Category: news

The Saudi Group Asyad’s Holding’s acquisition of Shell Pakistan through UAE-Based Wafi Energy Limited was approved by the Competition Commission of Pakistan, stating that it would boost the country’s retail oil sector. The Shell Petroleum Company sold its 77.42 percent shareholding to Wafi Energy. Wafi Energy is the wholly owned affiliate of Asyad Holding Group, a fuel retailer in Saudi Arabia.

The bench of Justice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Laxmi Narayana Alishetty of the Telangana High Court has held that deductions under section 37 of the Income Tax Act, cannot be availed on expenditures incurred for overseeing the project of a holding a company.

Court
A Bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan in the Supreme Court held that the courts does not have the power to order an accused to share his Google PIN Location with the authorities as a condition for granting bail. [Frank Vitus v. Narcotics Control Bureau and Ors]

The Calcutta High Court has held that the cellular mobile service providers are not obliged to deduct the tax at source (TDS) on income received by distributors/franchisees from customers. The issue of contention was whether the relationship between the appellant and its distributors made appellant liable to comply with the provisions of Section 194H of the Income Tax Act, relating to tax deduction at source with reference to discounts allowed to the distributors in respect of pre-paid sim cards. The Court while following the judgement in the case of Bharti Cellular Limited, answered the substantial questions of law in favour of the assessee and against the department. [Vodafone Idea Limited Vs Comissioner Of Income Tax]

A petition has been filed before the Supreme Court to confiscate all the money collected by political parties under the electoral bonds scheme of 2018 which was struck down by the Supreme Court in February this year. The petitioner has also sought directions to form a committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge to probe illegal benefits conferred as quid pro quo on the donors by the public authorities at the instance of political parties on account of payments received by such parties through electoral bonds. The petition argues that these funds, amounting to a staggering Rs. 16,518 crores, were not mere donations but rather transactions that involved quid pro quo, where benefits were allegedly exchanged between political parties and corporate donors. (Dr. Khem Singh Bhati V. Union Of India)

A Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Friday directed Byju’s to maintain status quo while the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Bengaluru reconsiders the question of whether the ed-tech firm should be restrained from proceeding with a second rights issue. The rights issue had been objected to by four investors who have accused Byju’s and its parent company, Think & Learn Private Limited, of oppression and mismanagement.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has unveiled new draft regulations for the process of export and import transactions under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. These proposals are outlined in the ‘Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2024.’ Every exporter is mandated to submit a declaration specifying the full export value of goods or services to the designated authority within a stipulated timeframe.

The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of joint control of ITA Airways (‘ITA’) by Deutsche Lufthansa AG (‘Lufthansa’) and the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (‘MEF’). The approval is conditional upon full compliance with the remedies offered by Lufthansa and the MEF, including proposed remedies like Commitment for short-haul routes (making necessary assets available to one or two rival airlines to enable them to start non-stop flights between Rome or Milan), Commitment for long-haul routes (entering into agreements with rival competitors to improve their competitiveness) and Commitment for Milan Linate Airport (transferring take-off and landing slots to Linate airport).

The Delhi High Court on Thursday took note of the rampant solicitation, misleading advertisements and negligence by the trademark and patent agents and ordered the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trademark (CGPTDM) to frame a code of conduct to regulate such agents [Saurav Chaudhary v Union of India & Anr].

Recently, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi Bench has held that the licence fees received by the assessee for live transmissions of cricket matches held in Australia are not taxable in India as royalty. The bench of G.S. Pannu (Vice President) and Anubhav Sharma (Judicial Member) observed that for any payment to fall within the scope of royalty, there has to be some kind of transfer of rights and in the present case, the Balakrishna Industries Limited (BAL) did not had exclusive rights to use the logo of the assessee, the Big Bash League (BBL). (Cricket Australia vs. ACIT, International Taxation ITA No.3200/Del/2023)