Advertisement, marketing and promotion expenditure incurred for an assessee's own business and market penetration does not constitute an international transaction merely because an associated enterprise receives an incidental benefit. An agreement or arrangement with the associated enterprise is required to establish such a transaction. The bright line test is not a recognised method for inferring an international transaction or making a transfer pricing adjustment. Applying earlier coordinate-bench decisions on materially identical facts, the AMP transfer pricing adjustment was deleted and the assessee's appeal was allowed.

Transfer pricing rules require benchmarking the actual international transaction and generally prohibit re-characterising legally valid compulsorily convertible debentures as equity merely because another commercial structure appears preferable. Compulsory conversion, lack of repayment before conversion, and separate regulatory or accounting treatment do not alter their debt character until conversion. The nil arm's length price for interest was therefore set aside, with fresh benchmarking required using CUP or another permissible method. Bad debts written off are deductible where statutory conditions are met and debtor accounts are correspondingly extinguished; independent proof of irrecoverability is unnecessary. The bad-debt disallowance was deleted.

Importers using transferable duty credit scrips through authorised customs clearance agents remain responsible for acts performed within the agent's authority when they retain the resulting duty benefit. Bona fide purchaser protection requires good faith and reasonable verification of a scrip's genuineness, validity and available credit; caveat emptor places that due-diligence burden on the importer. Incorrect Bill of Entry declarations and failure to investigate irregular clearance arrangements undermine that protection. Natural justice requires demonstrable prejudice: non-production of original scrips or denial of cross-examination does not invalidate proceedings where independent entitlement, transaction and investigation evidence establ.....

Goods seized under the Customs Act remain within the statutory confiscation and penalty adjudication framework where prior sanction has not been obtained and cognizance of a Customs offence has not been taken. The proper officer's special power to grant provisional release pending adjudication cannot be displaced through the general criminal-law power to release property on zimma. Consequently, a Sessions Court lacks jurisdiction to order release of seized areca nuts on zimma in those circumstances, and the release order was set aside.

Classification of separately imported laptop LCD panels turns on their independent identity as flat panel display modules, not their intended use in laptop repair. The panels were not integrated into computers, and the specific description under heading 8524 prevailed over the general heading for computer parts and accessories. Chapter Note 7 to Chapter 85 gave heading 8524 precedence, while the absence of video-signal-converting components supported that classification. Technical distinctions between LCD and LED panels were irrelevant at import. The panels were classifiable under heading 8524, attracting 15% basic customs duty; the differential-duty demand and confirming order were upheld.

Customs valuation of imported polyurethane-coated polyester water-resistant fabrics must be redetermined under the Customs Valuation Rules, 2007 using comparable contemporary imports rather than an internal departmental instruction or the highest available comparable value. Bills of Entry submitted by the importer should be considered, with the lowest value of similar contemporary imports forming the basis for reassessment. Excess quantity and minor declaration variations may render goods liable to confiscation, even where thickness variations fall within the declared GSM range and no intent to evade duty is established. Redemption fine and penalty must remain proportionate to the importer's involvement and be recalculated by reference to the redetermined value.

Statutory appellate remedy before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal must ordinarily be pursued against NCLT orders, including orders approving revised resolution plans under the insolvency process. Writ jurisdiction should not be exercised where that effective appellate remedy is available. The Supreme Court set aside interim orders that had entertained writ applications challenging an NCLT order, while leaving the parties free to seek relief before the appropriate forum and keeping the merits of their grievances open.

Regulation 31A authorises a regulatory fee on resolution plans as part of insolvency resolution process costs. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board's powers to levy fees and make regulations extend across the corporate insolvency resolution process and are not confined to service-provider registration or renewal. The residuary category of process costs may include the fee because the listed costs share no common genus limiting that power. The levy is a regulatory fee, not a tax: a broad nexus with regulatory services is sufficient and exact quid pro quo is unnecessary. It is neither arbitrary nor excessive merely because the regulator generates a surplus. The proviso applies prospectively to resolution plans pending adjudicatory approval and does not impose retrospective liability.

Depositor-protection proceedings under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors Act continue notwithstanding corporate insolvency proceedings because the special depositor-protection regime prevails over the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for protecting depositors and prosecuting connected offences. The Economic Offences Wing may therefore proceed under that Act. The Liquidator, as successor to the company's management, must pursue recovery of chit receivables through remedies under the Chit Funds Act or other permissible law. To enable recovery, the Economic Offences Wing must provide complete copies of seized company materials, while retaining authority to act if recovered sums are proceeds of crime or belong to the accused company or its directors.

Real estate allottees seeking financial creditor status must establish a subsisting financial debt owed by the corporate debtor. Invoking arbitration for refund, accepting and presenting refund cheques, and pursuing remedies for dishonour constitute an election to seek refund rather than continue with allotment. Such conduct precludes simultaneous reliance on continuing allottee status and the deemed commercial effect of borrowing. The Supreme Court ruling concerning an existing allottee with a RERA decree was distinguished because the allottees had themselves pursued refund remedies. Recognition as financial creditors was therefore unavailable, and dismissal of the company appeals followed.

