Supreme Court Holds BPCL, HPCL Liable For ₹16.6 Crore Service Tax For Marketing MGL's CNG

The Supreme Court on Monday held that Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) are liable to pay more than ₹16.6 crore in service tax for facilitating the sale of Mahanagar Gas Ltd.'s (MGL) compressed natural gas (CNG). It ruled that the two public sector oil companies rendered Business Auxiliary Service to MGL by promoting and marketing its CNG, instead of purchasing and reselling the fuel. "The agent Corporations provide promotional services...

AI Tool Has No Sanction In Law To Prepare And Issue GST Show Cause Notice: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently quashed a GST show cause notice after holding that it had been issued primarily by relying upon an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, the use of which was not shown to have statutory sanction. The challenge was founded on a document annexed to the show cause notice and uploaded on the department's portal. The document referred to various AI-based aids and included suggestions to "Tighten this further with case-law citation paragraph-wise", convert...

CESTAT Kolkata Sets Aside Interest Demand On Dalmia Cement's Capital Goods Imported Under MOOWR Scheme

The Kolkata Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has set aside the interest demand raised against Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd. on customs duty paid while clearing imported capital goods from its bonded warehouse. The tribunal held that interest could not be demanded merely because the goods were cleared for home consumption without being put to use, where they had been imported with the intention of being used in manufacturing.Relying on Supreme Court...

LiveLawBiz Indirect Tax Weekly Round-Up: July 13 - July 19, 2026

SUPREME COURTSupreme Court Upholds Karnataka's Retrospective Withdrawal Of Sales Tax Exemption For Imported SugarCase Title : Asia Sugar & Chemical Co., Davangere v. State of Karnataka & Ors. Case Number : Civil Appeal No. 48 of 2009 CITATION : 2026 LLBiz SC 235The Supreme Court on Monday held that the Karnataka Legislature was competent to retrospectively withdraw the sales tax exemption available to imported sugar, but dealers who had acted under the earlier exemption regime cannot...

CESTAT Chennai Reiterates NIDB Data Alone Cannot Justify Rejection Of Declared Import Value

The Chennai Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has reiterated that the National Import Database (NIDB) data alone cannot justify rejection of the declared transaction value of imported goods or enhancement of their assessable value. It held that the Customs Department must produce independent evidence of undervaluation and establish the comparability of contemporaneous imports before discarding the declared value.A coram of Judicial Member Ajayan T.V. and...

Madras High Court Directs Chennai Corporation To Reimburse Contractor's GST Burden After VAT Change

The Madras High Court on 7 July held that government contractors are entitled to reimbursement of additional GST paid due to the transition from the VAT regime to the GST regime if the change in tax law occurred after the award of contracts. A Bench of Justice C. Saravanan directed the Greater Chennai Corporation to reimburse the GST burden incurred by Sakthi Constructions for the remaining works under government contracts that were awarded before the introduction of GST on 1 July 2017. He...

Liquor Contractors Cannot Be Penalised For Supply Failure Due To Portal Glitches: Madhya Pradesh HC

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on 8 July held that liquor contractors cannot be penalised for the Excise Department's failure to supply liquor due to technical glitches in its online portal, observing that the State cannot take advantage of its own lapse to deny relief to licensees. Justice Sandeep N. Bhatt partly allowed a batch of writ petitions filed by several liquor contractors and directed the authorities to grant relief sought by them, while declining the remaining reliefs considering the...

Telangana High Court Holds Deferred Sales Tax Benefit Cannot Be Denied, Remands Krebs Biochemicals Case

The Telangana High Court on 19 June held that tax authorities cannot deny a taxpayer the benefit of a sales tax deferment scheme merely because statutory adjustment orders supporting the claim were not available during the original assessment proceedings, and directed the Assessing Officer to reconsider the claim after examining the subsequent orders. A Division Bench of Justices P. Sam Koshy and Suddala Chalapathi Rao partly allowed the appeals filed by Krebs Biochemicals & Industries...

Procedural Lapse Cannot Defeat Excise Exemption Benefit When Notification Is Silent: CESTAT Kolkata

The Kolkata Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 20 July held that the Department cannot deny an excise exemption merely because a manufacturer did not intimate the jurisdictional Central Excise authorities before clearing goods without payment of duty when the exemption notification does not impose such a requirement. A Single Member Bench comprising Technical Member K. Anpazhakan allowed the appeal filed by Power Tools and Accessories and set aside the...

LiveLawBiz Direct Tax Weekly Round-Up: July 13 - July 19, 2026

SUPREME COURTSupreme Court Issues Notice On Revenue's Appeal Against HC's India-Singapore DTAA Relief To ST ShippingCase Title : ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Versus M/S ATLANTIC GLOBAL SHIPPING PVT. LTD. Case Number : Diary No. 25162-2026The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notice in the Income Tax Department's appeal challenging a Gujarat High Court judgment that held ST Shipping Pte Ltd, Singapore was entitled to the benefit of Article 8 of the India-Singapore Double Taxation...

GST Seller's Failure To File Returns Cannot Deny ITC To Bona Fide Purchaser: Gauhati High Court

The Gauhati High Court on 16 July held that a bona fide purchaser cannot be denied Input Tax Credit (ITC) merely because the selling dealer failed to file GST returns after collecting tax from the purchaser, and that the department must proceed against the defaulting seller. Justice Devashis Baruah allowed a writ petition by Advance Engineering Farms and Equipments challenging the rejection of ITC on generators bought in FY 2017-18, holding that treating the claim as excess ITC went against the...

Automated Software Services Cannot Be Treated As FTS Without Examining Human Intervention: ITAT Delhi

The Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) on 17 July held that receipts from automated software services cannot be treated as Fees for Technical Services (FTS) under the India-Ireland Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) without first examining whether the services involve the requisite human intervention and possess the characteristics of specialised technical services. Judicial Member Vikas Awasthy and Accountant Member Brajesh Kumar Singh allowed an appeal filed by...