Public-service appointments secured through forged documents, made by unauthorised appointing authorities, or made without sanctioned posts and prescribed open recruitment are void from inception rather than merely irregular. A committee enquiry satisfies natural justice where affected employees receive representation and hearing opportunities and individual findings of unlawful appointment remain unrebutted; a report is not invalid merely because all members do not sign it. Regularisation is confined to qualified persons irregularly appointed against sanctioned vacant posts and cannot validate an illegal entry. Length of service, humanitarian considerations and legitimate expectation do not create rights to salary, pension or retirement benefits without a valid appointment.

Voluntary election of the Service Tax Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, followed by part payment of declared dues, precludes a trust from later denying taxability or alleging coercion in exercising the option. A reminder seeking proof of payment or the unpaid balance does not itself affect rights or create an enforceable cause of action. Declared but unpaid dues remain recoverable with interest under the scheme, while substantially false declarations may trigger separate action. The scheme therefore requires payment of the outstanding declared liability, subject to recovery under its provisions and applicable law.

Declaratory writs challenging service-tax liability after participation in the Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme, 2013, require a valid challenge to the underlying departmental proceedings. Participation under the Scheme is voluntary; an unsupported assertion that the application was made under pressure does not establish otherwise. A departmental communication that creates no cause of action cannot sustain declaratory relief. The challenge is therefore premature and misconceived absent legally sustainable grounds against the departmental action.

Special leave proceedings in an income-tax matter were dismissed after the Supreme Court declined to interfere, having regard to the facts. No substantive legal principle, statutory interpretation, or reasons for non-interference were specified. Pending applications were also disposed of.

The 48-hour clearance period for Direct Port Delivery containers excludes Sundays and holidays observed by the Port and Customs, while Saturdays remain included. Containers not cleared within that period are to be shifted by rail to Balmer Lawrie Container Freight Station within 72 hours of landing. Where Customs clearance is not obtained within 72 hours, the containers are treated as ordinary or non-DPD containers. All other DPD procedural conditions remain unchanged.

Duty-free shop supplies of goods to arriving and departing international passengers are treated as exports and zero-rated supplies, so GST is not payable on those outward supplies. Services provided to duty-free shops under concession agreements remain independently taxable despite the zero-rated character of the shops' outward supplies. GST paid on those input services may be claimed as input tax credit, and accumulated unutilised credit may be utilised or refunded through the statutory mechanism. The central principle is that zero-rated outward supplies do not themselves exempt taxable input services.

IIEST Shibpur and Tata Consultancy Services have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence at the Electrical Engineering Department's high-performance computing laboratory. The collaboration supports industry-aligned training, professional certifications, practical projects, supervised internships, startup mentorship, curriculum benchmarking, and applied research in natural language processing, computer vision, image processing, and advanced data analytics.

Risk-based selective physical boarding of vessels is determined through advance profiling based on compliance history, voyage details, crew, cargo and declarations relating to crew effects, ship stores and satellite devices. Terminal Operators must submit tentative vessel lists for assessment and physical-boarding clearance. Where a vessel is not selected, the Master and Shipping Agent remain fully responsible for accurate declarations, safeguarding onboard stores, preventing illegal unlading or consumption of restricted, high-duty or un-manifested goods, and promptly reporting logistical, itinerary or documentation changes.

Enforcement Directorate search and survey operations connected with a money-laundering investigation continued at development authority offices and premises linked with housing administration, a realty company, and private residences. AAP workers protested against the searches, alleging political and administrative pressure through central investigative agencies. The party further alleged that the operations could disrupt the development authority's functioning and impede Punjab government welfare schemes.

A police inquiry, rather than a Vigilance inquiry, was directed following an Enforcement Directorate communication seeking registration of an FIR for cognizable offences. It was contended that FIR registration should be dealt with by the police and that governmental or ministerial intervention would raise concerns where a person facing allegations is involved in deciding the investigative course. A transfer to a federal investigative agency was sought on grounds of investigative independence and perceived conflict of interest.

