SC cancels bail of Ketan Parekh for having failed to deposit Rs 26 Cr instalment in Madhavpura bank scam;

Security for External Commercial Borrowings - Liberalisation;

Petroleum Minister inaugurates new office of Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board;

BEML Bags Construction Equipment Orders Worth Rs. 241 crores from Indonesia, Singapore, Tunisia and Malawi;

ddt 15 july.pdf

Pan Masala under Compounded Levy – AP High Court issues notice;

2008-TIOL-132-SC-FEMA.pdf + export sc story.pdf

M/s Bharat Carpets Vs Director Enforcement Directorate ( Dated: July 7, 2008 )

Non realisation of export proceeds even after six months; no material produced to prove that requisite steps were taken to repatriate: Appellants had placed no material whatsoever as to what steps were taken for repatriation of the amount involved. According to Section 18(2) without general or special permission of the Reserve Bank of India , the exporter is required to repatriate the sale proceeds within the prescribed period of six months. Section 18(3) creates a rebutable legal presumption against the exporter whenever the prescribed period expires without repatriation of the export proceeds to the effect that exporter had not taken requisite steps to obtain repatriation of the payment : SUPREME COURT;

rbi08cir001.pdf

Security for External Commercial Borrowings Liberalisation;

mbuzz797.pdf

Reforming Cable TV sector: TRAI for licensing framework in place of registration system ;

mbuzz796.pdf

BEML bags Rs 158 Cr order from Indonesia; Order book tops Rs 4000 Cr;

mbuzz795.pdf

India, Australia bilateral trade surpasses USD 2 bn in 11 months;

2008-TIOL-347-HC-DEL-IT.pdf + valvoline story.pdf

Valvoline Cummins Limited Vs DCIT, New Delhi ( Dated : May 20, 2008 )

When power has been conferred upon two authorities concurrently, either one of them can exercise that power and once a decision is taken to exercise the power by any one of those authorities, that exercise must be terminated by that authority only. It is not that one authority can start exercising a power and the other authority having concurrent jurisdiction can conclude the exercise of that power. This perhaps may be permissible in a situation where both the authorities jointly exercise power but it certainly is not permissible where both the authorities concurrently exercise power. One example that immediately comes to the mind is that of grant of anticipatory bail. Both the Sessions Judge and the High Court have concurrent power. It is not as if a part of that power can be exercised by the High Court and the balance power can be exercised by the Sessions Judge. If the High Court is seized of an application for anticipatory bail it must deal with it and similarly if the Sessions Judge is seized of an anticipatory bail, he must deal with it.

The Assessee could not confer jurisdiction on the Deputy Commissioner: that mere acquiescence in the exercise of power by a person who does not have jurisdiction to exercise that power, cannot work as an estoppel against him. Consequently, the mere fact that the Assessee addressed letters dated 8th February, 2008 and 22nd February, 2008 to the Deputy Commissioner does not mean that the Deputy Commissioner had jurisdiction over the matter. The Assessee could not confer jurisdiction on the Deputy Commissioner to deal with the application filed under Section 220(6) of the Act.

Revenue directed to pay costs - : A considerable amount of time has been spent over an issue which should otherwise have been sorted out without arguments had the Revenue been more reasonable. We are conscious of the fact that litigation is no longer cheap particularly in Delhi and we, therefore, allow the writ petition with costs. Counsels fee is assessed at Rs.15 ,000 /-. The Revenue will make out a cheque of Rs.15 ,000 /- and deposit it with the Registrar General of this Court within a period of six weeks from today.” : DELHI HIGH COURT ;

2008-TIOL-346-HC-MAD-IT.pdf

M/s Tarapore & Co Vs TRO, Chennai (Dated: June 13, 2008 )

