Post-clearance amendment of Bills of Entry may support preferential tariff claims under the India-Japan CEPA where a Certificate of Origin is issued retrospectively. Appendix-A to Annexure-2 of the CEPA Rules permits an importer lacking the certificate at importation to seek refund of excess duty after producing the certificate and supporting documents. Section 149 of the Customs Act must be applied harmoniously with those Rules, allowing later submission of the Certificate of Origin from the date of clearance. Reassessment and concessional duty under the relevant exemption notification remain subject to admissibility of the certificate and claim.

Director disqualification under section 164 concerns eligibility for appointment as a director and does not itself provide for deactivation of a Director Identification Number (DIN). DIN deactivation is governed separately by Rule 11 of the Companies (Appointment of Directors) Rules, 2014, requiring compliance with its prescribed grounds. Where a website records disqualification under one statutory clause but authorities rely on an undisclosed internal communication invoking another clause, procedural fairness is compromised. Notice and an opportunity of hearing are required before adverse DIN-disqualification action, and undisclosed grounds cannot substitute those requirements.

Closure of CIRP may be ordered where withdrawal under section 12A read with Regulation 30A is infeasible because CIRP costs remain uncrystallised and Form FA and a bank guarantee cannot be furnished. Where all creditor claims are settled or covered by accepted full-and-final settlements, no resolution plan exists, and the appellant undertakes to pay CIRP costs as determined, continuing CIRP serves no insolvency-resolution purpose and only increases costs. CIRP was closed subject to payment of the operational creditor's agreed settlement and CIRP costs following determination by the Adjudicating Authority.

Personal guarantor insolvency resolution applications must pursue a genuine repayment plan and cannot use the interim moratorium to obstruct secured-creditor enforcement of security interests. Failure to attempt repayment after a demand notice, coupled with filings made immediately after possession notices, indicates that the process is being used to stall recovery rather than achieve resolution. Section 94 is intended for personal guarantors genuinely seeking a repayment-based insolvency resolution process; use of Section 96 as a shield against SARFAESI possession proceedings constitutes misuse. On these facts, rejection of the second insolvency application and dismissal of the appeal were upheld.

Provisional attachment of mortgaged property requires recorded material showing that proceeds of crime are likely to be concealed, transferred, or otherwise dealt with to frustrate confiscation. An interim restraint on creating third-party rights, without an auction notice under secured-recovery proceedings or an executable arbitral sale order, does not establish that statutory apprehension. The provisional attachment and its confirmation were set aside for failure to meet this condition, while the question whether the properties were proceeds of crime remained for separate proceedings. The properties continued to be subject to the final outcome of pending insolvency proceedings.

Provisional attachment of mortgaged property requires a likelihood that the person concerned will deal with or alienate it so as to frustrate confiscation proceedings. A pre-existing interim restraint against creating third-party rights, followed by admission of proceedings before the NCLT, negated that apprehension. The order confirming the provisional attachment was set aside, while the property remained subject to the final outcome of the NCLT proceedings.

Transfer of title in goods, including deemed sales under works contracts, falls outside service tax; tax applies only to the service portion, and valuation must exclude goods on which sales tax or VAT is payable. Accordingly, service-tax demands based on the sale-of-goods component of lift irrigation and supply-and-installation contracts were unsustainable. Lift irrigation works supplied to a government-established and controlled body performing municipal functions qualified for exemption as services to a governmental authority. Extended limitation required wilful suppression or another specified positive act and could not rest solely on an interpretative exemption claim, Form 26AS information, or alleged non-payment. The notices and consequential demands were barred by limitation and set aside.

Admission of cheque execution and signatures on the cheque and money receipt triggered the presumptions of consideration and legally enforceable debt under the Negotiable Instruments Act. Questions concerning the complainant's financial capacity and an alleged breach of income-tax rules on cash loans did not rebut those presumptions without cogent and reliable evidence. The cheque-dishonour conviction was therefore sustained. A succeeding Magistrate could decide the matter on evidence recorded by the predecessor because the prosecution proceeded as a summons trial, not a summary trial; the statutory restriction on successor Magistrates was consequently inapplicable. The criminal revision was dismissed, and surrender was directed for the remaining sentence.

The 1994 Guidelines govern a Panel Valuer's fees for court-authorised inspection and valuation of immovable properties for sale. Prior sanction is required for payment above the prescribed ceiling, not before appointment; where distinct properties receive separate valuation reports, the ceiling ordinarily applies to each exercise. Full revised fees were sanctioned because the work was accepted without deficiencies. Delayed payment justified interest at 6% per annum, including until payment, but a further inflation-linked increase for the same period was rejected as overlapping compensation. Recovery must be claimed from available proceeding funds or before the competent Official Liquidator, not personally from the Court Receiver, government, associated individuals, or separate corporate entities without substantive legal basis and hearing.

