Import of waste paper - DGFT says Customs will carry out more physical examination (See 'DDT')

CBDT panel of Members also goes for ACC approval; Nod likely to come soon ;

NACEN - Custom's Premier Academy not able to spend money allotted to it (See 'DDT')

Installation of capital goods - certificate from excise authority within 30 days - if benefit of deeming provision availed, chartered engineer certificate to be submitted: DGFT;

Loans against funds in NRE and FCNR accounts: RBI hikes limit to Rs 100 lakh from Rs 20 lakh + hikes limit to USD 100 mn for companies to buy back FCCBs;

Garment exports falls 14% short of USD 11.6 bn target ;

Swine flu: Infections rising; UN alert remains at phase 4;

Nobel Peace Prize winner to launch UN-backed Truth and Reconciliation Commission;

Indian Navy nabs 9 pirates off Seychelles; saves 1000 pax & 500 crew of Italian cruise liner;

Govt clarifies no levy obligation on imported raw sugar; Notification to be issued soon;

TIOL COMMENTARY

ddt 29 April.pdf

Import of waste paper – DGFT says Customs will carry out more physical examination;

spl down.pdf

A few valuable tips on how to make e-payment of Service Tax;

RBI CIRCULAR

rbi08cir066.pdf

Foreign Exchange Management (Deposit) Regulations, 2000-Loans to Non Residents / third party against security of Non Resident (External) Rupee Accounts [NR (E) RA / Foreign Currency Non Resident (Bank) Accounts [FCNR(B)] -Deposits;

rbi08cir065.pdf

Buyback / Prepayment of Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs);

rbi08cir064.pdf

External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) Policy - Liberalisation

MIXED BUZZZ

mbuzz0431.pdf

Garment exports falls 14% short of USD 11.6 bn target ;

mbuzz0430.pdf

Swine flu: Infections rising; UN alert remains at phase 4;

mbuzz0429.pdf

Nobel Peace Prize winner to launch UN-backed Truth and Reconciliation Commission;

2009-TIOL-206-HC-MAD-IT.pdf + mat story.pdf

CIT, Chennai Vs M/s Chemplast Sanmar Limited (Dated: April 9, 2009)

Carry forward MAT credit available to the assessee was to be adjusted first before charging interest under Sections 234B and 234C; The Delhi High Court has considered the relevant provisions and dealt with the matter in detail and held that the credit under Section 115JAA should be given effect to before charging of interest under Section 234A , 234B and 234C of the Act. We are in agreement with the reasoning given by the Delhi High Court. The learned counsel appearing for the revenue has not produced any materials or given compelling reasons to take a contrary view with that of the Delhi High Court.

If there is conflict between Rule and the substantial provision of the Act, the Rule must pave way to the provision of the Act; revenue cannot rely on the Form-I to say that the MAT credit under Section 115JAA should be given only after tax and interest Form-I cannot go beyond the provisions of the Act: “the intention of the legislature is to give tax credit to tax and not to the tax and interest. Once the intention is clear, the revenue cannot rely on the Form-I to say that the MAT credit under Section 115JAA should be given only after tax and interest. Further we have answered the first question of law in favour of the assessee i.e. the MAT credit under Section 115JAA should be given effect to before charging the interest under Section 234B and 234C . Rule 12(1 )( a) and Form-I cannot go beyond the provisions of the Act. Form-I cannot lay down the order of priority of adjustment of TDS, advance Tax, MAT credit under Section 115JAA which is contrary to the provisions of the Act : MADRAS HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-205-HC-MAD-IT.pdf

CIT, Chennai Vs M/s Rane Trw Steering Systems Ltd (Dated: April 16, 2009)

Income tax - MAT Credit u/s 115JA - assessee avails credit but AO disallows - held, MAT credit is to be set off from the tax payable before setting off the TDS and Advance Tax paid - Revenue's appeal dismissed: MADRAS HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-204-HC-UTTRANCHAL-IT.pdf

CIT, Dehradun Vs M/s Ensco Maritime Ltd (Dated: April 24, 2009)

