Service-tax exemption for NSDC skill-development programmes - Negative List exemption for education leading to recognised qualification - Extended limitation-wilful suppression Service-tax exemption for NSDC skill-development programmes - Strict construction of exemption notification - Eligibility of an associate learning centre conducting PMKVY courses through an NSDC-approved training partner for exemption under paragraph 9A of Notification No. 25/2012-ST - HELD THAT: - The appellant was no... ... ...

Cum-tax valuation of uncollected service tax - Service-tax computation from contractual amounts in absence of financial records Cum-tax benefit for uncollected service tax - Cum-tax benefit on service consideration where there was no evidence of separate collection of service tax from service recipients - HELD THAT: - Where service tax had not been paid and there was no evidence that it had been collected separately from the service recipients, the consideration received had to be treated as ... ... ...

Service tax on leasing of vacant land - Taxability of one-time lease premium - Extended limitation - absence of wilful suppression by governmental authority - Penalty-absence of deliberate defiance of law Service tax on leasing of vacant land - Leasing of vacant land for business or commerce prior to 01.07.2010 - HELD THAT: - Renting of vacant land became taxable only from 01.07.2010. The activity of leasing vacant land before that date was consequently outside the taxable service. [Paras 9] ... ... ...

Clean hands doctrine in writ jurisdiction - Delay in statutory appeal - Exercise of writ jurisdiction to interfere with rejection of a delayed statutory appeal on the plea of the petitioner's ill-health HELD THAT: - The medical material produced to explain the delay consisted of a prescription and an undated certificate. The Court found that the neat copy of the certificate contained an insertion not found in the original, leading to the conclusion that the petitioner had attempted to mis... ... ...

Provisional attachment for money laundering - Attachment of property equivalent to proceeds of crime Provisional attachment for money laundering - Prima facie involvement in money laundering - Validity of provisional attachment of the appellant's properties on the basis of material indicating his involvement in handling and layering proceeds of crime - HELD THAT: - For confirming provisional attachment, a prima facie case of involvement in money laundering is sufficient; final determinati... ... ...

Money-laundering proceedings - subsistence of scheduled offence - Proceeds of crime - quashing of predicate prosecution for want of investigative jurisdiction Continuation of money-laundering proceedings against the petitioner after quashing of the predicate proceedings for want of the CBI's jurisdiction to register and investigate the offence - HELD THAT: - Proceedings for money-laundering require a subsisting nexus between the alleged proceeds of crime and criminal activity relating to ... ... ...

Bail in money-laundering offence-prolonged incarceration - Twin conditions for bail under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act Grant of bail in a money-laundering case where the petitioner remained in custody for over a year while investigation in the predicate offence was pending - HELD THAT: - Though the allegations were serious and the petitioner had not surmounted the statutory restriction on bail, prolonged incarceration may, in an appropriate case, outweigh its rigours. The petitioner... ... ...

Reasoned and proportionate quantification of penalty under FERA Reasoned and proportionate quantification of penalty under FERA - Quantum of penalty for non-realisation of export proceeds after exclusion of contraventions already adjudicated. - HELD THAT: - The maximum penalty prescribed by Section 50 of the FERA does not, by itself, validate the penalty imposed. The discretion to quantify penalty must be exercised reasonably, with reasons, and proportionately to the contravention. After the ... ... ...

Limitation for Section 7 insolvency application - Continuing default and acknowledgment of debt - Failed revival scheme and revival of insolvency proceedings Continuing default in delivery of allotted unit - Acknowledgment of debt and limitation - Limitation of the financial creditor's Section 7 application arising from failure to deliver the allotted unit or refund the amounts received - HELD THAT: - The continuing failure to hand over possession and to refund the amounts constituted a c... ... ...

Summons before issuance of arrest warrant against accused on bail - Issuance of an arrest warrant against accused persons who were on bail following transfer of the complaint to the Special Court HELD THAT: - The Court, having considered Tarsem Lal vs. Directorate of Enforcement Jalandhar Zonal Office, held that the Trial Court ought first to have issued summons to the accused persons, who were already on bail. An arrest warrant could be issued thereafter only if the circumstances so warrante... ... ...

