022-23 to 2025-26. Production Linked Incentive schemes, logistics and industrial-corridor measures, semiconductor initiatives, and MSME support seek to strengthen domestic manufacturing, diversify supply chains, reduce import dependence, and improve resilience.

NCLT has launched e-Inspection and e-Certified Copy Services for faster and more convenient access to judicial records and certified copies by advocates, litigants and other stakeholders. The services support a technology-enabled Registry framework and transparent, efficient justice delivery. Pendency monitoring, workload redistribution, Special Benches, maximisation of court time, and registration and listing guidelines are intended to improve case management, optimise limited judicial resources and reduce avoidable delays.

CBDC-based Direct Benefit Transfer under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana will credit eligible beneficiaries' food subsidies as programmable Digital Rupee tokens directly into CBDC wallets. Beneficiaries may use these credits to purchase foodgrains from empanelled merchants through secure, real-time and traceable payments, replacing conventional bank-account transfers. The model is intended to improve traceability, reduce leakages and cash handling, enable real-time monitoring of subsidy use, and provide a scalable framework for CBDC integration with welfare schemes.

India and the Southern African Customs Union have signed Terms of Reference to commence negotiations for a Preferential Trade Agreement. Negotiations are envisaged on trade in goods and market access, rules of origin, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedies including bilateral safeguards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, dispute settlement, and legal and horizontal provisions. The Terms of Reference establish the negotiating framework only; preferential tariff treatment and other operative commitments depend on conclusion of a final agreement.

Vicarious criminal liability for cheque dishonour requires clear factual averments that each accused was, at the relevant time, in charge of and responsible for the entity's business conduct. Mere status as a director, executive member, committee member or other office-holder does not create presumed liability. A complaint need not repeat statutory language verbatim if, read as a whole, it discloses the factual basis for liability. A cheque signatory is ordinarily connected with the incriminating act, whereas liability of other officers requires material linking them to the transaction and business affairs.