Income tax - Sec 44BB - Assessee is a non-resident company, engaged in the exploration of mineral oil - gets reimbursed under the heads catering charges and loss of downhole equipment - does not offer the reimbursed sum for taxation - AO for inclusion of catering charges in the 'gross receipt' taxable u/s 44BB(2) - CIT(A) and Tribunal disagree with the AO - held, the catering charges which do form part of 'services and facilities' in connection with the extraction or production of the mineral oil, cannot be excluded from the ‘amount' defined in sub-section (2) of Section 44BB of the Act - Revenue's appeal allowed: UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-259-ITAT-DEL.pdf

Rolls Royce Singapore Pte Ltd Vs ADIT , New Delhi (Dated : March 20, 2009)

Income tax - stay of recovery - assessee pleads that the final hearing in the case is scheduled and in another case, the application for rectification of mistake apparent is pending with the Revenue, the demand be stayed - Revenue directed to expedite ROM application and assessee directed to deposit Rs one crore within three days towards outstanding demand - stay granted: DELHI ITAT;

2009-TIOL-258-ITAT-BANG.pdf

M/s Nitesh Estates Pvt Ltd Vs DCIT, Bangalore (Dated : January 30, 2009)

Income Tax - Section 201(1) and section 201(1A) - Assessee engaged in the business of engineering contracts and real estate development - In view of its MoU, the AO treats money deposited with the trust as rent within the meaning of the Explanation below Section 194-I and insists on TDS - CIT(A) upholds the order of AO – Held, since the HC has refused approval to the trustee to grant the lease, the question of considering the earnest-money deposit as rent does not arise. In fact, the deposit has become refundable in terms of the aforesaid clause. There is no justification, either factual or legal, for treating the monies paid by the assessee under the MOU as rent within the meaning of the Explanation below Section 194-I. Assessee appeal allowed.: BANGALORE ITAT;

SERVICE TAX SECTION

2009-TIOL-683-CESTAT-MAD.pdf + Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt Ltd story.pdf

M/s Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt Ltd Vs CCE, Salem (Dated: April 2, 2009)

Service Tax - Movement of limestone and rejects in the mining area undertaken by the appellants are covered by the entry ‘mining of mineral, oil, gas' and that the said activity cannot be taxed under ‘cargo handling service' for the period prior to introduction of the levy under the category ‘mining of mineral, oil, gas' on 1 June 2007. In several decisions, this Tribunal has held that when an activity comes under the service tax net with effect from a certain date the same activity could not be subjected to tax under a pre-existing category unless the scope of the pre-existing categories of service is simultaneously modified.:CHENNAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-682-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

M/s Hitachi Home And Life Solution (I) Ltd Vs CCE, Ahmedabad-III (Dated: March 19, 2009)

ST - Business Auxiliary Service - Assessee receives commission from non-resident for promotion and marketing of their products - Commissioner(A) confirms the demand and insists on pre-deposit - assessee argues since such service was exempt prior to 15.3.2005 it was not liable to tax and for latter period it was export of serives and cannot be taxed - held, the assessee has prima facie a strong case - case remanded for fresh hearing without pre-deposit:AHMEDABAD CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-681-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

M/s Sunil Metal Corpn Vs CCE & CC, Rajkot (Dated: March 27, 2009)

ST - C&F Service - Assessee is a consignment agent - demand confirmed - assessee pleads the Tribunal's Larger Bench decision is in its favour - also prays for setting aside of part of demand on limitation ground - held, assessee has a strong case on both the countrs - case remanded for re-quantifiction of demand - Penalty under Sec 78 set aside by invoking Sec 80:AHMEDABAD CESTAT;

CENTRAL EXCISE SECTION

2009-TIOL-680-CESTAT-MUM.pdf

Raptakos Brett Co Ltd Vs CCE, Raigad (Dated: February 16, 2009)

Physician samples distributed free of cost to be valued on basis of proportionate cost of regular packs of medicine and not on basis of cost data – since issue was not free from doubt during relevant period, no malafide can be attributed and hence penalty not imposable – LB decision in Blue Cross Laboratories[2006-TIOL-1142-CESTAT-Mum-LB]relied upon- Tribunal.:MUMBAI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-679-CESTAT-DEL.pdf

