Tube Investments of India Limited Vs Union of India (Madras High Court)
Exemption, when port notified subsequently: Madras High Court has allowed benefit of Notification No. 104/2009-Cus. (status holder incentive scheme) in a case where the imports were made before the addition of the name of the specific port in the said notification. It observed that the ports referred to in the exemption notification originally were not exhaustive as the notification was amended periodically by including other ports as well and one such inclusion was the specified port later. The Court was of the view that the list provided in the notification was only inclusive in view of the fact that the authorities included other ports by amending the said notification periodically. It also noted that the proviso in the said notification empowered the Commissioner of Customs to issue permission of import and export from other ports as well by issuing a special order. Contention of the Revenue department that power conferred on the Commissioner was only prospective and not retrospective, was also rejected by the High Court.
FULL TEXT OF THE HIGH COURT ORDER / JUDGEMENT
The petitioner is aggrieved against the order of the second respondent dated 10.04.2019, wherein and whereby, the request of the petitioner to extend the benefit of Notification No.104/2009 – Customs dated 14.09.2009, in respect of goods already cleared vide five Bills of entry through ICD – Arakkonam during the period from February, 2013 to taxguru.in July, 2013, was rejected.
2. Following are the short facts and circumstances which made the petitioner to file the present writ petition :-
(a) The petitioner is a public limited company engaged in the manufacture of precision steel tubes,steel strips, bi-cycles, motor vehicle parts, automotive and industrial chains etc., in their factories located across the country. The petitioner has set-up a manufacturing facility at Tiruttani, Tamil Nadu for production of large diameter tubes. Importation of capital goods, in pursuance of the said project had commenced in November, 2012 and got completed in the year 2014. For setting up the said plant, the petitioner imported various capital goods. Initially, five shipments of plant and machinery had landed at Chennai seaport and were further transshipped to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Arakkonam. At the ICD – Arakkonam, the goods were initially stored in Customs Bonded Warehouses and subsequently, they were cleared on payment of applicable duties by filing Ex-Bond Bills of Entry. At the time of clearance of the goods, the petitioner availed the benefit of Customs Notification No. 104/2009 – Cus dated 14.09.2009. The said Notification was issued by the Central Government to implement a scheme called “Status Holder Incentive Scheme”, under which, duty credit scrips are issued to manufacturer exporters, who are status holders as an export promotion measure. The capital goods imported against such scrips are exempted from payment of Custom duties subject to the condition that the said scrip is produced before the proper officer of customs at the time of clearance for debit of the duties leviable on the goods. During the period between February, 2013 to July 2013, the petitioner filed the following five Ex-Bond Bills of Entry at ICD, Arakkonam.