Enforcement Directorate searches at premises linked to a Rajya Sabha member and an Urdu daily were undertaken in connection with a money-laundering investigation. The investigation arose from a police FIR and concerned allegations of material promoting communal disharmony, unaccounted cash transactions, suspicious funding, overstated circulation figures to secure government advertising, and advertising-linked funding connected with a Dubai-based entity. The political party disputed the action, alleging political motivation and targeting of a media voice.

Money-laundering investigation concerning alleged misappropriation of Karnataka Maharishi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited funds involved further recording of a former minister's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The inquiry follows earlier questioning, arrest, grant of bail and filing of a chargesheet over alleged fund-transfer irregularities. The former minister denied involvement, characterised the matter as bank fraud, and stated that no documents were sought during the inquiry.

Aadhaar-based online processing of learning and driving licence applications is challenged on the ground that Aadhaar is not valid proof of age and that reliance on Aadhaar details may enable issue of licences to underage applicants. Allegations that licences were issued using a deceased person's Aadhaar number and despite an obscene uploaded photograph raise identity-verification and security concerns. The Union and State maintain that Aadhaar alone does not result in licence issuance because prescribed formalities must also be completed.

Digital donation collection facilities for temples and religious establishments include kiosks, Bharat Bill Payment System payments and UPI QR-code payments. Donations may be credited directly to the relevant trust account, supported by transaction reconciliation and digital records to improve transparency and ease of transactions. Technology services also cover municipal dues payments and property-tax assessment, alongside banking support for defence-sector ecosystems, MSMEs, agriculture and priority-sector lending.

Foreign-exchange market conditions resulted in the rupee closing weaker against the US dollar after initial support from foreign currency deposit inflows. Rising crude oil prices and weakness in domestic equity markets weighed on sentiment and offset support from a softer dollar and foreign investor equity purchases. Future movement may remain influenced by foreign inflows, crude oil prices, domestic market conditions, geopolitical tensions and inflation data.

Challenge to surrogate advertising allegations concerns notices requiring brand ambassadors promoting Vimal Elaichi to prove that it differs from prohibited pan masala, halt promotions, and remove digital materials. The product promoter contests the notices because they were addressed only to the actors, it was not heard, and the regulator allegedly lacked jurisdiction to stop the advertisements. Territorial jurisdiction to entertain the challenge is also contested.

Section 80P(2)(d) allows a co-operative society to deduct interest or dividend income derived from investments with another co-operative society. Co-operative banks registered under applicable State co-operative societies law fall within the meaning of a co-operative society for this purpose. Consequently, interest earned by a co-operative housing society on deposits with such co-operative banks qualifies for deduction under Section 80P(2)(d).

Cash repayment of an earlier trade advance may not attract Section 269SS where it is genuinely a refund of an advance originally paid through banking channels, rather than acceptance of a loan or deposit. Cash receipts recorded as reductions in loans and advances required verification against the relevant ledger accounts and audited financial statements before penalty under Section 271D could be determined. The appellate order was set aside, and the matter was remitted for verification of the supporting records and fresh adjudication on merits.

TDS credit for instalment payments in real-estate transactions may be allowed where the related revenue was recognised under the percentage completion method and taxed in earlier assessment years. Non-inclusion of that income in the return for the year of deduction does not by itself preclude credit. Eligibility depends on verification that Form 26AS deductions correspond to turnover already offered to tax, through reconciliation of the TDS claim with prior-year revenue. Eligible credit should then be granted in accordance with law.

Own funds exceeding investments generating exempt income support the presumption that those investments were made from own funds, precluding interest disallowance under Section 14A read with Rule 8D. Indirect-expenditure disallowance under Rule 8D also requires recorded satisfaction that the claim of no such expenditure is incorrect; absent that satisfaction, such disallowance is not sustainable. Contributions to an employees' welfare fund fall within the prohibition under Section 40A(9). Employees' contributions to PF and ESI are treated as disallowable in line with the binding principle in Checkmate Services Pvt. Ltd.

Depreciation is allowable on moulds and tools where expenditure initially claimed as revenue is capitalised and no depreciation has previously been allowed on that cost. Interest-related disallowance against exempt income is unwarranted where own funds exceed the investments generating exempt income, as borrowed funds cannot be presumed to have financed those investments. Refundable distributor deposits do not reduce the actual cost of freezers for depreciation because they are neither reimbursements of the asset cost nor subsidies. Accordingly, depreciation applies to the capitalised moulds and tools and the full freezer cost, without an exempt-income interest disallowance.