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...

Allahabad High Court Upholds Ghaziabad Property Tax Revision Based On Minimum Monthly Rent Rate

The Allahabad High Court has upheld the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation's revision of property tax based on minimum monthly rent rates (MMRR) under the U.P. Municipal Corporations Act, 1959.In a PIL challenging the revision of property tax and its enhancement based on MMRR, the bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra held: “we neither find any error in determination of 'MMRR' based upon categorization/classification of the properties nor any illegality in the...

Rajasthan High Court Grants Electricity Duty Exemption For UltraTech's Captive Power Under Solar Policy 2019

The Rajasthan High Court has held that electricity duty exemption on captive consumption of solar power promised under the Solar Policy, 2019 cannot be withdrawn retrospectively so as to divest accrued rights, ruling that UltraTech Cement Ltd. and other petitioners are entitled to the benefit for projects commissioned prior to the amendment.A Division Bench of Justice Arun Monga and Justice Sunil Beniwal delivered the judgment. The dispute traces back to the State's amendment of the Solar...

Delhi High Court Issues Notice To Centre On Plea Challenging Health Security and National Security Cess Act

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union of India in a challenge to the constitutional validity of the Health Security and National Security Cess Act, 2025, observing that there is prima facie merit in the petitioner's arguments on legislative competence and arbitrariness of the levy.The Division Bench comprising Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Ajay Digpaul was hearing a writ petition filed by Vinod J. Sharma, wherein the validity of the cess imposed on pan masala...

Electricity Duty Exemption For Mega Projects Under BEDA Extends With Eligibility Certificate: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that the exemption from payment of electricity duty granted to Mega Projects under the Package Incentive Scheme, by a 1999 notification issued under the Bombay Electricity Duty Act, 1958, continues to operate so long as the Eligibility Certificate remains valid, where the notification links the benefit to the eligibility period mentioned in the certificate. “The plain language of the Notification, read with the language of the Addenda III and the language of the...

Section 311 CrPC Can Be Invoked To Seek Additional Documents In Black Money Act Case: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has recently held that courts can invoke Section 311 of the CrPC, which allows summoning or recalling evidence, to permit additional documents to be placed on record if necessary for a just decision, even in prosecution under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.Justice Neena Bansal Krishna dismissed petitions filed by businessman Deepak Talwar challenging orders of the trial court and revisional court, which had allowed the...