Sugar supply is characterised as adequate, and higher prices are attributed principally to speculative buying and advance stockpiling, alongside lower output, seasonal demand and global price pressures rather than an actual shortage. Duty-free raw sugar imports and stockholding limits are intended to augment availability, curb speculative accumulation and stabilise market sentiment. Imports, existing stocks, special crushing and an earlier crushing season are expected to moderate prices and improve festive-period supply. Ethanol diversion is not identified as a cause of the price movement.

Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax audit-report compliance is extended for registered dealers with a principal or additional place of business in specified cyclone-affected or flood-affected districts. Audit reports for the financial year 2022-2023 furnished on or before 31 January 2024 are deemed to have been furnished within the prescribed time limit. The extension is implemented through a further proviso to rule 16-A(1) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Rules, 2007.

Article 191 permits a State Legislature to declare that specified offices do not disqualify their holders from legislative membership. In the absence of an express or implied constitutional restriction, that power extends to retrospective exemption, altering the legal consequence of holding the designated office without amending election law. Retrospective validation can therefore preserve an election challenged on an alleged office-of-profit disqualification. The characterisation of a Special Government Pleader's engagement may depend on whether it is a distinct, independently subsisting office or a proceeding-specific assignment. A candidate accused of corrupt practices is a necessary respondent only where that candidate contested the constituency covered by the election petition.

Corporate guarantee services supplied between related persons to a banking company or financial institution for the recipient are valued at one per cent of the guarantee amount or actual consideration, whichever is higher. Settlement under rule 142 requires an intimation. Provisional attachment ceases on release or after one year, whichever is earlier. Registration, cancellation, tax collected at source reporting, and GST practitioner enrolment forms are revised, including recognition of One Person Companies and specified qualifications for GST practitioners.

GST on accommodation is charged on the actual amount received, while declared tariff determines the applicable rate slab. Casino entry and gambling are separate taxable supplies, with gambling and horse-racing GST calculated on total bet value. Below-threshold accommodation providers using electronic commerce operators need not register where the operator pays GST. Sale of books is a supply of goods where the supplier owns and may sell them on its own account. Legal services supplied by advocates to business entities are taxable under reverse charge, payable by the recipient.

Attestation by a person with a subsisting interest in property may create estoppel against denying the instrument's title and recitals where surrounding circumstances establish knowledge, consent and acquiescence; mere attestation alone is insufficient. Acting as the owner's power agent and recording the settlement transaction supported knowledge of the settlement. A Will may be validly proved through attesting witnesses and circumstances demonstrating the testatrix's sound disposing state of mind, without a preparatory note or express declaration that it is the last Will. Judgments not inter partes cannot operate as res judicata or conclusively prove title, but may evidence continuing assertion or treatment of property rights.

Wheat export policy has been revised from prohibited to free with immediate effect, lifting the export ban on wheat and related wheat products. The liberalised export treatment extends to wheat flour, maida, semolina and wholemeal atta. The restriction had been imposed to address rising domestic prices, and its removal is expected to improve international wheat availability.

GST applies at 5% without input tax credit to food or drink supplied through a college hostel mess or canteen for students and staff. The same tax treatment applies whether the facility is operated by the educational institution or students, or outsourced to an external contractor.

Investigation into alleged bogus input tax credit fraud involved searches under the anti-money-laundering framework. The alleged scheme involved fabricated invoices and e-way bills without actual movement of goods, circular transactions, layered funds, cash withdrawals and bogus or non-existent entities. GST authorities identified fraudulent availment of input tax credit causing wrongful loss to the government exchequer. The investigation focused on tracing alleged proceeds of crime, identifying beneficiaries, and securing documentary and digital evidence.

Sugar manufacturing process integration is proposed through strengthening an existing evaporator station and adding a sugar crystallization section to convert syrup production into plantation white sugar production. The scope covers design, engineering, equipment supply, erection and commissioning of condensate heaters, falling film evaporators, heat-recovery systems, continuous pans, vacuum systems and crystallizers. Continuous massecuite boiling will use chamber-specific control, while evaporator recirculation and online chemical-cleaning provisions support process control and low-grade vapour utilisation.

