CENVAT credit on MS scrap received under registered dealer invoices was admissible where valid invoices, banking payments, statutory records, transport-service tax and evidence of consumption supported receipt, while manufacture and clearance of finished goods remained undisputed. The Revenue had to prove non-receipt through affirmative evidence and identify an alternative raw-material source; suspicion and incomplete investigation were insufficient. Uncorroborated, contradictory investigation statements could not sustain denial without compliance with Section 9D safeguards. Limited Vahan portal vehicle discrepancies, without examination of vehicle owners or independent evidence, could not establish fictitious transactions. Extended limitat.....

Punjab's GST amendments facilitate voluntary compliance and reduce procedural burdens by allowing a 90 per cent provisional input tax credit refund in inverted duty structure cases and removing the minimum threshold for IGST refunds on exported goods. Additional measures cap annual fee increases by private unaided educational institutions, establish digital open universities for technology-enabled higher education, protect trees and green cover, and address common infrastructure, panchayati raj, and contractual engagement of outsourced State personnel.

Special CBI Court rejected an accused's request to record her statement through video conferencing in a bank-fraud prosecution. The accused had sought to become an approver, and her statement was required to be recorded before consideration of that application. She and her husband had previously become approvers in a related money-laundering matter involving alleged fraudulent Letters of Undertaking.

High Court directions regulating the sequence and expeditious consideration of pending applications remained undisturbed because no error of fact or law was identified. The merits of every pending application were expressly kept open, requiring the Single Judge to decide each matter independently and without influence from the High Court's observations. Pending applications were directed to be disposed of independently within three months.

Section 63(c) of the Indian Succession Act permits attestation where a witness personally sees the testator sign or affix a mark, sees another person sign in the testator's presence and at the testator's direction, or receives the testator's personal acknowledgement. The requirement of signing at the testator's direction applies only when another person signs the Will, not when the witness sees the testator affix a thumb impression. Evidence that the testator affixed the thumb impression before both attesting witnesses, followed by their attestation, establishes due execution. Reduced spacing in the concluding portion of a single-page Will does not by itself create a legitimate suspicious circumstance. The Will and sale deeds founded on it were valid.

Subsequent purchasers pendente lite may seek leave to appeal against a specific-performance decree only by showing that the decree binds, aggrieves or prejudicially affects them and that judicial discretion should be exercised in their favour. Rejection of an impleadment application does not itself bar leave to appeal, but neither impleadment nor leave is available as of right. A transfer during litigation remains valid but subordinate to the rights determined in the suit. Purchasers who knew of the proceedings, acquired property despite an operative injunction, and failed to act diligently lacked sufficient cause for substantial delay and a good case for appellate leave. Their remedy may lie independently against the vendor for sale-consideration recovery.

Transport of goods with an unfilled Form 38 did not constitute a contravention where the statutory requirement for a duly completed form had not yet taken effect. The absence of intent to evade tax was supported by the accompanying Form 38 and other transport documents. As the requirement to fill Form 38 was introduced only after the relevant seizure, penalty could not be sustained, and its deletion was justified.

Delayed filing of the monthly duty-payment statement under Notification No. 01/2010-C.E. is a procedural lapse and does not defeat an area-based exemption refund where the manufacturer satisfies the substantive eligibility conditions and provides the duty-payment particulars supporting the claim. The filing timeline regulates administration of the refund scheme rather than determining entitlement. Denial of the area-based incentive solely because the statement was furnished late is unwarranted; the refund remains available despite belated compliance.

Site-formation services performed by a sub-contractor, including excavation, preparation, drilling and blasting, do not qualify as construction of a dam under the relevant exemption where the services are rendered to an intervening contractor rather than directly for the Government. However, rejection of the alternative works-contract exemption requires fresh adjudication because authorities on deemed transfer of property in goods, VAT deductions, material consumption and the nature of the activity were not adequately considered. Extended limitation must also be reconsidered in light of the claimed bona fide belief, while threshold exemption and cum-tax valuation require consideration if any demand survives.

Interim bail was granted to enable participation in bank proceedings concerning property already taken into the bank's possession. The applicant had previously complied with interim bail conditions, and retention of his passport by the investigating agency reduced the risk of leaving India. Release was subject to safeguards prohibiting evidence tampering, witness influence, interference with the investigation, and foreign travel without permission. The interim release was limited to the specified period required for the bank proceedings.