Bail in Customs gold - smuggling offence - Individual liability for smuggled gold recovered from separate accused Grant of bail to an accused in a gold-smuggling case where separate gold capsules were recovered from different persons and investigation had continued without further custodial interrogation - HELD THAT: - The value of gold recovered from separate accused could not be aggregated for determining the quantum of punishment against an individual accused; each accused was answerable o... ... ...

Bail in customs duty evasion investigation - Likelihood of tampering with evidence - false certificates of origin for imported stainless-steel pipes Whether the applicant should be granted bail pending investigation into alleged evasion of customs and anti-dumping duty through use of allegedly invalid certificates of origin? - HELD THAT: - The Court found that the vital part of the investigation rested on documents and that the subsequent supplier correspondence and Bills of Lading required v... ... ...

Classification of GEHO slurry pump parts - Sole or principal use test for machine parts - Parts of general use - Sole or principal use test Whether the imported pins, bolts, diaphragms, valves, gaskets, seals, bushes, liners and allied items were classifiable as parts of GEHO slurry pumps under the headings declared by the importer, rather than under the residual material-based headings proposed by Revenue? - HELD THAT: - The evidence established that the imported items were specially designe... ... ...

Penalty u/s 112 for lending Importer-Exporter Code - Proportionality of customs penalty Penalty consequences of lending an Importer-Exporter Code for imports unconnected with the later import involving concealed gold - HELD THAT: - Lending an Importer-Exporter Code to another importer for consideration contravened the Foreign Trade Policy and attracted penal consequences under the Customs Act. However, the import in which gold was concealed had been made by the other importer using its own Im... ... ...

Rejection of declared value under Rule 12 of the Customs Valuation Rules - Admissibility of electronic evidence in customs adjudication - Duty liability of proxy importer having separate IEC holders - Redemption fine where goods are unavailable for confiscation Rejection of declared value under Rule 12 of the Customs Valuation Rules - Contemporaneous import value - Rejection of the declared value of imported furniture, interior-decoration goods and hardware accessories on the allegation of un... ... ...

IGST exemption under Advance Authorisation subject to pre-import condition - Bill of Entry-wise quantification of pre-import-condition breach - Statutory authority for consequential interest and penal liabilities on IGST IGST exemption under Advance Authorisation subject to pre-import condition - Regularisation of pre-import-condition breach - Entitlement to IGST exemption under Advance Authorisations upon subsequent fulfilment of export obligation despite breach of the pre-import condition -... ... ...

Fe content of iron ore for export duty on Wet Metric Ton basis - Additional legal grounds in customs appeal Additional legal grounds in customs appeal - No estoppel against correct statutory assessment - Rejection of the statutory appeals against final assessment on the ground that the plea for determining Fe content on WMT basis amounted to additional evidence and was barred by the appellant's prior acceptance of finalisation - HELD THAT: - Rule 5 of the Customs (Appeals) Rules, 1982 reg... ... ...

Enhancement of customs value on written acceptance letters - Statutory right of appeal against customs reassessment - Communication of grounds for rejecting declared transaction value Enhancement of the declared transaction value of imported polyester knitted fabrics on the basis of written acceptance letters, and the importer's right to challenge the reassessment - HELD THAT: - A written acceptance of reassessment may relieve the proper officer of the obligation to issue a speaking order... ... ...

Restricted gold becoming prohibited goods on breach of import conditions - Redemption fine for prohibited goods - Judicial review of discretionary confiscation Restricted gold becoming prohibited goods on breach of import conditions - Redemption fine for prohibited goods - Judicial review of discretionary confiscation - Entitlement to redemption of confiscated 24-carat gold ornaments imported without compliance with the applicable import conditions. - HELD THAT: - Non-compliance with conditio... ... ...

Alternative statutory remedy - mandatory pre-deposit Alternative statutory remedy - mandatory pre-deposit - Maintainability of the writ petition challenging confiscation of gold and penalty despite the available statutory appeal requiring pre-deposit - HELD THAT: - The existence of a prescribed pre-deposit for pursuing the statutory appeal does not, by itself, render that remedy inefficacious or justify exercise of extraordinary writ jurisdiction. The decision in Directorate of Revenue Intell... ... ...