Writ challenges to assessment orders may be declined where the challenge is delayed without explanation and an effective statutory appellate remedy remains available. Failure to pursue the assessment order promptly weighs against writ intervention. The petitioner may instead file a statutory appeal within thirty days and place available records before the appellate authority, which is to consider the appeal on merits in accordance with law.

Salary earned by a Korean resident for services rendered in Korea is not taxable in India merely because it is paid by an Indian employer. For domestic tax purposes, employment income is earned in India only where the related services are rendered there. Article 15(1) of the India-Korea tax treaty protects remuneration from employment exercised outside India. Income voluntarily offered for taxation remains non-taxable where no statutory charging provision applies.

GST exemption applies to composite milling supplies for Public Distribution System purposes where the value of goods, including fortification inputs and packing materials, does not exceed 25% of the total supply value. Eligibility must be determined on the facts of each supply. Where this threshold is exceeded, wheat or paddy milling may attract 5% GST as job work when supplied to a registered person, including a person registered solely for tax deduction purposes.

Assessments under the compounding scheme based on purchase-sales turnover mismatches require an effective personal opportunity for the assessee to explain the discrepancy before proposals are finalised. Purchases not reflected in sales for a particular year may represent closing stock, and the assessee must be allowed to establish that position through supporting evidence. Finalising assessments without calling for such an explanation breaches the principles of natural justice and makes the assessments unsustainable.

GST treatment of directors' remuneration depends on the director's employment status and the nature of the payment. Remuneration of independent directors and other non-employee directors is taxable, with the company liable under reverse charge. For employee-directors, salary recorded in the company's books and subjected to salary-related tax deduction is excluded as an employee-to-employer service. Separately recorded remuneration for professional or technical services is taxable, and the company must pay GST under reverse charge.

Protected-system status is conferred on computer resources relating to Bandhan Bank's Core Banking Solution and Unified Payments Interface Switch, along with associated dependencies. Bandhan Bank may authorise access by written order for designated employees, managed-service-provider personnel or third-party vendors on a need-based basis, and consultants, regulators, government officials, auditors, or stakeholders on a case-by-case basis.

Section 69A(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, read with rule 3 of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009, authorises designation of a Central Government officer for the public information-blocking framework. The Director (National Cyber Coordination Centre) is designated as the Designated Officer for the purposes of those Rules and must hold a rank not below Joint Secretary.

Service tax refund may be sought before the competent tax authorities after withdrawal of the pending application. The applicant retained liberty to file an appropriate refund claim in accordance with law. The airport operator indicated that it would cooperate if such a claim were made. Refund entitlement remains subject to determination under the applicable statutory process.

CENVAT credit distributed by a principal manufacturer through input service distributor invoices may be availed by an authorised contract manufacturing unit operating under a registration-exemption notification in the pre-1 April 2016 regime. Rule 7 permitted credit distribution to manufacturing units without requiring that they be owned by the distributor. Where the contract manufacturer produced goods exclusively for the principal, discharged excise duty on the principal's assessable value, and the input services formed part of that value, the credit remained available. This approach prevents cascading of duties and taxes on dutiable final products.

Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) T1 applications may be filed online through a web-based facility. Applicants must register using prescribed details, verify registration through OTP, log in using emailed credentials, complete Annexure 1 and Annexure 2, upload supporting documents and the required declaration, review the application, and submit it online. Submitted applications undergo Customs scrutiny and approval or rejection, with approved applications proceeding for digitised certificate generation and delivery. Manual filing and processing continue concurrently until 31.03.2019 during the transition to online processing.

Central Government designation of the Press Information Bureau Fact Check Unit establishes that unit as the Central Government's fact check unit for purposes of the specified intermediary due-diligence provision under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The designation applies in relation to any business of the Central Government.

Intermediaries must publish user-facing terms, prohibit specified unlawful content, operate grievance channels, remove or disable unlawful information upon qualifying court or government action, preserve specified records, and provide lawful investigative assistance. Significant social media intermediaries additionally require India-based compliance, nodal and grievance officers, monthly compliance reporting, complaint tracking, notice and dispute processes for voluntary removals, and voluntary account verification. Messaging services must identify the first originator only under qualifying judicial or competent-authority orders, subject to necessity and less-intrusive-means safeguards.

Reassessment proceedings under the amended framework require prior compliance with Section 148A, including an opportunity for the assessee, and must use the faceless mechanism. A jurisdictional assessing officer cannot initiate reopening under the former procedure after that framework applies. Reopening commenced under the unamended process, without the mandatory preliminary procedure and faceless route, is without jurisdiction and unsustainable in law.

Disallowance of expenditure relating to exempt income does not arise where no exempt income is earned in the relevant assessment year; revenue circulars do not alter that settled position. Compensation paid to secure an occupant's vacation of premises and obtain limited leave-and-licence use is revenue expenditure where it enables only temporary use and creates no enduring capital advantage. Both principles support the assessee's treatment of the expenditure.

Revised All Industry Rates of Duty Drawback neutralise Customs duties on export inputs and residual Central Excise duty on specified petroleum products. Claims under the standard AIRs must use tariff item suffix "B", while alternative AIRs for garment exports under Special Advance Authorization require suffix "D". Rates have been increased or rationalised across identified product sectors based on changes in duty structure, prices, and import intensity. New tariff items and appropriate duty drawback caps have also been introduced.

Digitisation of the AEO programme permits electronic filing and processing of AEO-T1 applications, including online delivery of digitised AEO certificates. Manual filing and processing remain available until 31 March 2019 to facilitate transition without delay. AEO-T1 and AEO-T2 certificates have a uniform three-year validity, with AEO-T1 onsite PCA and periodic status review operating on a three-year cycle. AEO-T3 and AEO-LO status reviews occur every five years.

Conditional stays of tax demand may continue on reduced payment terms where recorded financial hardship justifies modifying an earlier deposit condition. Despite non-compliance with the original payment direction, the required deposit was reduced from Rs. 40,00,000 to Rs. 25,00,000, payable in three instalments. Upon payment, the stay petitions before the Tribunal stand allowed, and recovery of the demand remains stayed until disposal of the related appeals.

Online gaming intermediaries enabling permissible online real money games must display a visible verification mark, disclose deposit, withdrawal, winnings, charge, identity-verification and deposit-protection information, and must not provide or facilitate credit for gaming. A permissible online real money game requires verification by a designated online gaming self-regulatory body. Verification depends on absence of wagering on an outcome and compliance with due-diligence obligations, contractual-age requirements, and safeguards addressing user harm, children, addiction, financial loss, and fraud.

Online goods registration through ICEGATE may be sought by importers and Customs Brokers through their website login for eligible Bills of Entry. Applications may be made after applicable duties have been paid and the goods have arrived at the customs station. ICEGATE verifies whether a Bill of Entry is eligible and ready for registration, and displays a specific error where registration cannot proceed because of ineligibility or non-readiness.

Reasonable cause arising from ill-health supports condonation of a short delay in filing a first appeal, enabling adjudication on merits. An appeal should not be dismissed ex parte for failure to cure notified defects unless the appellant has received adequate opportunity to comply and be heard, consistent with natural justice. Where these procedural safeguards are absent, both appeals require fresh merits adjudication: the first after condoning the delay and the second after providing a reasonable hearing opportunity.