https://dnalegal.org/insights Commentary and analysis from DNA Legal on commercial disputes, property litigation, arbitration and regulatory practice in India. en-in © 2026 DNA Legal https://dnalegal.org/insights/katyani-exports-v-union-of-india-delhi-hc-common-adjudicating-authority-dggi-scn https://dnalegal.org/insights/katyani-exports-v-union-of-india-delhi-hc-common-adjudicating-authority-dggi-scn Eight petitioners caught up in an alleged three-layer fake-invoicing chain challenged the jurisdiction of the Delhi-based officer who adjudicated a composite show cause notice naming 146 noticees, arguing that only a notification, not a circular, could assign an adjudicating authority. The Delhi High Court dismissed the petitions, holding that the 'highest demand' circular does no more than allocate business among officers already vested with pan-India jurisdiction by notification, and relegated the petitioners to their statutory appeal. Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 168 CGST Act Common Adjudicating Authority DGGI Section 74 CGST Act Notification vs Circular Article 14 Writ Jurisdiction Article 226 Delhi High Court Input Tax Credit Fraud https://dnalegal.org/insights/state-of-telangana-v-ma-garden-function-hall-writ-jurisdiction-land-encroachment https://dnalegal.org/insights/state-of-telangana-v-ma-garden-function-hall-writ-jurisdiction-land-encroachment Deciding an appeal arising from a decades-old encroachment dispute over land in Hyderabad, the Supreme Court held that lessees claiming through a trust could not invoke Article 226 to protect their possession once the trust itself — after losing before the Division Bench and withdrawing its own Special Leave Petition with liberty only to file a fresh suit — was barred from doing so. The lessees' writ petitions, filed in their own names soon after the trust's remedy was confined to a civil suit, were themselves an attempt to keep the writ route open by other means. Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Writ Jurisdiction Article 226 Land Encroachment Government Land Lease and Tenancy Title and Possession Disputes Litigation Strategy Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/comet-overseas-v-union-of-india-calcutta-hc-dfia-bona-fide-transferee https://dnalegal.org/insights/comet-overseas-v-union-of-india-calcutta-hc-dfia-bona-fide-transferee Comet Overseas bought a genuine, validly transferable duty-free import licence for value, through proper banking channels, years before the original licence-holder's export obligation was found to rest on falsely declared goods. The Calcutta High Court held the licence remained voidable, not void, and that an unimpeached bona fide transferee cannot be made to answer in customs duty, interest and redemption fine for a fraud committed further up the chain. Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 DFIA Licence Duty Free Import Authorisation Section 28 Extended Limitation Bona Fide Purchaser For Value Redemption Fine Section 125 Void And Voidable Instruments Section 130 Customs Appeal Calcutta High Court Foreign Trade Policy https://dnalegal.org/insights/razia-dularia-v-state-of-up-allahabad-hc-scheduled-tribe-land-transfer-buyer-status https://dnalegal.org/insights/razia-dularia-v-state-of-up-allahabad-hc-scheduled-tribe-land-transfer-buyer-status Deciding nine connected writ petitions arising from land purchases made between 2012 and 2016 in Sonbhadra district, the Allahabad High Court has held that a statutory restriction on transferring Scheduled Tribe land to non-tribal buyers is not satisfied merely because the purchaser was born into the tribe and holds a caste certificate — she must also show she retained her tribal identity on the date of each purchase, and a prolonged, undisclosed change of religious and social identity can defeat that claim even years after the sale deeds were registered. Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Transfer of Property Scheduled Tribes U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act 1950 U.P. Revenue Code 2006 Void Transfers Sale Deeds and Conveyancing Title Diligence Allahabad High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/ranchhodbhai-jesingbhai-v-anchhibhai-chaudhari-gujarat-hc-tribal-widow-inheritance-will https://dnalegal.org/insights/ranchhodbhai-jesingbhai-v-anchhibhai-chaudhari-gujarat-hc-tribal-widow-inheritance-will Deciding a second appeal over agricultural land in Surat district contested since 2002, the Gujarat High Court has held that a Scheduled Tribe widow who inherits property from her husband takes it as her own absolute, self-acquired property — free to bequeath it by will — unless a custom restricting female inheritance is actually pleaded and proved, not merely assumed. Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Hindu Succession Act 1956 Scheduled Tribes Women's Inheritance Rights Testamentary Succession Ancestral vs Self-Acquired Property Second Appeal Section 100 CPC Gujarat Land Revenue Code 1879 Gujarat High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/welspring-universal-v-additional-commissioner-central-gst-delhi-hc-cestat-binding-effect https://dnalegal.org/insights/welspring-universal-v-additional-commissioner-central-gst-delhi-hc-cestat-binding-effect Welspring Universal was handed a Rs. 76,72,000 demand for a CENVAT refund the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal had already held it was entitled to keep, on limitation grounds the Tribunal had already rejected. The Delhi High Court quashed the demand, holding that a departmental adjudicating authority cannot treat a superior appellate order as though it does not exist merely because a parallel proceeding remains formally open. Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal CENVAT Credit Rules 2004 Rule 5 CENVAT Refund Central Excise Act 1944 Section 11B Limitation CESTAT Judicial Discipline Additional Commissioner of Central GST Show Cause Notice Writ Jurisdiction Article 226 Delhi High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/deccan-cooperative-housing-society-v-state-of-maharashtra-access-road-adverse-possession https://dnalegal.org/insights/deccan-cooperative-housing-society-v-state-of-maharashtra-access-road-adverse-possession Forty-five years of maintaining a gate at the entrance to a government access road did not give a Mumbai housing society the right to keep it there. The Bombay High Court's order separates a permissive right of way from an allotment of land, and shows why a pending adverse possession suit over one plot does not shield unrelated encroachments on another. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Adverse Possession Easements and Right of Way Maharashtra Land Revenue Code Section 53 MLRC Government Land Cooperative Housing Societies Natural Justice Bombay High Court Limitation Act 1963 Slum Rehabilitation Scheme https://dnalegal.org/insights/neelkanth-entrepreneurs-v-state-of-up-section-61-scrutiny-section-74a-gst https://dnalegal.org/insights/neelkanth-entrepreneurs-v-state-of-up-section-61-scrutiny-section-74a-gst Eighteen sub-contractors, a works-contract chain running into crores, and a jurisdictional argument that Section 61 scrutiny must precede every GST demand. The Allahabad High Court draws the line between a Section 61-triggered notice and one built on independent verification, and holds the two are not interchangeable gateways. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 74A CGST Act Section 61 CGST Act Input Tax Credit Show Cause Notice Works Contract Services Allahabad High Court Article 226 Writ Jurisdiction Section 16(2)(c) CGST Act GST Litigation https://dnalegal.org/insights/mukeshbhai-prajapati-v-viren-patel-gujarat-hc-poa-coupled-with-interest https://dnalegal.org/insights/mukeshbhai-prajapati-v-viren-patel-gujarat-hc-poa-coupled-with-interest Deciding two second appeals arising from a thirty-year dispute over agricultural land near Gandhinagar, the Gujarat High Court has reaffirmed that an 'irrevocable' power of attorney is irrevocable only if it is coupled with an interest in the property under Section 202 of the Indian Contract Act — and that a sale deed executed by an agent after valid cancellation conveys no title at all, however registered it later becomes. Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Power of Attorney Indian Contract Act 1872 Registration Act 1908 Agency Coupled with Interest Sale Deed Title Diligence Gujarat High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/nxtify-technologies-v-union-of-india-patna-hc-customs-section-110-5-provisional-attachment https://dnalegal.org/insights/nxtify-technologies-v-union-of-india-patna-hc-customs-section-110-5-provisional-attachment A division bench of the Patna High Court quashed provisional attachments of a digital-marketing company's bank accounts where the department could not show a written, Commissioner-approved order preceding the freeze, and set aside extension orders passed without any hearing before the six-month period expired. Treating Section 110(5) of the Customs Act and Section 83 of the GST Act as in pari materia, the Court imported the Supreme Court's Radha Krishan Industries construction of the GST provision wholesale into the customs context, while also rebuking the department for attempting to cure the defect through a fresh order passed while the writ petition was pending. Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 Section 110(5) Customs Act Provisional Attachment Section 83 CGST Act Input Tax Credit Fraud Bank Account Freeze Radha Krishan Industries Patna High Court Writ Jurisdiction Article 226 Natural Justice https://dnalegal.org/insights/ganesh-bawane-v-dggi-bombay-hc-consolidated-gst-notice-section-74 https://dnalegal.org/insights/ganesh-bawane-v-dggi-bombay-hc-consolidated-gst-notice-section-74 A show cause notice covering financial years 2019-20 to 2021-22, alleging suppression of taxable value, was quashed because the CGST Act ties assessment and its five-year limitation to each financial year separately. The Bombay High Court held itself bound by its own precedent over a contrary Delhi High Court view — even after the Supreme Court declined to interfere with that view — but preserved the Revenue's liberty to revive the case if a pending Larger Bench reference goes the other way. Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 74 CGST Act Section 73 CGST Act Show Cause Notice Extended Period of Limitation Input Tax Credit Tax Period Precedent and Judicial Discipline Bombay High Court GST Litigation https://dnalegal.org/insights/navina-shetty-v-ayub-rehman-bombay-hc-lease-license-caretaker-agreement https://dnalegal.org/insights/navina-shetty-v-ayub-rehman-bombay-hc-lease-license-caretaker-agreement Ending a three-decade dispute over a Vashi APMC market shop, the Bombay High Court has reaffirmed that the decisive test for a lease is transfer of the right to enjoy property with exclusive possession — not the presence of the word 'rent' or even a literal but internally inconsistent recital of tenancy. Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Lease and Licence Transfer of Property Act 1882 Indian Easements Act 1882 Maharashtra Rent Control Act 1999 Leave and Licence Mesne Profits Bombay High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/bhag-singh-v-basant-kaur-dera-dedication-adverse-possession https://dnalegal.org/insights/bhag-singh-v-basant-kaur-dera-dedication-adverse-possession Dismissing an appeal by a Dera's legal representatives, the Supreme Court has held that a party cannot simultaneously claim that land was dedicated to it and that it separately perfected title by adverse possession, and that decades of revenue entries recording rent-free religious possession do not, without more, establish either. Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Adverse Possession Religious Dedication Revenue Records Code of Civil Procedure 1908 Second Appeal Title and Possession Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/hindalco-industries-v-commissioner-of-central-excise-calcutta-hc-section-11a-suppression https://dnalegal.org/insights/hindalco-industries-v-commissioner-of-central-excise-calcutta-hc-section-11a-suppression Hindalco Industries faced a Central Excise demand of Rs. 6,29,920 built entirely on its own Cost Audit Report, three years after departmental officers had personally witnessed the very stock shortages now called suppression. The Calcutta High Court held the extended period of limitation unavailable: what the proviso to Section 11A requires is a deliberate act of concealment by the assessee, not the mere absence of departmental knowledge, and a demand cannot simultaneously rest on a statutory record and be founded on its suppression. Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Excise Act 1944 Section 11A Extended Period of Limitation Suppression of Facts CENVAT Credit Cost Audit Report Calcutta High Court Section 74 CGST Act Show Cause Notice Central Excise Appeal https://dnalegal.org/insights/adv-industrial-services-v-union-of-india-telangana-hc-gst-refund-appellate-order-binding https://dnalegal.org/insights/adv-industrial-services-v-union-of-india-telangana-hc-gst-refund-appellate-order-binding A GST refund of Rs. 19.33 crore, consequential to an appellate order that had already set aside the underlying demand, was rejected because the Department had internally decided the appellate order was 'not legal and proper' and intended to challenge it before the GST Appellate Tribunal — an appeal it had not yet even filed. The Telangana High Court held that an Order-in-Appeal remains binding under Section 107(16) of the CGST Act until actually stayed, modified or set aside, and that a refund can be withheld pending further proceedings only through the specific mechanism of Section 54(11), not by administrative fiat. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 107(16) CGST Act Section 54(11) CGST Act Input Tax Credit GST Refund Judicial Discipline Works Contract Telangana High Court Safari Retreats https://dnalegal.org/insights/noida-v-sunshine-trade-tower-zero-period-policy-access-road https://dnalegal.org/insights/noida-v-sunshine-trade-tower-zero-period-policy-access-road Dismissing NOIDA's appeal, the Supreme Court has held that a public authority's own policy for excusing stalled construction cannot be read as strictly as a statute, and that a developer left without the frontage its lease deed promised is entitled to relief regardless of whether some other, inferior access existed. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Lease Deed NOIDA Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act 1976 RERA Legitimate Expectation Land Allotment Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/manav-bhanot-v-nhai-national-highways-act-solatium-cutoff-date https://dnalegal.org/insights/manav-bhanot-v-nhai-national-highways-act-solatium-cutoff-date Deciding a long-running dispute over which compensation regime governs highway land acquisitions, the Supreme Court has held that the reference date is the Competent Authority's own determination of compensation under the National Highways Act, 1956 — not the date the acquisition proceedings began, and not a later arbitral award on a disputed quantum. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal National Highways Act 1956 Land Acquisition Act 1894 RFCTLARR Act 2013 Solatium Land Acquisition Compensation Supreme Court of India Arbitration and Conciliation Act https://dnalegal.org/insights/toyota-kirloskar-motors-v-commissioner-of-customs-cestat-chennai-classification-section-28 https://dnalegal.org/insights/toyota-kirloskar-motors-v-commissioner-of-customs-cestat-chennai-classification-section-28 A CESTAT Chennai final order on customs classification of automotive sensors doubles as a ruling on the outer limits of Section 28 of the Customs Act — holding that a completed, nil-duty self-assessment cannot be reopened under Section 28 at all, and that no interest attaches to differential IGST for periods before the Customs Tariff Act's borrowing provision was amended to include interest. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 Customs Tariff Classification Section 28 Customs Act Section 17 Customs Act Canon India Self-Assessment Extended Period of Limitation Revenue Neutrality IGST CESTAT Chennai https://dnalegal.org/insights/bharat-petroleum-v-district-revenue-officer-stamp-act-section-47a-referral https://dnalegal.org/insights/bharat-petroleum-v-district-revenue-officer-stamp-act-section-47a-referral A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has cast doubt on a sixteen-year-old precedent requiring proof of dishonest intent before a registering authority can refer an undervalued sale deed for a stamp-duty enquiry — and referred the question to a larger Bench rather than decide it alone. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Indian Stamp Act 1899 Section 47-A Stamp Duty Undervaluation Sale Deed Registration Conveyancing Due Diligence Supreme Court of India Reference to Larger Bench https://dnalegal.org/insights/gkem-international-v-commissioner-of-customs-delhi-hc-section-28-limitation-call-book https://dnalegal.org/insights/gkem-international-v-commissioner-of-customs-delhi-hc-section-28-limitation-call-book GKEM International argued that a ₹20.18 crore customs demand was time-barred because its show cause notice sat in the department's 'Call Book' for years. The Delhi High Court disagreed: the delay was occasioned by the assessee's own writ petition and interim stay, which is exactly the circumstance Section 28(9A) excludes from the limitation clock — and the Call Book entry was merely the administrative record of that fact, not its source. Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 Section 28(9) Customs Act Section 28(9A) Customs Act Call Book Show Cause Notice Extended Period of Limitation Advance Authorisation Export Obligation Delhi High Court Writ Jurisdiction Article 226 https://dnalegal.org/insights/hind-maha-mineral-v-state-of-maharashtra-bombay-hc-section-74a-hearing-60-day-window https://dnalegal.org/insights/hind-maha-mineral-v-state-of-maharashtra-bombay-hc-section-74a-hearing-60-day-window A GST demand order recited that personal hearing was 'not applicable' and was signed off while the taxpayer's sixty-day window to pay up and avoid penalty was still open. The Bombay High Court quashed it on both grounds, held the alternate remedy of a statutory appeal no bar, and ordered the department to recover its Rs. 50,000 cost from the officer who passed the order. Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 74A CGST Act Section 75(4) CGST Act Personal Hearing Natural Justice Show Cause Notice Alternate Remedy Bombay High Court Input Tax Credit Cost on Officer https://dnalegal.org/insights/mrr-setty-v-karnataka-land-revision-limitation https://dnalegal.org/insights/mrr-setty-v-karnataka-land-revision-limitation A department reopened a forty-year-old land record on the strength of a third-party complaint that a lake was being encroached upon. The Supreme Court held that framing the dispute as one of public interest does not let a revenue authority sidestep a statutory limitation period that had expired decades earlier. Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Karnataka Land Revenue Act Limitation City Survey Records Revisional Jurisdiction Title to Immovable Property Conveyancing Due Diligence Encroachment Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/rajasthan-housing-board-v-dhayli-highest-bidder-no-vested-right https://dnalegal.org/insights/rajasthan-housing-board-v-dhayli-highest-bidder-no-vested-right Across thirteen connected appeals, homebuyers who had offered the highest price at Rajasthan Housing Board auctions saw their allotments quashed after the Board relied on departmental comparisons of nearby, similarly sized properties. The High Court held that being the highest bidder is not enough where approval is still pending — but the authority's own reasons must survive scrutiny too. Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Rajasthan Housing Board Public Auction Highest Bidder Article 14 Judicial Review Allotment of Immovable Property Agreement to Sell Administrative Discretion Conveyancing Due Diligence Rajasthan High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/spherion-solutions-v-additional-commissioner-cgst-delhi-hc-rule-86a-pre-deposit https://dnalegal.org/insights/spherion-solutions-v-additional-commissioner-cgst-delhi-hc-rule-86a-pre-deposit A registered person facing a Rs. 33.32 lakh GST demand wanted Rs. 3.33 lakh of its own input tax credit — already frozen under Rule 86A — treated as satisfying the ten per cent pre-deposit needed to appeal. The Delhi High Court refused: a restriction under Rule 86A prevents debit from the electronic credit ledger, it does not appropriate the credit toward any demand, and the two authorities holding otherwise on unrestricted credit had no application to credit that is actually blocked. Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 107(6) CGST Act Rule 86A CGST Rules Electronic Credit Ledger Input Tax Credit Pre-Deposit GST Appeal Delhi High Court Oasis Realty Yasho Industries https://dnalegal.org/insights/commissioner-central-excise-v-millennium-beer-industries-bombay-hc-limitation-consistency https://dnalegal.org/insights/commissioner-central-excise-v-millennium-beer-industries-bombay-hc-limitation-consistency A show cause notice issued roughly two years after the transactions it targeted, confirming Rs. 21.92 crore in service tax, interest and penalty on a brewery's contract-bottling arrangement with its brand owner. The Bombay High Court's Aurangabad Bench dismissed the Revenue's appeal against the Tribunal's finding that the demand was time-barred, holding that the extended period of limitation cannot be invoked without a specific averment of fraud or suppression in the show cause notice, and that the Department could not press an appeal against one assessee after having accepted an identical Tribunal order in favour of another. Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Excise Act 1944 Finance Act 1994 Section 11A Central Excise Act Extended Period of Limitation Section 35G Central Excise Act Principle of Consistency Service Tax CESTAT Bombay High Court Uniworth Textiles https://dnalegal.org/insights/granite-gate-properties-v-noida-lease-penalty-not-cirp-cost https://dnalegal.org/insights/granite-gate-properties-v-noida-lease-penalty-not-cirp-cost When a NOIDA-leased housing project collapsed into insolvency, the development authority sought years of penalty charges for the developer's own delay from the very homebuyers who had pooled their savings to finish construction. The Supreme Court says the penalty stays with the developer. Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal New Okhla Industrial Development Authority UP Industrial Area Development Act 1976 Leasehold Land Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 CIRP Costs Homebuyer Rights Resolution Plan Land Acquisition Act 1894 Real Estate Development Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/ashok-kumar-soni-v-tata-housing-rera-splitting-claims-order-ii-rule-2 https://dnalegal.org/insights/ashok-kumar-soni-v-tata-housing-rera-splitting-claims-order-ii-rule-2 A flat buyer who exhausted three rounds of RERA complaints over the same apartment learned that filing them one after another, rather than together, can cost him the last one entirely. The Punjab and Haryana High Court's ruling reaches every allottee tempted to hold a grievance back for a later round. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016 RERA Order II Rule 2 CPC Res Judicata Real Estate Appellate Tribunal Homebuyer Rights Real Estate Regulatory Authority Code of Civil Procedure 1908 Punjab and Haryana High Court Real Estate Litigation Strategy https://dnalegal.org/insights/jaiprakash-associates-v-commissioner-of-customs-delhi-hc-ibc-resolution-plan-extinguishment https://dnalegal.org/insights/jaiprakash-associates-v-commissioner-of-customs-delhi-hc-ibc-resolution-plan-extinguishment The goods were imported in 2023, the insolvency process ran its course in 2024 and 2025, and the customs show-cause notice arrived only after the resolution plan had already been approved. The Delhi High Court held that a customs demand for duty, interest and penalty on a pre-CIRP import cannot outlive a resolution plan the department never bothered to file a claim in — however live the underlying adjudication otherwise remained. Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 Section 31 IBC Customs Act 1962 Section 28 Customs Act Resolution Plan Extinguishment of Claims CIRP Customs Duty Demand Delhi High Court Ghanashyam Mishra https://dnalegal.org/insights/hospitech-management-consultants-v-cgst-delhi-hc-service-tax-penalty-bona-fide-belief https://dnalegal.org/insights/hospitech-management-consultants-v-cgst-delhi-hc-service-tax-penalty-bona-fide-belief Two officers of the Service Tax Department told the audit wing, in writing, that a construction consultant's work for government hospitals and colleges was not taxable. Nineteen years and one appeal later, the Delhi High Court held that the Department could not turn around and call the same conduct wilful suppression warranting penalty, even after upholding the underlying demand for the last nine months of a five-year dispute. Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Finance Act 1994 Service Tax Section 78 Penalty Section 80 Reasonable Cause CESTAT Extended Period of Limitation Bona Fide Belief Delhi High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/kotak-mahindra-bank-v-trupti-mehta-sarfaesi-nbfc-assigned-debt https://dnalegal.org/insights/kotak-mahindra-bank-v-trupti-mehta-sarfaesi-nbfc-assigned-debt Three home and business borrowers argued that a debt born outside SARFAESI's reach cannot be dragged into it later just because a bank buys the loan. The Supreme Court disagreed, and the ruling reaches every residential flat standing behind an assigned NBFC mortgage. Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal SARFAESI Act 2002 Mortgage Enforcement Secured Creditor NBFC Loan Assignment Debts Recovery Tribunal Non-Performing Asset Home Loan Reserve Bank of India Conveyancing Due Diligence Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/saudi-arabian-airlines-v-union-of-india-foreign-travel-tax-penalty-supreme-court https://dnalegal.org/insights/saudi-arabian-airlines-v-union-of-india-foreign-travel-tax-penalty-supreme-court An airline deposited Foreign Travel Tax late in six instances, once by 63 days, and was hit with a penalty of over Rs. 71 lakh — nearly 600 times the amount first imposed before its own appeal triggered a remand. The Supreme Court set the penalty aside, holding that 'failure to pay' cannot be equated with delay, and that customs officers retain discretion not to impose a penalty even where a statutory minimum is prescribed. Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Finance Act 1979 Foreign Travel Tax Customs Act 1962 Penalty Fiscal Statute Construction Mens Rea Reformatio In Peius Show Cause Notice Supreme Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/sudhir-trehan-v-praveen-trehan-huf-claim-suspicious-will-benami-presumption https://dnalegal.org/insights/sudhir-trehan-v-praveen-trehan-huf-claim-suspicious-will-benami-presumption A family fought for fourteen years over a Delhi house, advancing three overlapping property claims at once — an HUF, a Will, a Gift Deed. The Delhi High Court found each unravelled the moment it was actually tested against the documents and the witnesses. Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Hindu Undivided Family Coparcenary Property Suspicious Circumstances Doctrine Indian Succession Act 1925 Indian Evidence Act 1872 Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act 1988 Partition Suit Gift Deed Will Execution Delhi High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/etc-agro-processing-v-cgst-gandhinagar-sugar-syrup-excisability-cestat https://dnalegal.org/insights/etc-agro-processing-v-cgst-gandhinagar-sugar-syrup-excisability-cestat A biscuit manufacturer argued its captively consumed sugar syrup, made to a proprietary formula and never sold, was not 'goods' at all. Thirteen years after the show cause notice, CESTAT Ahmedabad disagreed, applying the Supreme Court's marketability test and a bright-line sugar-content threshold from tribunal precedent, while remanding to let the company claim Cenvat credit on the inputs consumed. Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Excise Act 1944 CESTAT Marketability Test Excisable Goods Captive Consumption Cenvat Credit Extended Period of Limitation Section 11AC Central Excise Tariff https://dnalegal.org/insights/prakash-narain-sharma-v-burmah-shell-cooperative-housing-society-plot-allotment https://dnalegal.org/insights/prakash-narain-sharma-v-burmah-shell-cooperative-housing-society-plot-allotment A claim to a cooperative society plot that began in 1952 has finally ended, seventy-four years and one prior Supreme Court round later — decided not on the equities of land allotment but on how far a writ court may go in re-examining a tribunal's finding of fact. Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Cooperative Housing Society Plot Allotment Certiorari Jurisdiction Article 226 Article 227 Delhi Co-operative Societies Act 1972 Writ of Certiorari Property Title Supreme Court of India Due Diligence https://dnalegal.org/insights/chandra-kanta-matta-v-lily-khanna-earnest-money-forfeiture-agreement-to-sell https://dnalegal.org/insights/chandra-kanta-matta-v-lily-khanna-earnest-money-forfeiture-agreement-to-sell A buyer paid Rs. 17.5 lakh under an Agreement to Sell, then defaulted. The seller kept it all. The Delhi High Court had to work out how much of that money was truly earnest money — and how much was simply price paid too early. Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Agreement to Sell Earnest Money Section 74 Indian Contract Act 1872 Forfeiture Clause Transfer of Property Act 1882 Specific Relief Act 1963 Conveyancing Delhi High Court Sale Consideration Liquidated Damages https://dnalegal.org/insights/pranavbhai-patel-v-dri-customs-section-110-detention-seizure-limitation https://dnalegal.org/insights/pranavbhai-patel-v-dri-customs-section-110-detention-seizure-limitation A Toyota Land Cruiser sat in DRI custody for over a year on the strength of nothing more than a panchnama, while the department waited out the writ petition before finally issuing a seizure order — and then a show-cause notice timed to fall just inside the limitation period it measured from that late order. The Gujarat High Court was not persuaded: detention without a recorded order under Section 110 is not seizure, the limitation clock does not wait on the department's convenience, and the DRI's account of why it had not acted sooner did not survive the Court's own record. Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 Section 110 Customs Act Section 124 Customs Act Seizure and Detention Directorate of Revenue Intelligence Provisional Release Circular 35/2017-Customs Gujarat High Court Import of Motor Vehicles Limitation in Customs Proceedings https://dnalegal.org/insights/hercules-pigments-v-union-of-india-gst-leasehold-assignment https://dnalegal.org/insights/hercules-pigments-v-union-of-india-gst-leasehold-assignment A show-cause notice against Hercules Pigments Pvt. Ltd. was quashed in three paragraphs — the Gujarat High Court simply noted that the Supreme Court had, weeks earlier, declined to interfere with its own ruling that assigning a long-term industrial lease is a transfer of immovable property, not a taxable supply of service. The order is thin, but the line of authority behind it is not: this article traces the reasoning back through Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry v. Union of India and KP Green Engineering Ltd. v. Union of India to work out exactly how far the ratio extends, and where it stops. Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal CGST Act 2017 Section 7 CGST Act Schedule II CGST Act Schedule III CGST Act Leasehold Rights GIDC Assignment of Lease Immovable Property Article 246A Gujarat High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/khb-bannerghatta-land-acquisition-quashed-eco-sensitive-zone-elephant-corridor https://dnalegal.org/insights/khb-bannerghatta-land-acquisition-quashed-eco-sensitive-zone-elephant-corridor A twelve-year-old land acquisition for a housing layout survived every procedural challenge landowners could throw at it — until the Karnataka High Court held that no public purpose can override the ecological integrity of an elephant corridor abutting a national park. Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Land Acquisition Act 1882 Land acquisition Eminent domain Environment Protection Act 1986 Eco-Sensitive Zone Public purpose Karnataka Housing Board Wildlife corridor Karnataka High Court RFCTLARR https://dnalegal.org/insights/cart-infralog-v-additional-commissioner-gst-itc-mismatch-section-74 https://dnalegal.org/insights/cart-infralog-v-additional-commissioner-gst-itc-mismatch-section-74 A logistics company claimed input tax credit on invoices from a supplier who later stopped filing returns. The department invoked Section 74's fraud-based extended period to raise a Rs. 6.3 crore demand two years after ordinary limitation had run out. The Calcutta High Court quashed the order, applying binding precedent that a buyer's credit cannot be held hostage to a seller's default, and that dressing up an ordinary demand as fraud does not extend the clock. Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal CGST Act 2017 Input Tax Credit Section 16(2)(c) Section 74 CGST Act Extended Period of Limitation GSTR-2A GSTR-3B Mismatch Writ Maintainability Section 107 Appeal Suncraft Energy Calcutta High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/jyotsnaben-patel-v-chauhan-registered-sale-deed-presumption-fragmentation-act https://dnalegal.org/insights/jyotsnaben-patel-v-chauhan-registered-sale-deed-presumption-fragmentation-act A seller who takes the cheques, signs the register, and only later complains that the office computer was slow has an uphill pleading burden. This case note works through the Gujarat High Court's reasoning on registered sale deeds, consideration, non est factum and the Fragmentation Act. Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Sale deed Transfer of Property Act 1882 Specific Relief Act 1963 Registration Act 1908 Consideration Non est factum Fraud pleading Order VI Rule 4 CPC Fragmentation Act Conveyancing Gujarat High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/green-ivy-ventures-cestat-commercial-coaching-service-tax-nexus https://dnalegal.org/insights/green-ivy-ventures-cestat-commercial-coaching-service-tax-nexus A coaching institute billed tuition, hostel, mess and study-material fees separately for over a decade. The department taxed the lot as one bundle. CESTAT Hyderabad's Final Order works through nine appeals to hold that only what has a real nexus with coaching can be taxed as commercial coaching service — and that repeating a demand the department has already litigated cannot be dressed up as suppression. Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Finance Act 1994 Commercial Training and Coaching Service Service Tax Valuation Section 67 Finance Act Extended Period of Limitation Notification 12/2003-ST CESTAT Cum-Tax Benefit Section 80 Finance Act Legacy Service Tax Litigation https://dnalegal.org/insights/ujjal-sukh-v-mansua-encroachment-injunction-adverse-possession-issue-estoppel https://dnalegal.org/insights/ujjal-sukh-v-mansua-encroachment-injunction-adverse-possession-issue-estoppel A land dispute that had already been to the Himachal Pradesh High Court once returned nearly two decades later, this time asking whether a proven encroacher could keep his house by paying compensation instead, and whether an adverse possession plea already rejected once could be tried again. The Court's answers turn on two doctrines every property litigator should have ready: the remedy for trespass, and the limits issue estoppel places on repeat litigation. Fri, 28 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Adverse possession Specific Relief Act 1963 Mandatory injunction Encroachment and trespass Limitation Act Article 65 Issue estoppel Regular second appeal Himachal Pradesh High Court Revenue partition Possession and title https://dnalegal.org/insights/duraisamy-v-dhanalakshmi-hindu-succession-section-24-widow-remarriage https://dnalegal.org/insights/duraisamy-v-dhanalakshmi-hindu-succession-section-24-widow-remarriage A three-decade-old partition dispute forced the Madras High Court to decide whether a coparcener's share reverts to his relatives when his widow remarries, or passes instead to his daughter. The answer turns on a distinction between two very different kinds of disqualification buried in the Hindu Succession Act. Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Hindu Succession Act 1956 Coparcenary property Section 24 widow remarriage Section 25 murderer disqualified Class I heirs Notional partition Execution of decree Madras High Court Mitakshara coparcenary Succession and inheritance https://dnalegal.org/insights/port-of-bombay-trust-customs-act-section-45-pilfered-goods https://dnalegal.org/insights/port-of-bombay-trust-customs-act-section-45-pilfered-goods A port trust argued that its custody of imported cargo came from its own constituting statute, so the customs authorities had no power to notify it as a duty-bearing custodian. The Supreme Court draws a careful line between a saving clause and a non obstante clause to reject that argument — while denying the department any actual recovery in the case before it. Thu, 27 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 Section 45 Customs Act Major Port Trusts Act 1963 Customs Duty on Pilfered Goods Non Obstante Clause Statutory Interpretation Supreme Court of India Customs Custodian Liability Bailee Liability Import Clearance https://dnalegal.org/insights/bajoria-partition-suit-limitation-article-113-ouster https://dnalegal.org/insights/bajoria-partition-suit-limitation-article-113-ouster Two brothers who built a business together fell out over who owned what. The Bombay High Court's answer to when their clock started running is a compact lesson in how limitation actually works for co-owned property — and why a plaintiff cannot always choose to drop an inconvenient property from a partition suit. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Partition suit Limitation Act 1963 Article 113 Order VII Rule 11 CPC Co-ownership Joint family property Ouster and exclusion Section 21 CPC Bombay High Court Family property disputes https://dnalegal.org/insights/tata-steel-v-union-of-india-section-74-cgst-limitation https://dnalegal.org/insights/tata-steel-v-union-of-india-section-74-cgst-limitation An audit objection, a notice parked in the department's own 'call book', and a bare assertion of suppression were not enough to invoke GST's extended limitation period. The Supreme Court draws a sharp line between reciting the words of Section 74 and actually pleading the facts that justify it. Wed, 26 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 Section 74 CGST Act Section 73 CGST Act Extended Period of Limitation Show Cause Notice Input Tax Credit Supreme Court of India Suppression of Facts GST Litigation Annual Return https://dnalegal.org/insights/dda-cestat-renting-immovable-property-service-tax https://dnalegal.org/insights/dda-cestat-renting-immovable-property-service-tax The Delhi Development Authority argued that leasing government land and running its sports complex were sovereign functions immune from service tax. CESTAT disagreed: an enabling power, exercised for consideration retained in the authority's own accounts, is commerce, not statutory duty. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Finance Act 1994 Renting of Immovable Property CESTAT Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti Sovereign Function Exemption Delhi Development Authority Service Tax Negative List Circular No. 89/7/2006 Club or Association Service https://dnalegal.org/insights/sattva-new-heights-v-patankar-society-redevelopment-injunction https://dnalegal.org/insights/sattva-new-heights-v-patankar-society-redevelopment-injunction Two members out of three hundred got an injunction that stopped an entire redevelopment project. The Bombay High Court took it apart, ground by ground — and along the way set out how courts should treat SPV bidders, shifting environmental classifications and project management consultants in society redevelopment disputes. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Redevelopment Co-operative housing society Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act 1960 Order XXXIX CPC Temporary injunction DCPR Regulation 33 Eco-Sensitive Zone RERA and real estate Special purpose vehicle Project Management Consultant Bombay High Court https://dnalegal.org/insights/baker-hughes-customs-ftwz-re-import-exemption https://dnalegal.org/insights/baker-hughes-customs-ftwz-re-import-exemption Baker Hughes, BJ Services and Halliburton argued that parking exploration equipment in an FTWZ between contracts let them re-enter it duty-free as a re-import. The Delhi High Court disagreed: without continuity between the export and the return, there is no re-import at all. Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Customs Act 1962 Notification 45/2017-Customs Notification 50/2017-Customs Free Trade Warehousing Zone Special Economic Zones Act 2005 Re-import Essentiality Certificate Customs Authority for Advance Rulings Delhi High Court Petroleum operations exemption Exemption notifications https://dnalegal.org/insights/jamnabai-v-vasudev-mutation-revenue-records-title https://dnalegal.org/insights/jamnabai-v-vasudev-mutation-revenue-records-title A name removed from the revenue record in 1990 did not cost a co-owner his share. This case note works through all four issues the Supreme Court decided in Jamnabai v. Vasudev, from Section 117 of the MP Land Revenue Code to the proviso to Section 34 of the Specific Relief Act. Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Mutation Revenue records Title to immovable property Partition Co-ownership Relinquishment Section 100 CPC Second appeal Limitation Act 1963 Section 34 Specific Relief Act MP Land Revenue Code 1959 Supreme Court of India https://dnalegal.org/insights/specific-performance-delay-price-escalation-readiness-willingness https://dnalegal.org/insights/specific-performance-delay-price-escalation-readiness-willingness Price escalation alone is not a defence. Buyer-caused delay is. This guide explains how Indian courts separate the two, and how a decree can be moulded to balance equities. Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Specific performance Specific Relief Act 1963 Agreement to sell Readiness and willingness Section 16(c) Price escalation Immovable property Section 20 discretion Specific Relief (Amendment) Act 2018 https://dnalegal.org/insights/vnas-chandran-v-venila-specific-performance-bounced-cheques-delay https://dnalegal.org/insights/vnas-chandran-v-venila-specific-performance-bounced-cheques-delay The buyers may well have been able to pay. They still lost the property. This case note examines how inconsistent conduct, a retaliatory FIR and two decades of delay defeated a decree of specific performance. Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT DNA Legal Specific performance Specific Relief Act 1963 Section 20 discretion Clean hands Conduct of the plaintiff Agreement to sell Order 41 Rule 22 CPC Cross-objections Section 55(6)(b) Transfer of Property Act Immovable property Supreme Court of India