Territorial definition and procedural amendments in CGST notification expand union territory scope and alter procedural timeframes.
The notification implements Finance Act, 2020 amendments: the Union territory definition adds Ladakh and consolidates Dadra and Nagar Haveli with Daman and Diu; the proviso restricting Area Benches (previously excluding Jammu and Kashmir) and a first proviso to section 109(6) are omitted; the period for removal-of-difficulty orders is extended from three years to five years; and a cross-reference to subsection (5) of section 66 concerning reimbursement for special audit is removed while retaining Board-approved delegation to specified Commissioners or Joint Secretaries. (AI Summary)

Excise exemption restored for textile articles, permitting use of nil-duty inputs while preserving product-level exemption.
The tax administration restored excise exemptions for textile articles and clarified that appropriate duty includes goods chargeable to nil duty, permitting manufacturers to use inputs attracting nil duty and still claim exemption on finished textile products; this reverses an interim proviso that had required duty-paid inputs and disallowed Cenvat credit. (AI Summary)

Service tax rate change not yet operative; continue charging the existing service tax rate until official notification.
The announced increase of the service tax rate to 14% is not effective until the Central Government notifies an effective date after enactment of the Finance Bill, 2015; the tax administration's circular confirms that the existing 12.36% rate remains applicable and charging the proposed higher rate from 1 March 2015 is incorrect. (AI Summary)