Enforcement action against clandestine manufacture of psychotropic substances led to the detection of a residential drug-production facility. Searches recovered amphetamine and intermediary forms, precursor chemicals, reagents, raw materials, and manufacturing equipment. Field testing indicated the presence of amphetamine, a psychotropic substance regulated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The recovered apparatus and materials indicated illicit manufacture, while preliminary investigation pointed to short-term, intermittently operated facilities intended to conceal production activities.

Transitional credits arising under VAT or CENVAT law cannot be reopened or adjudicated by GST authorities merely because they were carried forward through TRAN-1. Eligibility and validity must be assessed under the law in force when the credit accrued. Section 142(11)(a) applies the test of whether tax was leviable under the existing law, not whether it was actually paid. Non-payment under service tax, VAT, or central excise does not by itself permit retrospective GST on the same transaction, thereby preventing duplication of tax.

GST appellate limitation runs from actual communication of an adjudication order, not merely its date of passing. If a taxpayer declares the date on which the order came to its knowledge, the Revenue must rebut that date with cogent proof of service or delivery. In the absence of such material, the declared date must be accepted for computing limitation. An appeal should not be rejected as delayed without examining the taxpayer's communication plea and evidence of effective service.

Omission of Rule 96(10) of the CGST Rules without a saving clause prevents the deleted export-refund restriction from governing pending proceedings for refund of integrated tax paid on exports. A saving clause may preserve pending liabilities and proceedings, but no such preservation arises merely from the former existence of a subordinate rule. Pending refund claims, show-cause proceedings, adjudications, appeals and writ disputes must be distinguished from matters that have attained finality. Independent refund conditions, including eligibility, export proof, tax payment, limitation, unjust enrichment and procedural compliance, remain subject to examination.

Promotional expenditure incurred by a holder of acquired music rights to monetise those rights is own-account commercial activity where no service is performed for the assignor for consideration. Agreements must be read as a whole: rights assignment, revenue sharing, marketing, and related obligations may constitute one commercial arrangement rather than a separate marketing service. A contractual obligation, flow of money, or incidental benefit cannot alone establish a declared service or taxable supply. Taxability must first identify the activity, supply relationship, and consideration or a specific statutory deeming basis before valuation arises.

The Baggage Rules, 2026 establish duty-free baggage clearance for eligible personal effects, bona fide gifts, souvenirs, re-imported articles and temporary imports, subject to declarations, customs satisfaction and specified exclusions. General allowances vary by passenger category and mode of arrival, cannot be pooled, and include a duty-free laptop facility for eligible adult passengers. Transfer of residence concessions provide additional allowances based on overseas stay, subject to conditions on prior concessions, residence duration and short visits to India. Unaccompanied baggage is permitted within prescribed timelines, with limited extensions for circumstances beyond the passenger's control.

Cross-border IPR, royalty and technical know-how payments require characterisation from the actual rights, services, contractual obligations and economic substance. FEMA governs remittance and documentation; customs may add royalty to imported-goods value where it relates to the goods and is a condition of sale; income tax considers Indian source taxation, treaty relief and withholding; transfer pricing requires arm's-length benchmarking between associated enterprises; and GST may impose IGST under reverse charge on imported IP services. Where royalty is included in customs value, the corresponding IGST exemption requires review to avoid double taxation.

ISO 14064 provides a framework for organisational and project-level greenhouse gas quantification, reporting, validation, and verification, covering organisational inventories, emission-reduction projects, and credible greenhouse-gas statements. ISO 14067 governs lifecycle-based calculation and reporting of product carbon footprints, from raw materials through production, transport, use, and end-of-life stages. Implementation requires defined boundaries, emission-source identification, reliable data, appropriate calculation methods, transparent reporting, and application of accuracy, completeness, consistency, relevance, and conservativeness principles.

Corporate risk management requires testing economic substance rather than accepting invoices, contracts and accounting entries as conclusive evidence. Revenue should be assessed through the complete order-to-collection cycle, with attention to customer capacity, receivables, returns, cash conversion and year-end concentration. Circular trades require network-level review of ownership, locations, funds, goods movement and commercial purpose. Material transactions should be assessed for purpose, reality, ownership, actual inflows and outflows, and fairness; unclear factors require enhanced or independent review. Boards, tax teams, whistle-blower systems and risk-sensitive dashboards should support independent challenge and early detection of fraud, tax and third-party risks.

Customs import and export compliance is a layered, continuous regulatory framework covering registration, product classification, regulatory approvals, licensing, valuation, origin, duty determination, documentation, declarations, clearance, post-clearance obligations, audit readiness and record retention. Importers and exporters bear primary responsibility under self-assessment for accurate declarations and compliance. Correct classification, valuation and origin determination affect duties, restrictions, exemptions, preferential treatment and regulatory controls. Compliance continues after clearance through end-use conditions, bond and warehousing management, record maintenance and readiness for audit or investigation.

