Education Cess and Higher Education Cess refunded under appellate orders applying the then-prevailing position on exempt excise duty remain protected where those orders attained finality. A subsequent overruling does not reopen such settled refunds. Where cess was later redeposited under protest, refund of the entire redeposited amount is available despite pending appeals concerning certain appellate refund orders, subject to an equivalent bank guarantee. The refund remains contingent on the outcome of pending appeals or other proceedings, while the guarantee safeguards revenue interests.

Foreign visa-processing services supplied under a bilateral arrangement are not intermediary services because intermediary status requires facilitation of a supply between two distinct parties. Their place of provision is therefore the recipient's location in India, making service tax payable under reverse charge. Visa fees remitted to the UAE Government through the foreign provider do not constitute consideration for the provider's services and are excluded from taxable value; only the provider's service charges are taxable. Non-disclosure of the foreign-service receipts until audit supports invocation of the extended limitation period, with interest and penalty recalculated on the revised tax liability.

Service tax valuation excludes separately invoiced freight and insurance reimbursements from the taxable value of erection and commissioning services where they represent actual amounts paid and not consideration for the taxable service. Service tax remained payable on the erection and commissioning charges, while goods transport agency liability was discharged under the reverse charge mechanism. In the absence of evidence that the recoveries exceeded actual freight and insurance costs, those reimbursements were not includible in the service value.

Cleaning, sanitation, garbage-removal, platform and coach maintenance, and onboard-housekeeping services supplied to Indian Railways perform municipal functions concerning public health, sanitation conservancy and solid-waste management and fall within the Entry 25(a) service-tax exemption. Extended limitation cannot rest on suppression where relevant financial statements, tax-information forms and returns were available for departmental scrutiny and intent to evade is unproved. Return non-filing or delay remains independently subject to statutory penalty and late fee. An investigation deposit against an unsustainable tax liability is refundable with applicable interest rather than subject to the service-tax refund procedure. An allegation that collected tax was retained requires conclusive proof of non-deposit.

Transportation forming the principal element of a composite arrangement, with loading merely ancillary, is classifiable as transportation rather than Cargo Handling Service under Section 66F(3)(a) of the Finance Act, 1994. Loading at a single point and separate contractual and billing arrangements did not establish specialised cargo-handling activity. Tax already discharged under a centralised registration cannot be demanded again under a surrendered registration for the same service and value. The extended limitation period was unavailable where the notice relied on income-tax returns and Form 26AS and the dispute concerned service classification. The service-tax demands, interest and penalties were consequently set aside.

Dealer incentives, discounts and reimbursement amounts linked to sales targets, spare-parts purchases, vehicle sales and customer discounts do not constitute consideration for agreeing to do an act. A declared service requires a distinct contractual obligation to refrain from, tolerate or perform an act, with a necessary and sufficient nexus between that obligation and the payment. Principal-to-principal dealer-manufacturer arrangements and ordinary sales-linked receipts lack that separate service element. Such payments remain trade discounts or incentives and are not liable to service tax merely because they are recorded as income.

Proportionate reimbursements of electricity, water, municipal taxes, maintenance and other common outgoings under a no-rent arrangement were not part of taxable consideration for the pre-amendment period. Section 67 did not then include reimbursable expenditure, and Rule 5(1) could not enlarge the statutory valuation base. The later inclusion of reimbursable expenses operated prospectively. Extended limitation also required suppression with intent to evade tax; registration, regular returns, transparent expense-sharing, and no recovery beyond actual expenses did not establish that condition. The service-tax demand was therefore unsustainable on valuation and independently time-barred.

The "sick or infirm" exception to the regular-bail restriction applies disjunctively and does not require a terminal, irreversible, imminently life-threatening condition or surgery. Eligibility depends on present physical functioning and whether custody can effectively and continuously provide the required treatment. Advanced age, spinal pathology, osteoporosis, restricted and painful movement, need for supervised rehabilitation, and cardiac management may cumulatively establish substantial physical impairment. Hospital referrals, investigations, medication, and conservative treatment do not alone demonstrate that adequate rehabilitation and supervision are available in custody. A pre-existing injury does not bar relief, while risks concerning witnesses or evidence may be addressed through strict bail conditions.

Suspension of an insolvency professional's registration applies across all insolvency assignments because registration is the statutory basis for acting in any insolvency process. Intimation of suspension to Committees of Creditors and the Adjudicating Authority operationalises that consequence and does not exercise the separate replacement power of a Committee of Creditors. Ad-interim relief against a public-interest disciplinary order requires a prima facie case, balance of convenience and irreparable injury; no sufficiently strong basis was established. Regulation 18(3) was treated as governing agenda placement without prima facie requiring prior intra-class majority approval. The requested stay was declined, while proportionality and disciplinary merits remain open for final determination.

Approved resolution plans under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code bind governmental authorities and freeze or extinguish pre-transfer income-tax claims omitted from the plan. The Code's overriding effect prevails over the Income-tax Act power to adjust refunds against outstanding tax demands. Consequently, excluded statutory tax dues cannot be pursued as pre-transfer liabilities, obtain priority over secured creditors, or support tax notices, consequential orders, refund adjustments, or fresh and reassessment proceedings for the relevant period. Refunds adjusted against such pre-transfer demands must be repaid with applicable interest.