CCE, Lucknow Vs M/s Oswal Chemical & Fertilizers Ltd (Dated: February 24, 2009)

Central Excise - refund of duty paid on Raw Naphta used in the manufacture of Fertilisers - the respondent paid full duty under protest by way of filing appeal before Commissioner (Appeals) - So, the duty paid by the respondents would come within the purview of second proviso to Section 11B(1) of the Act. - The limitation of 6 months shall not apply as the duty was paid by the respondents under protest. The contention of the revenue that refund claim is barred by limitation is not sustainable.

Unjust enrichment - it is seen from Adjudication Order that the respondent submitted certificate of Fertilizer Industry Corporation Committee and chartered Accountant Certificate to prove that the burden of incidence of duty has not been passed to any other person - refund not hit by unjust enrichment.:DELHI CESTAT;

2009-TIOL-678-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

M/s Vinny Overseas Pvt Ltd Vs CCE, Ahmedabad (Dated: March 25, 2009)

Valuation of goods manufactured on job work basis has to be based on the decision of the Apex Court in Ujagar Prints ( 2002-TIOL-03-SC-CX ) only.

Appellants claim that the buyer is a related person and therefore the price charged by him should be taken into account for the purpose of Section 4 of Central Excise Act, 1944 – this claim is being made so that they can avail deemed credit which has nothing to do with the cost of raw materials - Valuation – S. 4 of the CEA, 1944 - merely because two units are considered as interconnected undertakings, they do not become related persons and for the purpose of valuation, the mutuality of interest and direct or indirect interest in the business of each other is essential – Appeal rejected.:AHMEDABAD CESTAT;

CUSTOMS SECTION

NOTIFICATION

ctariff09_043.pdf

72/2008 rescinded;

ctariff09_042.pdf

36/2005 rescinded;

ctariff09_041.pdf

Definitive Anti-dumping duty imposed on import of Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric from China;

ctariff09_040.pdf

Anti-dumping duty imposed on import of Thionyl Chloride;

ctariff09_039.pdf

Anti-dumping duty imposed on import of Nylon Tyre Cord Fabric;

dgft08cir083.pdf

Restriction on import of Hot Rolled Coils - Notification No. 63 dated 21.11.2008;

Trade Notice

Installation of capital goods - certificate from excise authority within 30 days - if benefit of deeming provision availed, chartered engineer certificate to be submitted: DGFT;

CASE LAWS

2009-TIOL-203-HC-MUM-COFEPOSA.pdf + detention story.pdf

Manish Purshottam Atmaramani Vs State Of Maharashtra (Dated: April 6, 2009)

Detention - writ petition can be entertained at pre-detention stage only if it is passed under a wrong Act; against a wrong person; for a wrong purpose; vague, extraneous and irrelevant grounds or wrong Authority – the Courts have necessary powers in appropriate cases to interfere with the detention order but the scope of interference was limited to the following exceptions :

(i) That the impugned order is not passed under the Act under which it is purported to have been passed;

(ii) That it is sought to be executed against a wrong person;

(iii) That it is passed for a wrong purpose;

(iv) That it is passed on vague, extraneous and irrelevant grounds; or

(v) That the authority which passed it had no authority to do so.

Even smaller Benches of the Supreme Court are bound by the Judgments of the larger Benches. So law is well settled that even smaller Benches of the Supreme Court are bound by the Judgments of the larger Benches, which means that a Bench of two Judges has to follow the law laid down by the three Judge Bench and in case two Judges do not agree with the law laid down by three Judge Bench they can refer it to a three Judge Bench which may agree with earlier or refer to larger Bench.: BOMBAY HIGH COURT;

2009-TIOL-677-CESTAT-AHM.pdf

M/s Rashmi Metals Vs CC, Kandla (Dated: March 16, 2009)

Customs – Notfn No. 36/2001-Cus (NT) as amended not applicable to brass scrap when the entire Notification struck down by High Court as ultra vires without any exception to any product listed therein – Impugned order set aside:AHMEDABAD CESTAT;