Unchallenged CENVAT credit cannot be reassessed at the export-refund stage where its availment was not disputed through the statutory recovery mechanism for wrongly taken or utilised credit. Refund of accumulated credit attributable to exports remains available under the prescribed refund framework. General insurance, works contract, and commercial or industrial construction services qualify as eligible input services where they fall within the applicable input-service definition. A refund claim cannot be rejected solely for alleged lack of nexus with exported business support or information technology software services. Denial of the accumulated-credit refund is therefore liable to be set aside with consequential relief.

VCES declaration rejection requires a qualifying inquiry, investigation or audit to have been pending on 1 March 2013. A summons seeking annual reports, foreign-currency expenditure details, royalty agreements and returns, without evidence of suppression, a defined investigative purpose, or a consequent tax, interest or penalty demand, remains a routine and roving information request rather than an investigation. Departmental action must also comply with the Scheme's prescribed time limits and cannot rely on an alternative internal timeline. In the absence of a timely notice, the declaration should be accepted and a Form VCES-3 discharge certificate issued.

Service-tax liability on royalties for mining rights depends on when the Government service of assigning the right to use a natural resource was provided or agreed to be provided, rather than when periodic royalties are paid. Where a mining lease was executed before 1 April 2016, subsequent expansion of the tax net for Government services does not apply merely because royalties became payable thereafter; the Point of Taxation Rules govern timing of payment, not taxability. Revenue neutrality, where any tax payable is available as CENVAT credit for the recipient's manufacturing activity, undermines allegations of suppression or intent to evade and supports absence of penalty.

Reasonable cause for service-tax defaults may arise where the applicability of the post-2007 Composition Scheme to ongoing construction projects remained subject to bona fide interpretational uncertainty. Discharge of differential tax, interest and CENVAT credit reversal before adjudication supports waiver of penalties under the Finance Act, 1994. Service-tax computation and appropriation may remain undisturbed where reconciled CENVAT records, payment challans, credit-reversal details and Chartered Accountant certificates substantiate the liability. Differences between tax-payment figures and ST-3 returns may be explained by reversal of CENVAT credit on sale of capital goods, provided project-wise reconciliation and non-construction income are adequately addressed.

Mistake apparent from the record warranting rectification - Statutory outer limit for condonation of appeal delay - final order dismissing the statutory appeal as time-barred - Rectification of mistake not a substitute for review - Jurisdiction of Commissioner (Appeals) to condone delay Statutory outer limit for condonation of appeal delay - Jurisdiction of Commissioner (Appeals) to condone delay - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal held that condonation of delay, if any, in filing the appeal before i... ... ...

Taxability of technical Know-How under Intellectual Property Right Service - Permanent transfer versus temporary licensing of intellectual property rights - Penalties for non-registration in respect of non-taxable Intellectual Property Right Service Technical Know-How as intellectual property right - Permanent transfer of intellectual property rights - Taxability of consideration under the Asset Sale and Purchase Agreement for Know-How and related assets as Intellectual Property Right Service... ... ...

Extended period of limitation for service-tax demand - Adjudication on merits of time-barred demand Extended period of limitation for service-tax demand - Suppression of facts with intent to evade tax - Invocation of the extended limitation period for service tax alleged to be payable under reverse charge on services received from the overseas recording-service provider - HELD THAT: - The extended period under the proviso to section 73(1) is attracted only upon fraud, collusion, wilful missta... ... ...

Service tax on commission from DTH recharge-voucher distribution - Business Auxiliary Services - Double taxation of commission embedded in MRP - Service tax liability and equivalent penalty on commission received for distribution of DTH recharge vouchers where service tax had been discharged by the DTH operator on the maximum retail price inclusive of such commission HELD THAT: - Where the DTH operator has discharged service tax on the maximum retail price of recharge vouchers, which includes... ... ...

Exemption for renting immovable property to an educational institution - Extended limitation for non-payment of service tax Eligibility for exemption on renting of immovable property claimed to have been provided to an educational institution - HELD THAT: - The exemption was available only where the renting service was received by an educational institution. The lease deed described the lessee as a registered society and permitted office, commercial, education, counselling, research and hoste... ... ...