Temporary relief previously granted in a bail application was extended pending the applicant's surrender. The surrender date and time were fixed, and the bail and surety bonds were correspondingly extended. The temporary relief remained effective until 21.10.2024, following which the bail application was disposed of.

Interim bail may be granted for participation in bank proceedings concerning secured property under the SARFAESI regime where the applicant's presence is necessary and investigation can be protected through safeguards. Prior compliant use of interim bail and retention of the applicant's passport by the investigating agency supported temporary release. Interim bail was granted for a limited period, subject to stipulated restrictions, to enable participation in the secured-property proceedings.

Writ jurisdiction may extend to a private bank's unilateral freezing of bank and demat accounts where the action directly impairs the customer's ability to conduct banking transactions and carry on business. The private character of the bank does not bar relief where no cogent justification supports the freeze. Accounts should be defrozen when no judicial forum has authorised the restriction, the Registrar of Companies' management-dispute remark has been removed, and the bank's NCLT intervention has been dismissed. Restoration of account operations is subject to furnishing an indemnity bond under the bank's applicable norms.

Writ jurisdiction may extend to a private bank's unilateral freezing of banking and demat accounts where the action directly impairs customers' ability to carry on business and lacks cogent justification. No continuing freeze is warranted where no judicial forum has ordered or authorised it, the Registrar of Companies' remark relied upon has been removed, and the bank's NCLT application has been dismissed. Access to the accounts must be restored upon submission of an indemnity bond in accordance with the bank's norms, where no subsisting legal restraint remains.

Release of a seized gold chain pending completion of a customs investigation was addressed through procedural safeguards. The Customs Department was required to continue the investigation, record statements subject to specified safeguards, issue a show-cause notice within the statutory period, and provide an opportunity to submit a reply and receive a personal hearing before reasoned adjudication. The matter therefore required completion of the statutory customs process with procedural fairness before final determination of the seizure.

Provisional attachment under Section 24(3) requires a demonstrable basis to believe that the person in possession may alienate the benami property during the notice period. Cash already held by the Income Tax Department is unavailable for alienation by the assessee, so attachment cannot be sustained merely on that basis. A challenge to the issuing officer's competence cannot ordinarily be introduced for the first time on appeal where it involves unresolved factual issues, was not raised before the Adjudicating Authority, and no leave was obtained. Fresh attachment may be considered if later circumstances establish the statutory risk of alienation.

Composite letting of industrial premises with tenant-specific customisation, furnishings, repairs, security, housekeeping, parking and other continuing services is treated as business income where it constitutes a structured service operation rather than bare rental exploitation. Operational expenses, employee salaries, directors' remuneration and depreciation connected with that activity are consequently allowable. Compensation paid to tenants for surrendering tenancy rights is deductible as business expenditure where it secures vacant possession, prevents third-party rights and facilitates reletting without creating a capital asset or enduring advantage. Reversal of an earlier tax provision may be excluded from book profit only if the original provision was not allowed as a deduction. MAT credit, unabsorbed depreciation set-off and TDS credit require verification and recomputation under applicable law.

Corporate guarantee disclosed as a contingent liability cannot be disallowed under Section 37(1) where it was neither debited to the profit and loss account nor claimed as expenditure or deduction in the return. Tax-audit reporting alone does not establish an expenditure claim, particularly where the auditor clarifies that the disclosure was inadvertent and the financial statements confirm that the amount appeared only in the notes to accounts. The adjustment was therefore deleted because disallowance under Section 37(1) presupposes a claimed expenditure.

Peak Credit Theory cannot be applied merely because unexplained cash receipts and expenditure exist. Cash receipts omitted from the cash book and not linked to sales, loans, or another explained source remain liable to addition as unexplained cash credits. Expenditure is explained only to the extent its source is traceable to disclosed funds or to undisclosed receipts already taxed; any balance remains unexplained. Deleting a cash-receipt addition after accepting the receipt as unexplained requires supporting reasoning. The deletion and restriction of additions through peak-credit application require fresh determination under these principles.

Associated-enterprise status under Section 92A(2)(c) is foundational to transfer-pricing adjustment of interest on non-convertible debentures and to the interest-limitation disallowance under Section 94B. A revised Form 3CEB filed before the transfer-pricing order identified only one lender as a deemed associated enterprise under the loan-to-assets threshold; Section 92CA(3) prescribes no time limit for such revision. The taxpayer must produce cogent evidence that the remaining lenders were independent enterprises. Transfer-pricing and Section 94B computations require fresh determination after establishing each lender's associated-enterprise status.