As the 56th GST council meeting was held on 03/09/2025 and the GST Council itself violates Rule 6 under Chapter II on meetings of the council, I am prompted to write this article. The rule 6 of procedure and conduct of business regulations of the goods and service tax council which is effective from 01/07/2017 reads as "6. Frequency of meeting: The Council shall meet at least once in every quarter of the financial year". Be that as it may, as I woke up on 23/08/2026, I was wondering how Section ... ... ...

Introduction: - One of the most persistent challenges in indirect tax jurisprudence is the friction between technical specifications and commercial reality when classifying a product. Taxing authorities frequently attempt to dissect products under scientific microscopes or import non-tax regulatory definitions (like FSSAI's parameters) to fit goods into higher tax brackets. In current GST litigation, assessing officers routinely rely on technical parameters, composition ratios or regulatory l... ... ...

Death Does Not End the Tax Question - But It Changes the Person Against Whom the Law Must Proceed Tax liability and tax proceedings are not necessarily extinguished by the death of a taxpayer. The law may permit an existing liability to be recovered and, in appropriate circumstances, may even permit determination of liability after death. But that does not mean that proceedings can simply continue in the name of a person who is no longer alive. The distinction between the survival of a liabil... ... ...

SEARCH & SEIZURE IN GST Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal FCA, FCS, D.Litt. How to exercise of power to search and seizure The powers to search and seizure can be exercised in the following manner: • Only proper officer of the rank of Joint Commissioner or above may authorize search and seizure. • It can be in pursuance of inspection under section 67(1) or otherwise. • He should have "reasons to believe" that any goods liable for confiscation or any documents/books/things... ... ...

The Hon'ble Karnataka High Court in M/s. Gr Tech Services Pvt Ltd. Assistant Commissioner Of Commercial Taxes (Audit), Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and Axis Bank Limited, Kerala - 2026 (7) TMI 1250 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT allowed the writ petition in part, thereby quashing the Adjudication Order, the Order-in-Appeal, and the consequential demand issued in Form GST DRC-13, and held that where an assessee has inadvertently discharged IGST on supplies which were subsequently held to be intra-State s... ... ...

Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962 ('Act' for short) provides the procedure for claim of refund of customs duty. Section 27(1) of the Act provides that if any person paid customs duty or interest may claim refund within one year from the date of the payment of duty or interest. This limitation of one year is not applicable if the duty or interest is paid under protest. The said one year limitation is applicable in the following cases- • From the date of order of Appellate Authority, Ap... ... ...

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued Circular No. 36/2026-Customs dated 20 August 2026, introducing temporary facilitative measures for the handling and international transhipment of cargo affected by the continuing disruption of maritime routes in the Gulf region and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Issued under Section 143AA of the Customs Act, 1962, the circular seeks to ensure continuity of international trade by permitting affected cargo to be diverted th... ... ...

CBIC Introduces Uniform SOP for Clearance of Personal Postal Imports through Foreign Post Offices The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, has issued Circular No. 35/2026-Customs dated 6 August 2026, prescribing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the clearance of imported goods through Foreign Post Offices (FPOs) under the Postal Import Regulations, 2025. The circular seeks to establish a uniform, technology... ... ...

Introduction Organizations today operate in an increasingly uncertain environment influenced by technological changes, market fluctuations, regulatory requirements, climate risks, cybersecurity threats, supply chain disruptions, operational failures, and changing customer expectations. Every business activity involves some level of risk. Whether an organization is operating a manufacturing plant, managing financial services, delivering healthcare, providing IT solutions, or operating criti... ... ...

1. Introduction Organizations often develop ambitious strategies, but many struggle to convert those strategies into daily actions. A common challenge is the gap between top-level objectives and the work performed by employees at operational levels. Hoshin Kanri is a strategic management approach designed to bridge this gap by aligning organizational goals, departmental plans, and individual activities. The Japanese term Hoshin Kanri ( ) means: • Hoshin - Direction, policy, or str... ... ...