Business Support Service - service tax under the category of "Support Services of Business or Commerce" - Contractual nexus for service tax levy - Adda-fee collection under State concession agreement Liability to service tax as Support Services of Business or Commerce on collection of adda-fee by a management contractor operating and maintaining State bus terminals - HELD THAT: - Service tax is a contract-based levy, requiring examination of the contractual relationship between the service p... ... ...

Service tax liability of local bodies for sale of advertisement space - Statutory advertisement tax as consideration for taxable service - Extended limitation against public undertakings Service tax liability of local bodies for sale of advertisement space - Liability of a municipal corporation to service tax on amounts collected for permitting display of advertisements before the definition of "person" was introduced in the Finance Act, 1994 - HELD THAT: - The Tribunal held that its earlier ... ... ...

Security agency service - statutory welfare board providing ex-servicemen guards without commercial activity - Extended limitation for service tax demand - absence of suppression or intent to evade Security agency service - statutory welfare board providing ex-servicemen guards without commercial activity - Liability of a statutory welfare board to service tax as a security agency for facilitating deployment of ex-servicemen as guards to banks - HELD THAT: - The Board was constituted under st... ... ...

Interest on refund of pre-deposit - Entitlement to interest on refunded service-tax pre-deposit for the period during which the appellant delayed seeking refund after succeeding before the High Court - HELD THAT: - Section 35FF mandates interest from the date of pre-deposit until its refund, without making the entitlement dependent on the cause of the intervening delay. The appellant's unexplained delay in forwarding the High Court judgment and seeking refund could not curtail the statutoril... ... ...

Review jurisdiction-error in judgment Review jurisdiction-error in judgment - Maintainability of review of the earlier judgment on the asserted error concerning the statutory provision under which the show-cause notice was issued. - HELD THAT: - The Court held that its observations in the earlier judgment were founded on the facts and were consistent with the judgment as a whole. It further held that even an incorrect judgment cannot be rectified in review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Code... ... ...

Clearing and Forwarding services - service tax - limitation u/s 73 - penalty under subsection 4A of Section 73 - acknowledgement of debt u/s 18 of the Limitation Act, 1936 - order of remand - Estoppel against law (no estoppel against statute) - HELD THAT:- We see no reason to entertain the appeals challenging the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court [2026 (2) TMI 289 - CALCUTTA HIGH COURT].... ... ...

Continued freezing of property under the PMLA - recording and communication of reasons to believe for search, freezing and adjudication complied with the Prevention of Money Laundering Act Recording and communication of reasons to believe under the PMLA - Validity of the seizure, freezing and adjudication proceedings on the ground of non-recording or non-communication of reasons to believe - HELD THAT: - The reasons to believe under Section 17 had been recorded, as reflected in the respondent... ... ...

Refund claim after acceptance of possession - Maintainability of a home allottee's claim for refund of charges after accepting possession, making payment and registering the unit - HELD THAT: - The Corporate Debtor was undergoing CIRP and the Resolution Professional had completed construction and offered possession while running it as a going concern. Having accepted possession, paid the demanded amount and obtained registration of the unit, the allottee could not subsequently seek refund; a... ... ...

Limitation for personal guarantor's insolvency application - Acknowledgment of liability under the Limitation Act - Unilateral acknowledgment of liability Maintainability of the personal guarantor's insolvency application filed after invocation of the guarantee, on the basis that the guarantor's one-time settlement proposals extended limitation - HELD THAT: - For an application by a personal guarantor, limitation commences upon invocation of the guarantee. Section 18 of the Limita... ... ...

Continuation of pre-liquidation asset sale process - Employee claims under liquidation waterfall Challenge by former employees to the sale of aircraft assets during liquidation, where the sale process had commenced during the corporate insolvency resolution process and was subsequently adopted by the Stakeholders' Consultation Committee - HELD THAT: - The decision to sell the aircraft had been approved during the insolvency process and its completion had been upheld in earlier proceedings... ... ...

Withdrawal of corporate insolvency resolution process after admission - Statutory bar on withdrawal before constitution of committee of creditors Withdrawal of the corporate insolvency resolution process following a post-admission settlement between the operational creditor and the corporate debtor - HELD THAT: - The amended Section 12A, applicable to the case, makes the procedure for withdrawal more stringent and, by its non obstante clause, prohibits withdrawal of an application admitted un... ... ...