Nominee directors appointed by a financial corporation are protected from liability arising solely from their directorship, including for good-faith acts or omissions, under the Industrial Finance Corporation Act, 1948. Criminal liability for failure to comply with a deposit-repayment direction requires material linking the nominee director to the company's day-to-day management, solicitation of deposits, or repayment obligations. A non-executive independent nominee director without such involvement is not a concerned officer liable for the breach.

Failure to consider an applicable Board circular and directly relevant precedent may constitute a mistake apparent from the record for rectification under the Customs Act where correction requires no fresh evidence, reappreciation, or review of the merits. For shipping bills dated before 31 December 2008, the declared FOB value must be treated as a cum-duty price for export-duty assessment under the circular's transitional direction. Assessable value is consequently determined by working backwards from the FOB value. The changed valuation method applies only from 1 January 2009, so post-transition decisions do not govern pre-transition shipping bills.

Foreign-origin black pepper and socks not notified as goods under Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962 do not trigger a reversed burden of proof. Revenue must establish smuggling through adequate evidence before confiscation or penalties can be sustained. Failure to discharge that burden means the goods are not liable to confiscation and penalties cannot be imposed.

Gold bracelets recovered during frisking at a domestic airport, outside a customs area, require a reasonable belief supported by circumstances that they are smuggled before seizure under the Customs Act, 1962. Recovery at the domestic airport, recorded purity of the bracelets, and the absence of an investigation establishing smuggling do not support that belief. Section 110 therefore does not apply on these facts; the bracelets are not liable to confiscation and no penalty is imposable.

Customs exemption for electronic paver finishers depends on the goods' capability and characteristics in their imported condition. A machine capable of paving only up to the prescribed width through optional external bolt-on extensions does not satisfy an exemption condition requiring that capability, particularly where the extensions were neither supplied nor declared. Non-disclosure of the machine's actual paving capability and the need for external additions constitutes misdeclaration of material particulars, supporting extended-period duty recovery. Personal penalty requires proof of a director's specific act or omission causing the misdeclaration; without individual culpability, such penalty is unsustainable.

Preferential-duty exemption based on a certificate of origin cannot be denied unless reliable, certificate-specific retroactive verification establishes that the certificate is invalid or non-genuine. Verification relating to a different certificate or another importer cannot be applied mechanically to separately issued certificates. Where imported goods are unavailable for confiscation and were not released against a bond or undertaking, redemption fine in lieu of confiscation is not imposable. These principles preserve the preferential tariff claim and negate consequential differential duty, interest, penalty and confiscatory liability.

Penalty for improper importation under Section 112(a) requires an act or omission that renders goods liable to confiscation under Section 111. Where goods are unavailable for confiscation and no redemption fine is imposed, and the related duty demand and importer penalties based on the same reclassification have been set aside, penal liability of a director lacks a legal basis. The director's penalty is therefore unsustainable.

EPCG exemption under Notification No. 16/2015-Customs remains available despite non-registration of the authorisation at the original import port, non-production for debit at clearance, and absence of the prescribed undertaking where capital goods were initially imported under the export-oriented unit scheme and later debonded. Furnishing the EPCG authorisation and required particulars to jurisdictional authorities, obtaining exit and no-dues permissions, undertaking the export obligation, and providing an undertaking for future duty shortfall substantially satisfy the notification's conditions. Such defects constitute procedural lapses rather than substantive non-compliance warranting denial of exemption.

EPCG export-obligation enforcement cannot be initiated before expiry of the authorisation's prescribed fulfilment period. Where a six-year period is fixed, alleged non-fulfilment cannot trigger enforcement under the applicable customs exemption framework before that period ends, rendering such proceedings premature. Revenue-neutrality observations concerning IGST payment and corresponding input tax credit do not conclusively establish entitlement where they remain subject to verification. Revenue may examine the underlying data and determine the IGST credit issue in fresh proceedings lawfully initiated after expiry of the export-obligation period.

Customs broker licences already revoked under a valid earlier order cannot be revoked again through separate proceedings for another alleged violation. Where multiple grounds for revocation exist, they should be addressed in the same revocation proceedings. A subsequent order purporting to revoke an already revoked licence lacks statutory authority and creates unnecessary multiplicity of litigation, placing the second revocation outside the statutory framework.