Income Tax - Attachment of property by Tax Recovery Officer - Assessee challenges the vires of Rule 11 of the Second Schedule - There is no arbitrariness in this provision. On the other hand, it only safeguards the interest of the parties. The other contention that the Department cannot decide his own case cannot be a ground for declaring the provision as invalid. Any dispute in the tax law cannot be regarded as adversarial one. The authorities under the Act are vested with the power to see whether the tax has been paid as required under law and adjust the same in accordance with the statutory provisions. The statutory authorities under the Act, who are vested with the power to see that the assessee has paid the tax in accordance with law, cannot be regarded as person acting adversarial to the interest of the assessee and thus they cannot be treated as deciding their own case. If the appellant is not satisfied with the enquiry conducted by the Tax Recovery Officer, it is open to him either to file a suit or challenge the same in the procedure known to law. Appellant's repeated filing of writ petitions to prevent Recovery Officer from proceeding against the property amounts to abuse of process of law - Assessee's petition dismissed : P & H HIGH COURT ;

2008-TIOL-345-HC-P-H-IT.pdf

Subhash Bansal Vs ITO, Patiala ( Dated: April 4, 2008 )

Income Tax - Is interest income earned on credit balance maintained by the retired employees of the State Electricity Board in PF eligible for exemption? - Held, in light of regulation 38 where it is provided that within a period of six months an option has to be exercised for retention of the credit balance in the provident fund if option is exercised as per the regulation then it would continue to enjoy its character of provident fund for five years, and the interest income will qualify for exemption from Income Tax - Notices u/s 148 quashed and assessee's appeal upheld : P & H HIGH COURT ;

2008-TIOL-344-HC-MAD-IT.pdf

CIT, Madras Vs M/s Carburandum Universal Limited ( Dated: June 18, 2008 )

Income Tax - Assessee hires a management consultancy firm for restructuring of business and marketing strategies - claims deduction for the fee paid - Revenue for treating the same as capital expenditure on the ground that the benefits would accrue over a period of time - Tribunal sets aside CIT(A) order agreeing with the AO - Merely obtaining a report for business restructuring and the fact that no new line of business was started cannot be treated as capital expenditure - Revenue's appeal dismissed

Sec 36(1)(iii) - Assessee claims deduction for interest paid on borrowed capital for business expansion - AO adds the same to the cost of the capital - Issue is no longer res integra as it was settled in favour of the assessee in its own case : MADRAS HIGH COURT ;

cbecorder167_2008.pdf + cbecorder166_2008.pdf

AC/DCs transfer order: CBEC issues All India transfer order of 67 AC/DCs + local rotation order of 147 officers;

CENTRAL EXCISE SECTION

2008-TIOL-131-SC-CX.pdf + godrej story.pdf

Godrej Industries Ltd Vs D G Ahire Assistant Collector Of Central Excise & Another ( Dated: July 9, 2008 )

Godrej Hair Dye is not hair lotion : , it is clear that the product of the appellant company is undoubtedly, a hair darkener. Whether it also acts as a hair lotion, is the question which calls for decision in order to establish whether the said product would fall under Tariff Item 14F ; when cosmetics and toilet preparations were made taxable by virtue of the Finance Act, 1961, whereby Tariff Item 14F was introduced to cover such preparations, hair lotion as a separate category was included in the said Tariff Item. However, when in May, 1974, the appellant's company introduced its aforesaid product labeled -Godrej-Permanent Hair Dye, no excise duty was levied on the said product under Tariff Item 14F . It was only after the Finance Act, 1975, introduced a Residuary Entry, being Tariff Item No. 68, in the First Schedule to the Central Excise and Salt Act, 1944, that the appellant's product became taxable on and from 1st March, 1975, under Tariff Item 68. However, while under Tariff Item No. 14F tariff was imposed at the rate of 105%, tariff under Tariff Item 68 was imposed at the rate of 8%. It is subsequent to the introduction of Tariff Item No. 68 that the appellant's company was informed that its above-mentioned product did not fall under Tariff Item No.14F .