PMLA proceedings require a subsisting scheduled offence and proceeds of crime derived from criminal activity relating to that offence. Where the predicate FIR ended through acceptance of a cancellation report and dismissal of the protest petition, continuation of the ECIR and coercive measures based solely on that FIR lacked jurisdiction, subject to possible revival if the predicate investigation is revived. Pre-prosecution PMLA search, seizure, freezing and attachment actions remain in the civil or executive stream and may be challenged through civil writ jurisdiction. The Adjudicating Authority's remedies address consequential measures, not the foundational validity of an ECIR. An addendum cannot revive an ECIR that has lost its predicate basis, particularly where it relies on materially distinct allegations and may constitute a colourable exercise of power.

Anticipatory bail in a money-laundering investigation may be refused where prima facie material indicates serious allegations and the accused has not cooperated with the investigation. The High Court considered alleged control of illegal call-centre operations, layering of proceeds through shell entities and hawala channels, unexplained bank credits, failure to join the investigation, an incomplete statement, and unanswered financial-trail queries. It clarified that custodial interrogation need not be indispensable for refusing anticipatory bail; the gravity of the allegations and prima facie material can independently weigh against discretionary protection. Anticipatory bail was declined without addressing the merits of the investigation.

Money-laundering liability requires prima facie material showing knowing participation, control, possession, projection or enjoyment of proceeds of crime. Mere facilitation, intermediary coordination or professional association does not establish culpability without evidence of intent and direct involvement. Uncorroborated statements of co-accused recorded under the PMLA, unsupported by independent documentary, electronic or other evidence, cannot alone sustain proceedings. Where no material shows execution of transactions, operation of accounts, participation in the predicate offence, benefit from alleged proceeds, or a prior meeting of minds, continuation of prosecution is oppressive and an abuse of process. Proceedings against the Chartered Accountant and intermediary were quashed.

Overseas university admission-facilitation services supplied to foreign universities do not constitute intermediary services merely because the provider is described as an agent and receives commission. Intermediary status requires three parties and two distinct supplies: a main supply and a separate ancillary facilitation supply. Where the provider supplies the principal service on its own account, without a tripartite arrangement or multiple supplies, the service qualifies as export of services. For the small service provider exemption, exported-service value is excluded from the aggregate-value threshold; consequently, commission from domestic educational institutions within the prescribed limit is not subject to service tax.

Foreign satellite transponder bandwidth services, involving communication between earth points through satellite relays, fall within telecommunication service rather than Business Support Service. A corrected Board clarification recognised that services intrinsically constituting telecommunication cannot be reclassified as Business Support Service merely because the foreign provider is not a telegraph authority. As foreign satellite service providers were not telegraph authorities, the telecommunication service lay outside the relevant taxable category. The contrary view in an earlier Tribunal decision was inapplicable because it addressed limitation without examining taxability. The Tribunal sustained the dropping of service tax demands and dismissed Revenue's appeal.

Merchant discount rate in credit-card transactions is a composite charge comprising the acquiring bank fee, issuing bank interchange fee and platform fee. Where service tax has been paid on the entire merchant discount rate, subsequent allocation of the interchange fee to the issuing bank does not create a separately taxable service. A further levy on that retained interchange fee would amount to double taxation, particularly where there is no revenue loss. Service-tax demands on interchange fee, along with consequential interest and penalties, were therefore unsustainable and set aside.

Cheating by dishonest inducement requires a fraudulent or dishonest false representation intended to deceive, followed by the complainant acting on it through delivery of property or the requisite harm. Criminal conspiracy requires proof beyond reasonable doubt of an agreement or prior meeting of minds to commit an illegal act or a lawful act by illegal means; suspicion, association, or relationship is insufficient. Where directors are accused of corporate misconduct, cogent evidence must distinguish their individual dishonest acts, participation, or benefit from the roles of directors who were not prosecuted. Unsupported allegations of collateral security or mortgage creation do not establish dishonest inducement or conspiracy.

Customs officers intercepted an arriving passenger at the green channel on intelligence inputs and examined baggage after X-ray screening indicated suspicious images. The examination recovered two oval capsules containing gold paste concealed in the baggage. Interrogation indicated that an alleged receiver was waiting outside the airport to collect the suspected smuggled gold. Customs officers apprehended the alleged receiver, and further investigation remains underway.

Provincial control over alcohol distribution remains distinct from federal trade-making authority. Quebec retains authority over whether United States alcohol is offered through its government-controlled liquor distribution system, despite lacking a veto over a bilateral trade agreement. Federal requests to restore United States alcohol to retail shelves cannot compel provincial action. Proposed trade commitments also concern restrictions on United States agricultural products and Canada's dairy import regime, which applies lower tariffs within designated import volumes and higher duties beyond those volumes.

Electoral-roll special intensive revision recorded no reported cases of Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Iranian nationals obtaining Aadhaar cards, ration cards, other government benefits, or voter registration. Illegal immigrants are identified through police monitoring, intelligence measures, specialised operations and a Special Task Force. Overstayers are recorded through the District Police Module and Foreigners Identification Portal and produced before Foreigners Regional Registration Officer authorities. Persons found to be residing illegally are reported to the concerned central divisions, proceeded against through registered cases, retained pending case disposal and exit permits, and subjected to deportation steps.