Career-development and competitive-examination preparation is offered alongside academic programmes for civil services, government and public-sector employment, banking, engineering higher education, management, defence, teaching, research and overseas education. UPSC, SSC-CGL, Bank PO, GATE, CAT, CDS, UGC-NET, GRE, GMAT and IELTS preparation includes courses, workshops, mentorship, expert guidance and examination-specific resources. Access to examinations, admissions and career opportunities remains subject to applicable eligibility, selection and institutional criteria.

Rule 164 establishes a portal-based procedure for waiver of interest or penalty, or both, under section 128A for eligible section 73 demands. Applications are filed in FORM GST SPL-01 for notices or statements and FORM GST SPL-02 for specified orders, supported by tax-payment and appeal-withdrawal evidence. The proper officer may issue FORM GST SPL-03, receive a reply in FORM GST SPL-04, and accept or reject the application through prescribed orders. Delayed orders result in deemed approval, while non-payment of required additional tax or remaining interest or penalty voids the waiver.

GST is payable by the refinery only on the value of Polybutylene feedstock and Liquefied Petroleum Gas net quantity retained by manufacturers for producing Poly Iso Butylene, Propylene or Di-butyl para Cresol. Feedstock or gas returned to the refinery is not taxable at the stage of the original supply, but GST applies if the refinery subsequently supplies the returned quantity to another person. Past matters are governed by the law applicable at the relevant time.

Interest earned by a co-operative housing society on savings accounts maintained with co-operative banks qualifies for deduction under section 80P(2)(d). The provision covers interest or dividend derived by a co-operative society from investments with another co-operative society, and co-operative banks fall within that description. "Investments" is not confined to fixed deposits: a savings account maintained to earn interest, with withdrawal restrictions, may constitute an investment. The tax-deduction-at-source provisions do not alter this interpretation. Accordingly, such savings-account interest is eligible for deduction under section 80P(2)(d).

GST treatment of supplies to the Indian Railways depends on the goods' tariff classification, not merely on their recipient. Goods classified under Chapter 86 and supplied to the Railways attract GST at 5%, with no refund of unutilised input tax credit. Goods classifiable under chapters other than Chapter 86 remain subject to the general GST rates applicable to those goods, even when supplied to the Railways.

Institute of Company Secretaries of India has inaugurated a Chapter Office in Hyderabad to expand infrastructure for professional education, training, examinations, meetings, capacity-building programmes and stakeholder engagement. The facility is intended to support Company Secretaries and students and enable wider professional and educational activities. Company Secretaries are identified as corporate governance professionals, with expanding regulatory requirements and the formalisation and listing of micro, small and medium enterprises creating potential demand for qualified professionals.

Curis Lifesciences Limited plans a diversified pharmaceutical strategy spanning domestic branded products, contract manufacturing and international market development. Its majority acquisition of Uninova Lifesciences is intended to strengthen own-brand marketing, distribution and portfolio expansion, including injectable products through third-party manufacturing. International initiatives include merchant exports in Kenya and a Nigerian joint venture pursuing own-brand regulatory registrations alongside contract-manufacturing and export opportunities. Commercial development in Nigeria remains contingent on relevant licences and purchase orders, while projections are subject to regulatory, market and other business factors.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, entered its tenth year amid deliberations on legislative amendments, resolution timelines, stakeholder interests and value maximisation. Key areas included resolution plans and tax implications, liquidation processes, recent judicial developments, stakeholder coordination, and the roles of insolvency professionals, regulators, banking institutions and adjudicatory processes. Technological innovation, including artificial intelligence for asset tracing and recovery, alongside regulatory strengthening, capacity building and stakeholder collaboration, was emphasised for the future development of the insolvency ecosystem.

Anti-dumping duty on imports of natural mica-based pearl industrial pigments, excluding cosmetic grade, originating in or exported from China PR continues under the amended notification until 25 February 2027. The amendment substitutes the earlier expiry date of 25 November 2026, thereby extending the period for which the existing anti-dumping duty remains applicable to the specified goods.

Raw sugar under tariff heading 1701 is exempt from the whole of customs duty under the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act when imported within a Tariff Rate Quota of 10 lakh MT. The exemption applies immediately until 31 October 2026. Importers must receive TRQ allotment from DGFT under the applicable Handbook of Procedures, and the electronic authorisation must identify the importer, IEC, notification, tariff heading, quantity and validity. Customs clearance is permitted only through electronic debit of the authorised quota in ICES.