BOT Concessionaire Liable To Pay GST On Toll Rights Received As Consideration: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court on 22 May held that toll collection rights granted under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) concession agreement constitute consideration for taxable works contract services and are not exempt from GST merely because toll collection itself enjoys exemption. A Division Bench of Justices Arun Monga and Sandeep Shah dismissed a writ petition filed by CG Tollway Ltd challenging orders of the GST authorities that had demanded Rs. 16.36 GST, interest and penalty on services...

CESTAT Upholds CST Demand, ₹6.43 Crore Penalty On Kedia Vanaspathi, Rejects Consignment Sale Claim

The New Delhi Bench of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 12 May 2026 upheld the tax demand and penalty against Kedia Vanaspathi Ltd., holding that a dealer seeking exemption under Section 6A of the Central Sales Tax Act, 1956 must prove, with prescribed evidence, that inter-State movement of goods arises from consignment transfers and not sales. President Justice Dilip Gupta and Technical Member P.V. Subba Rao dismissed the appeals and confirmed the...

Supreme Court Questions Whether Bank Of India Alone Can Face Octroi Prosecution After Officials Get Relief

The Supreme Court on Friday questioned whether criminal proceedings for alleged octroi violations can continue against Bank of India after the Bombay High Court quashed proceedings against its senior officials while allowing the case against the bank to continue. The issue arose while the Court was hearing the Bank of India's plea challenging the Bombay High Court's December 8, 2025 judgment. The High Court had quashed proceedings before the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Pune, against...

Delhi High Court Rejects PIL Seeking Tax On Agricultural Income, Says Issue Lies with Legislature

The Delhi High Court has held that Courts cannot issue directions compelling the legislature or executive to enact a law, including for taxation of agricultural income, and dismissed a public interest litigation seeking such relief. A Division Bench comprising Justices D.K. Upadhyaya and Tejas Karia dismissed the petition as “highly misconceived” and held that no mandamus can be issued to direct legislation on taxation of agricultural income. The judges said: "We cannot issue a mandamus asking...

State Cannot “Unjustly Enrich Itself” By Denying Refund Of Wrongly Paid Stamp Duty Over Delay: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has held that the government cannot retain stamp duty wrongly paid by a citizen merely because there was a short delay in seeking a refund. The Court said procedural delay cannot defeat a person's substantive right to recover money mistakenly paid under a wrong stamp duty head, particularly when the transaction could not proceed further. A single-judge bench of Justice Milind N. Jadhav observed that the state cannot “unjustly enrich itself” by forfeiting money paid due to...

Uttarakhand High Court Strikes Down Water Tax On Hydropower, Calls It Tax On Electricity Generation

The Uttarakhand High Court has struck down a state law that required hydropower companies to pay a tax for using river water to generate electricity, holding that the levy was effectively a tax on electricity generation, which the State cannot impose. Deciding on a reference arising from an earlier split verdict, Justice Alok Kumar Verma opined: “It has been found in the earlier analysis that the Act imposes a tax on the generation of electricity. The State Legislature is not competent to levy...

Export Benefits Cannot Be Denied To Holoflex For Missing Bill Of Export if Supply Is Proven: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently held that export incentives under the Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Scheme cannot be denied solely on the ground that the exporter failed to furnish a Bill of Export (BOE), where there is otherwise sufficient evidence of supply of goods and receipt of payment.A Division Bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla made the observation while dismissing a review petition filed by the Union of India challenging an earlier judgment granting EPCG...

Bombay High Court Quashes Municipal Cess Assessment Orders Against HPCL Over 10-Year Delay

The Bombay High Court has recently quashed municipal cess assessment orders passed by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation against Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd., holding that completing proceedings more than ten years after issuing show cause notices was unreasonable and liable to be set aside. A Division Bench of Justices G. S. Kulkarni and Aarti Sathe noted that the issue raised was already covered by its earlier ruling and that the corporation was bound by it. “In this view of the...

MP High Court Sets Aside Commercial Tax On Diamond Cement For Sale Of Food In Factory Canteen

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has, applying settled law, set aside the levy of commercial tax on subsidised food supplied in a factory canteen run as a statutory welfare measure in a 1995–96 assessment involving Diamond Cement, while upholding the rest of the demand.The court, however, upheld tax liability on scrap sales, coal purchases, and denial of set-off on certain items.The bench, consisting of Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal, partly allowed the writ petition filed by...

Conditional Land Tax Acceptance Unsustainable Without Civil Court Adjudication: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court on 5 March held that the State cannot impose conditions while accepting land tax that create a cloud over title, as such disputes require adjudication by a competent civil court and cannot be decided through administrative endorsements. A Division Bench comprising Justices Anil K. Narendran and Muralee Krishna S set aside the condition in Order G.O.(Ms.)No.172/2019/Rev. dated 6 June 2019 and declined to direct unconditional acceptance of land tax, while permitting the...

Stamp Duty On Amalgamation Cannot Be Based on Goodwill, Share Premium Account Entries: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that while an amalgamation order is chargeable to stamp duty as a “conveyance”, stamp authorities cannot levy duty on such an order by treating accounting entries such as goodwill, share premium, or profit and loss figures as consideration in the absence of any real issuance of shares or payment of money. Holding that amounts reflected in accounts can be considered for stamp duty only if they are clearly linked to actual issuance of shares or real payment of...

Hypothecation Agreements Attract Stamp Duty As General Agreements, Not Pledge Or Mortgage: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has held that a hypothecation agreement executed to secure a loan attracts stamp duty as a general agreement under Article 5(g) of the Kerala Stamp Act and not as a pledge or mortgage, which attracts higher duty. Clarifying the position, the court said Article 6 of the Act applies only to pledges. “Article 6 of the Act will get attracted only if the instrument in question is a 'pledge'. On a conspectus reading of the agreement of hypothecation, it is evident that the...