Limitation for appeals under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was considered in the context of COVID-19-related extension of limitation and condonable delay. An inordinate delay resulted in dismissal of the civil appeal on the ground of delay, notwithstanding the limitation-extension context.

Payment of the entire differential customs duty before a show cause notice, coupled with satisfaction of the statutory requirements under Section 28(5), renders proceedings conclusive under Section 28(6). Once those conditions are met, a subsequent demand for differential duty and related penalties cannot be sustained. This consequence applies equally where identical facts arise under the same show cause notice.

Final DGFT interpretation under the Foreign Trade Policy treating two incorporated entities as Group Companies binds Customs authorities, permitting intercompany use of duty-credit scrips and port-handling earnings for export-obligation fulfilment. Helicopter parts imported under SFIS/SHIS qualify as capital goods where helicopters support personnel transport and project monitoring for infrastructure operations; a civil-aviation classification as private use does not establish personal use or breach of the Actual User Condition. The associated exemption therefore applies, invalidating the duty demand, confiscation, redemption fine and penalties. Extended limitation cannot apply absent deliberate non-disclosure, wilful misstatement or suppression with intent to evade duty; prior disclosures and permissions independently defeated that basis.

Regulation 3(2)(c) of the Private Warehouse Licensing Regulations, 2016 disqualifies an applicant only where it has been penalised for an offence under the Customs Act, rather than merely subjected to a civil monetary penalty for a customs contravention. Customs offences fall within the criminal-offence framework, distinct from civil adjudication of contraventions. Disclosure of pending customs matters does not itself establish disqualification, particularly where the prescribed antecedent-verification procedure has not been shown to be followed. Rejection of a private bonded warehouse licence solely on prior customs adjudication proceedings is therefore legally unsustainable.

Medical-device parts and accessories suitable solely or principally for use with instruments under CTH 9018 are classified with those instruments under Chapter Note 2(b), rather than under residual CTH 9033. Heading 9018 covers medical instruments and appliances and their qualifying parts and accessories, while CTH 9033 applies only where Chapter 90 does not otherwise specify the goods. This classification attracts 12% IGST under the applicable rate entry; reclassification under CTH 9033 and a consequential differential IGST demand are unsustainable.

Imported wind-operated electricity generator components remain eligible for an end-use exemption when transferred to customers before erection and commissioning under turnkey projects, provided they are ultimately used for the specified purpose. The conditions require use in the manufacture or maintenance of wind-operated electricity generators, but do not independently require the importer to retain ownership until commissioning. Transfer of title, movement to the project site, or contractual supply does not breach the condition where the importer executes the project and no diversion or alternative end-use occurs.

Self-assessed bills of entry constitute orders of assessment appealable under Section 128 of the Customs Act; prior departmental reassessment, a lis or a speaking order is unnecessary. Waiver of show cause notice and personal hearing at adjudication does not waive the separate statutory right of appeal unless relinquishment is informed and express. Rivet Mobile Contact, identifiable by its dedicated design and end use as an electrical contact, falls under Heading 8538. Chapter 71 exclusions and the essential character test prevail over silver content, for which Revenue bears the burden of proof. Absent misdeclaration of description, quantity or value, a bona fide disclosed classification dispute does not support confiscation, redemption fine or penalty.

Rule 10 permits royalty or licence fees to be added to customs transaction value only when the payment relates to imported goods and is a condition of their sale; those requirements are cumulative. The same condition-of-sale requirement applies to residual payments under Rule 10(1)(e), and its Explanation does not expand the substantive test. Royalty calculated on finished goods' net selling price for technology transfer, intellectual-property rights, manufacturing rights and post-import commercial exploitation is not includible merely because imported components are used in domestic manufacture or are obtained from a related supplier. A direct contractual nexus with the imported goods and sale condition must be established.

Specially designed STA micro-cuvettes used solely with coagulation analysers fall within CTI 9027 9090 as parts or accessories under Chapter 90 Note 2(b), rather than CTI 3926 9099 as other plastic articles. Their dedicated configuration, absence of an established general laboratory use, and steel ball's interaction with the analyser's magnetic sensing mechanism establish functional integration necessary to determine coagulation time. The plastic outer body does not control classification, and single-use or disposable status does not prevent classification as an instrument part or accessory. Residual Heading 3926 does not apply where Chapter 90 specifically covers the goods.

Capital goods intended for use in a warehouse authorised to undertake operations under Section 65 fall within the open-ended warehousing category under Section 61(1)(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. Interest under Section 61(2) applies only to residuary goods under Section 61(1)(c), so the ninety-day interest trigger does not govern those capital goods. Intention is assessed at import and warehousing, rather than by later installation or clearance. Supervening design and layout constraints causing partial non-installation do not change the goods' original intended use. Clearance for home consumption therefore does not attract interest where the goods remained capital goods intended for Section 65 operations.