Lotion and Dye: The expression "lotion" has been described in Collins English Dictionary as "a liquid preparation having a soothing, cleansing or antiseptic action applied to the skin, eyes etc. ". It has also been indicated that the word "lotion" had been derived from the Latin word " lotio " meaning - a washing; even in common parlance or trader's jargon a hair dye, unless it had other properties besides the capacity to darken hair, could not be equated with hair lotion. : SUPREME COURT;

2008-TIOL-1112-CESTAT-MUM.pdf + larsen story.pdf

Larsen And Toubro Ltd Vs CC & CCE, Aurangabad (Dated : Feburary 21, 2008)

Valuation - issue is no more res integra as the Supreme Court in the case of Hindustan Polymers [ 2002-TIOL-287-SC-CX-LB ] has held that the Cost of packing supplied by customer/buyer is not includible in the assessable value since the measure of excise duty is price and not value – Revenue appeal rejected.

Replacement of rejected bottles by fresh ones and clearance to buyer - Since the assessee had received the rejected bottles and filed necessary declarations under rule 173H of the CER, 1944, it was incumbent upon them to clear the very same goods after reconditioning, remaking etc. without payment of duty and the rule did not permit clearance of freshly manufactured bottles against returned goods and it could not be considered by any stretch of imagination that the assessee was unaware of these provisions as they belong to the organized sector.  Moreover, there is no provision in the Central Excise law for clearing without payment of duty such replenishments.  As for the charge of suppression invoked while raising the demand for the extended period, the same are correct since it could not have been possible for the department to be aware of such “replacements” being effected by the assessee as the invoices/gate passes indicated "clearance under the provisions of Rule 173H after remaking / reconditioning".  The duty demand and the penalty imposed u/s 11AC are upheld. : MUMBAI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-1110-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Afcons Infrastructure Ltd Vs CCE, Delhi- I (Dated : May 16, 2008)

Central Excise – Stay/dispensation of pre-deposit - excisability of pre-cast concrete girders used for Delhi Metro Rail – the goods are marketable and are excisable – no prima facie case for waiver of pre-deposit. : DELHI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-1109-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

M/s Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd Vs CCE, Pondicherry (Dated : May 1, 2008)

100% EOU – conversion of DTA unit to EOU – in view of Rule 17 of the Central Excise Rules 2002, the EOU is entitled for CENVAT Credit – demand of credit availed on the inputs is prima facie not sustainable – pre-deposit waived. : CHENNAI CESTAT;

SERVICE TAX SECTION

2008-TIOL-1111-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

M/s Jindal Steel & Power Limited Vs CCE, Raipur (Dated : May 26, 2008)

Stay/dispensation of pre-deposit – CENVAT credit on out-door catering service –prima facie out-door catering can not be considered as input service – pre-deposit ordered. : DELHI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-1107-CESTAT-MUM.pdf + stgst.pdf

Vikram Ispat Vs CCE, Raigad (Dated : May 5, 2008)

Collecting Rent on hiring of barges, floating cranes, and tugging facilities does not attract Service Tax under “Port Services”

Tribunal decision in Velji P. & Sons (Agencies) P.Ltd. [ 2007-TIOL-1452-CESTAT-AHM ] upheld by Supreme Court [ 2008-TIOL-68-SC-ST ] and Tribunal decision in the case of Homa Engineering Works [ 2007-TIOL-769-CESTAT-MUM ] relied upon . : MUMBAI CESTAT;

2008-TIOL-1106-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

Reliance Industries Limited Vs CCE, Rajkot (Dated : June 23, 2008)

ST - Consulting Engineer Service - Demand confirmed for reimbursable charges paid for travelling of consulting engineers - expenses incurred out of reimbursable expenses not to form part of the value of taxable service - Assessee's appeal allowed : AHMEDABAD CESTAT;

CUSTOMS SECTION

NOTIFICATION

ctariff08_085.pdf

Govt extends anti-dumping duty on import of Titanium Dioxide upto July 10, 2009;

CASE LAWS

2008-TIOL-1108-CESTAT-MAD.pdf

M/s Rubfila International Ltd Vs CC & CCE, Coimbatore (Dated : May 9, 2008)

Customs – Stay/dispensation of pre-deposit – recovery of drawback – since the drawback was sanctioned on the basis of All Industry Rate of drawback, it is not open for the departmental officers to examines whether the inputs used actually suffered duty or exempted – the Circular issued by the Board in this regard is binding on the officers – pre-deposit waived. :CENNAI CESTAT;