MEIS benefits - inadvertent procedural error in electronic shipping bills MEIS benefits - inadvertent procedural error in electronic shipping bills - Entitlement to MEIS benefits where the exporter selected 'Y' only for the first item in each electronic shipping bill but declared its intent to claim rewards. - HELD THAT: - The Court held that entitlement under a beneficial export-incentive scheme cannot be defeated solely by an inadvertent procedural lapse where the exports are genuine and fa... ... ...

Interest on customs duty consequent upon redemption of confiscated goods - Writ jurisdiction despite alternative statutory remedy Interest on redemption liability - Computation from determination of liability - Computation of interest on customs-duty liability consequential to redemption of confiscated imported Used Oil from the original assessment of the Bill of Entry rather than from determination of that liability in confiscation proceedings. - HELD THAT: - Liability to duty and charges co... ... ...

Proof of benami transaction - Provisional attachment of alleged benami property - Cross-examination in summary benami proceedings Provisional attachment of alleged benami property - Same-day notice and attachment - Validity of the same-day issuance of show-cause notice, approval and provisional attachment of alleged benami properties - HELD THAT: - Section 24 does not prescribe any intervening period between issuance of notice and provisional attachment. Its sequence permits the Initiating Of... ... ...

Additional evidence before Tribunal - Unexplained investment in jointly acquired residential property Additional evidence before Tribunal - Admission of bank and employment records substantiating the contributions of co-owners towards a jointly acquired residential property - HELD THAT: - The additional evidence directly addressed the evidentiary deficiency on which the addition had been sustained. The banking and related records corroborated the transfers made by the assessee, his father and... ... ...

Unexplained cash credits - specified bank note deposits claimed as cash sales - Double taxation - gross profit adjustment in cash-credit addition - Prospective operation of enhanced tax rate on unexplained income Unexplained cash credits - specified bank note deposits claimed as cash sales - Addition u/s 68 for specified bank note deposits claimed to arise from pre-demonetisation cash sales - HELD THAT: - The claimed cash sales were held to be unverifiable, as no sale invoices or day-to-day i... ... ...

Taxability of real net winnings from online games - scope of Section 2(24)(ix) - taxability u/s 115BB Taxability of winnings from skill-based online games - exclusion of winnings from skill-based online games from taxable winnings under the provisions governing card games and other games - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal held that the contention that only chance winnings are taxable could not be accepted. AR's primary submission is that winnings from online games, being games involving skill... ... ...

Gain on sale of land - Agricultural land - exclusion from capital asset - Deemed consideration under section 50C - Reference to Valuation Officer under section 50C(2) - Section 50C valuation-correct extent of land transferred - Principles of natural justice-adequate opportunity in assessment - Limited scrutiny-scope of assessment jurisdiction Taxability of gain on transfer of land claimed to be agricultural land - HELD THAT: - The burden to establish that the land was excluded from the defini... ... ...

Admission of additional ground for treaty-rate dividend distribution tax refund - Revenue deductibility of market research and media measurement expenditure Admission of additional ground for treaty-rate dividend distribution tax refund - Admission and remand of the additional claim for refund of excess dividend distribution tax on dividends paid to a Singapore shareholder at the treaty rate - HELD THAT: - The additional ground, though raised for the first time before the Commissioner (Appeal... ... ...

Penalty for undisclosed income u/s 271AAA - Stock shortage without evidence of unrecorded sale - onus to prove Levy of search-penalty for alleged undisclosed income arising from shortage of cut and polished diamonds physically found as against stock recorded in the books - HELD THAT: - A physical shortage of stock recorded in the books, without corresponding recorded sales or credits, did not by itself establish that the diamonds had been sold and that the sale consideration was unrecorded. T... ... ...

Redevelopment hardship and displacement compensation receipts - Taxable salary vis-a -vis gross salary reported in Form No. 26AS - Deduction for qualifying donation supported by documentary evidence - Deduction for savings-bank interest included in gross total income Redevelopment hardship and displacement compensation - revenue or capital receipt - Taxability of redevelopment compensation paid for hardship and displacement while the assessee's residential premises underwent redevelopment... ... ...