The assessee, a Norwegian non-resident company, entered into a contract with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation for carrying out 2D/3D seismic data acquisition services for offshore oil exploration in India. It applied under section 197 for a lower withholding tax certificate. The AO treated the receipts as Royalty/FTS taxable under section 44DA and directed TDS at 7%. However, in the assessee’s own case, the High Court had already held that seismic survey services connected with oil and gas exploration constitute mining operations and, therefore, the consideration received cannot be treated as FTS under section 9(1)(vii). Since the AO failed to consider this binding precedent and gave no reasons for treating the receipts as royalty, the order and certificate issued under section 197 were set aside. The matter was remanded to the AO for fresh consideration of the royalty issue and passing of a fresh order in accordance with law. (AY. 2026-27)