Introduction In a highly competitive global business environment, organizations are continuously searching for ways to improve productivity, reduce operational costs, minimize waste, and respond quickly to customer demands. Traditional production systems often maintain large inventories of raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods to avoid shortages. However, excessive inventory creates additional costs, increases storage requirements, hides operational problems, and reduces organiz... ... ...

Registrar's power to amend service rules - Directory nature of legislative laying requirement Registrar's power to amend service rules - Delegation of statutory functions - Validity of statutory action despite nomenclature - Validity of deletion of the bar on technical employees being promoted to non-technical posts under the District Cooperative Central Bank service rules - HELD THAT: - The Registrar's statutory power to frame rules governing service conditions necessarily includ... ... ...

Reasoned orders by quasi-judicial authorities - Discretion to refuse admission of low-value appeals - Exercise of the Appellate Tribunal's discretion to refuse admission of appeals involving fine or penalty below the prescribed monetary limit without addressing their merits HELD THAT: - The second proviso to Section 35B(1) permits the Tribunal, in its discretion, to refuse admission of an appeal involving fine or penalty below the prescribed limit; it does not permit dispensation with rea... ... ...

Pre-institution mediation - urgent interim relief exception - Rejection of plaint for non-compliance with mandatory mediation Maintainability of the commercial suit without pre-institution mediation where urgent interim relief was sought for disclosures and protection against dealing with assets - HELD THAT: - Section 12A is mandatory for a commercial suit not contemplating urgent interim relief; however, the exception must be assessed from the plaintiff's standpoint by examining the natu... ... ...

Appellate restraint in disciplinary penalties - Proportionality of Customs Broker licence revocation Whether the Department established grounds for appellate interference with the Commissioner's discretionary decision to impose a monetary penalty instead of revoking the Customs Broker licence? - HELD THAT: - Disciplinary proceedings under the Customs Broker Licensing Regulations require the original authority to assess the evidence and impose an appropriate consequence. An appellate forum... ... ...

Provisional release of imported goods - Prospective operation of exemption notification - Consideration of provisional release of used digital multifunction print, copying and scanning machines where the amendment introducing an exemption for Highly Specialised Equipment came into force after the date of the Bill of Lading. Whether the Customs authorities could rely on a notification amendment effective from 15.06.2026 to refuse consideration of provisional release of imported goods where the... ... ...

Taxability of Renewable Energy Certificate sale proceeds - Capital receipts in computation of book profit Taxability of Renewable Energy Certificate sale proceeds - Deduction for profits derived from eligible power-generation business - Sale proceeds of Renewable Energy Certificates received by a renewable-energy power generator - whether capital receipts or business income eligible for deduction as profits derived from the power-generation undertaking? - HELD THAT: - Renewable Energy Certifi... ... ...

Associated enterprise relationship under sections 92A(1) and 92A(2) - Internal CUP for royalty paid for software distribution Associated enterprise relationship under sections 92A(1) and 92A(2) - Whether the Israeli software distributor could be treated as an associated enterprise of the overseas software owner merely because its business was allegedly wholly dependent on that owner u/s 92A(2)(g)? - HELD THAT: - Section 92A(1) embodies the foundational requirement of participation in the mana... ... ...

Transfer pricing Adjustment - Arm's length price of intra-group management fees - Tax refunds not constituting income TP adjustment in respect of management fees paid to the associated enterprise - Arm's length price of intra-group management fees - Consistency in transfer pricing assessment - - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal found that the adjustment involved a repetitive issue which had consistently been decided in the assessee's favour in earlier years on a similar factual basis [20... ... ...

Deduction of interest expenditure under Income from other sources - Nexus between borrowed funds and income-producing assets - Restriction of deductible expenditure to corresponding income Interest deduction u/s 57 - Continuing nexus of borrowings with income-producing assets - Expenditure exceeding interest income - Allowability of interest on historical borrowings used for investments in shares and securities, whose traceable realisations were placed in deposits or otherwise applied under t... ... ...