Information Technology Act, 2000 grants legal recognition to electronic records and prescribed digital signatures, supports electronic governance, and regulates attribution, acknowledgment, dispatch, retention and security of electronic communications. It establishes licensing and supervision of Certifying Authorities, governs issuance, suspension and revocation of Digital Signature Certificates, and imposes subscriber duties concerning private-key control. It also creates civil contraventions, criminal offences, adjudication and appellate mechanisms, intermediary due-diligence protection, and evidentiary recognition for electronic records and computer output.

Concessional taxation under Section 115BAA may remain available where a domestic company selected the regime in a timely return but uploaded Form 10IC later. Selection in the return can evidence substantial compliance with exercising the option. Applicable condonation circulars and treatment of the omission as an inadvertent procedural error support reconsideration rather than outright denial. The Assessing Officer must consider the delayed form and grant consequential relief if the remaining statutory conditions are met.

Cash deposits in specified bank notes during demonetisation cannot be assessed as unexplained money where recorded cash balances and business collections establish their source. Section 69A applies only when the source remains unexplained. Books of account, cash book, audited financial statements and tax-audit records supported the deposits and were neither rejected nor found defective. As recorded cash sales had already been offered to tax, a separate addition would result in double taxation. A bank certificate also confirmed that the specified-bank-note deposits were lower than the amount assumed in assessment. The unrebutted evidence rendered the addition under Sections 69A and 115BBE unsustainable.

Arm's-length commission paid to an Indian dependent agent exhausts the profits attributable to the agency permanent establishment under Article 7 of the India-Singapore tax treaty. Where the agent's commission is accepted as arm's length, no additional profits may be attributed to the Indian permanent establishment absent new material facts or a change in law. Applying the approach followed for identical preceding years, the additional attribution of profit was deleted.

Section 68 requires the assessee to establish the identity, creditworthiness and genuineness of credited receipts. Recorded sales supported by ledgers, invoices, inventory and sales records, tax-paid invoices, and banking-channel payments establish their nature and source; unverified third-party statements or unserved purchaser notices alone do not displace such evidence. Share application receipts supported by investor confirmations, PAN details, corporate records, tax returns and audited financial statements similarly establish the investors and the genuineness of investments. An adverse inference based on a later inspection, without further verification or rebuttal of the documentary record, is insufficient for an unexplained-cash-credit addition.

Employees' ESIC contributions paid after the prescribed due date are not deductible merely because payment occurs before the return-filing date. Depreciation at 60% is allowable. Interest on capital funds connected with proposed business expansion is not capitalisable absent an established basis for capitalisation. Commission expenditure remains disallowed where recipient responses do not rebut the disallowance or supporting details are missing. Cash-credit additions for deposits in a minor's bank account are not sustainable when the deposits have been explained. Taxable income is modified by allowing depreciation and deleting the interest-capitalisation and cash-credit additions.

Reassessment notices issued more than three years after the relevant assessment year required prior approval from the senior authorities specified under Section 151(ii) in the reassessment framework effective from 1 April 2021. Approval by a Principal Commissioner was insufficient for a notice issued after that period. The later proviso excluding time allowed under Section 148A(b), effective from 1 April 2023, did not retrospectively cure the applicable approval requirement. Absence of approval from the competent specified authority created a jurisdictional defect, rendering the reassessment void.

Reassessment notices issued more than three years after the relevant assessment year require prior approval from the senior authorities specified in Section 151(ii); approval by a Principal Commissioner is insufficient and deprives the proceedings of jurisdiction. The period for responding under Section 148A(b) cannot be retrospectively excluded from the three-year calculation under a later proviso without express legislative intent. Jurisdictional objections may be admitted as additional grounds where they arise on the existing record and require no new facts. Business disruption, illness and financial hardship can establish sufficient cause for delay.

E-invoice and e-way bill cancellation after completion of goods movement is raised where the vehicle had reached its destination before cancellation. The e-invoice and e-way bill were cancelled within 24 hours, and a new invoice was generated without a fresh e-way bill because transport had concluded. The concern is whether this sequence may create future GST compliance implications.

Section 78 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 assigns investigation of every offence under that Act to a police officer not below the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. The requirement operates notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and prescribes the minimum police rank competent to investigate offences under the Act.