Supreme Court Introduces Professional Bail Bondsperson Rules 2026 To Curb Rampant Fake Sureties Supreme Court Issues Comprehensive Guidelines For Foreign Nationals In NDPS Commercial Quantity Cases, Mandates Passport Deposition And Strict Surety Verification Supreme Court Issues Mandatory Guidelines To Curb Black Money In Elections, Directs Fast-Track Disposal Of Criminal Cases Against MPs And MLAs Same Set of Depositions Cannot Lead to Conviction of Some Accused and Acquittal of Others Without Distinct Reasoning: Supreme Court Victims Have Equal Constitutional Right To Speedy Trial: Supreme Court Section 12 Of Gangsters Act Does Not Freeze Other Parallel Proceedings, Its Sole Purpose Is To Resolve Clash Of Dates: Supreme Court Registration of a Will Does Not Dispense With Mandatory Proof of Execution and Attestation Under Section 68 of Evidence Act: Supreme Court Arbitration Pre-Deposit Clause Requiring Contractor To Deposit 10% Of Claim Amount Prior To Reference Violates Right To Sue And Article 14: Supreme Court

"TAXATION LAW" Digest

Central Excise – Determination of Valuation – Issue concerning the applicability of Section 4 or Section 4A of the Central Excise Act for the goods sold by the respondent – Tribunal’s decision set aside by the Supreme Court – Section 4A applies when there is a statutory requirement to declare retail sale price on the package – HDPE bags sold by the respondent to...

Income Tax Law – Reopening of Assessment – Sections 147 and 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 – Whether reopening based on "change of opinion" without new tangible material is valid – Held, reopening was invalid due to lack of new material. The Court referred to CIT v. Kelvinator of India Ltd., noting that mere change of opinion cannot justify reopening an assessmen...

Income Tax Law – Hybrid System of Accounting – Methodology Adopted by the Company – Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Shillong challenged the company’s use of the hybrid system of accounting, arguing it was in contravention of Section 145 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 – Tribunal had quashed the revisionary proceedings under Section 263, considering them erroneous an...

Taxation Law - Customs Law – Duty Drawback – Recovery Proceedings Against Deceased Sole Proprietor – Recovery proceedings initiated against a deceased person under the Customs Act, 1962, for non-realization of export proceeds – Petitioner, the wife of the deceased, challenged the recovery notice on the grounds that no recovery can be made from legal heirs without legal step...

Tax Law – Penalty for Undervaluation of Goods – Punjab VAT Act, 2005 – Appeals challenging the imposition of penalties under Section 51(7)(b) of the Punjab VAT Act for undervaluation of medicines imported into Chandigarh from Himachal Pradesh. The Checking Officer detained the goods, observing that the prices mentioned on the invoice were disproportionately lower than the Maximum...

Income Tax – Reassessment under Section 147/148 of Income Tax Act – Report of District Valuation Officer (DVO) not sufficient basis for reopening assessment – Held: Sole reliance on DVO report without proper application of mind by the Assessing Officer (AO) invalidates reassessment proceedings – No proper analysis of petitioner’s declared property values under "F...

Customs Law – Service of Show Cause Notice (SCN) – Petitioner argued that SCN was improperly served via a non-government email service (Gmail), violating the E-mail Policy of India. High Court held that the SCN was validly served under Section 153 of the Customs Act, 1962, as there is no statutory requirement to use only government email services. The court noted that the petitioner...

Taxation Law – Detention of Goods – E-Way Bill Compliance – Petition challenging penalty imposed under Section 129 of the CGST/SGST Act, 2017 – Goods detained due to incomplete Part-B of the E-Way bill – Intention to evade tax immaterial for imposing penalty under Section 129 – Authorities empowered to detain goods and demand tax and penalty if documents are not...

Sales Tax – Refund of Excess Tax – Unjust Enrichment – Appeal against the refusal of refund based on the principle of unjust enrichment. Held: The officer determining the refund amount cannot review or revise the assessment order but must respect it and only quantify the refund. The appeal was allowed, and the appellant was entitled to a refund as per the assessment order. [Paras...

Value Added Tax - Deductions in Works Contracts - Section 36 of Haryana Value Added Tax Act - Appeal by revenue against Tribunal's order allowing deductions for depreciation on plant and machinery, financial expenses, and other related expenses - Tribunal upheld deductions allowed by assessing officer for expenses including depreciation, bank interest, postage, telephone, fuel, and lubricants ...