SARFAESI measures initiated through a demand notice and an order for assistance in taking possession are subject to the statutory remedial mechanism before the Debt Recovery Tribunal. Article 226 ordinarily cannot be invoked to bypass that efficacious alternative remedy unless extraordinary circumstances justify writ intervention. Writ jurisdiction was therefore declined, leaving the aggrieved party to pursue the statutory remedy before the Debt Recovery Tribunal.

Hydraulic Oil falls within the entry covering petroleum products where specified products are followed by "and others" and certain products are expressly excluded. Used in hydraulic systems, it is characterised as a consumable rather than a manufacturing raw material and is consequently liable to entry tax under the relevant notification. The statutory conditions for reassessment of escaped or under-assessed turnover under Section 6(1) are treated as satisfied where the finding discloses no jurisdictional infirmity, patent illegality, or revisional error. The entry-tax levy and reassessment therefore remain sustainable.

Conditional refund or credit linked to the validity challenge against Notifications No. 19/2008 and 34/2008, together with refund claims involving alleged fictitious clearances, no longer required adjudication in the Revenue appeal. The appeal was disposed of as not surviving. Revenue retains the ability to take further action in accordance with the applicable Supreme Court decision and the pending show-cause proceedings concerning the alleged clearances.

Classification of exported goods may be accepted by the appellate authority without a fresh show cause notice or remand where the original authority has already adjudicated classification after inquiry and afforded the assessee an opportunity of hearing. Reclassification from parts of industrial robots to parts of a grass-cutting machine had been examined at the original stage. On considering export and product material, the appellate authority could accept classification as parts of industrial robots despite disagreeing with the original authority. A further notice or fresh classification adjudication is unnecessary solely because the appellate authority adopts the assessee's claimed classification.

CENVAT credit on construction services used to set up a factory required adjudication on merits because the claim had been raised throughout the proceedings and the applicable definition of input service included services relating to factory set-up during the relevant period. The Tribunal, as the final fact-finding authority, had to determine the claim, including whether the denial exceeded the show-cause notice; its failure to do so required fresh consideration. Penalty also required fresh examination because an earlier finding treated the dispute as interpretational and found no penalty imposable, yet an equivalent penalty was later sustained without a Tribunal finding. Denial of credit, consequential interest and penalty could not stand without complete adjudication.

Rule 6 allows an assessee using common inputs and input services for dutiable and exempted goods to elect proportionate reversal under Rule 6(3A) rather than percentage-based payment under Rule 6(3)(i). Where reversal of credit attributable to exempted goods is substantively established through supporting material, procedural lapses such as non-disclosure in ER-1 returns cannot justify substituting the percentage-payment option. Any wrongly availed credit must instead be determined or disallowed under the mechanism selected by the assessee. This approach prevents retention of credit attributable to exempted goods while avoiding a disproportionate demand based solely on technical disclosure deficiencies.

Substantive compliance with exemption conditions prevails over delayed filing of EXP-3 returns and alleged documentary deficiencies where returns were filed, supporting documents were available, and a composite declaration certificate covered the shipping bills. Procedural delay alone does not defeat exemption entitlement. Service tax on commission connected with disputed shipping bills requires evidence that the commission was actually paid; without that evidentiary basis, the tax demand, consequential interest, and penalties cannot be sustained.

Qualifying construction services supplied by a subcontractor through a main contractor for a Government reservoir dam and irrigation project are exempt from service tax where the underlying project falls within the applicable exemption. Taxable receipts must receive cum-tax valuation, and any liability falling on the service recipient under applicable reverse-charge provisions must be excluded from the provider's demand after verification. Exempt turnover must therefore be removed and the remaining liability, including penalty, recalculated proportionately. However, a challenge based on higher receipts reflected in profit and loss accounts and Form 26AS fails where no specific error in the discrepancy determination is identified.

Conditional pre-deposit requirements validly imposed under the unamended appellate regime remained enforceable because a statutory appeal depended on compliance with the ordered deposit. Failure to comply, without securing appropriate relief, permitted rejection of the appeal where the adjournment request had been considered and no natural justice breach, procedural illegality, or perversity arose. The later mandatory pre-deposit regime operated prospectively and did not alter rights and obligations governed by the earlier law. Consequently, a later deposit under the amended regime could not retrospectively cure default under the prior conditional pre-deposit order or revive the dismissed appeal.

Under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, property traceable to proceeds of scheduled offences remains liable to attachment despite layering or acquisition in another person's name. Active and knowing participation in fraudulent schemes, receipt of funds from group entities, and use of those funds to acquire assets supported treatment of the assets as proceeds of crime. Claimed commission income did not displace that evidence. Assets held in a spouse's name were funded by tainted proceeds, while an asserted loan did not explain the remaining consideration or repayment. Continued enjoyment of rental income established beneficial control over nominally transferred property and supported concealment findings. Provisional attachment was therefore sustained.