Rajbir Singh Vs Union of India & Ors. (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court held that Rule 16 of the Drawback Rules does not prescribe any limitation especially when there are strong suspicions as to the fraudulent availment of duty drawbacks and knowledge of such availment is acquired much later. However, writ dismissed due to availability of alternate remedy.
Facts- The present case revolves around the Duty Drawback Scheme. This scheme has become the subject of misuse by some traders/ exporters who make fraudulent exports merely with a view of availing the benefits under the scheme. Fraudulent exports could be in various forms including (i) filing of fake documents, (ii) over-valuation of goods that have been exported and (iii) the exporters themselves being completely nonexistent, Several cases have come before the Court where such duty drawbacks have, in fact, been availed of, which is detected by the Customs Department subsequently.
The present case is one such case where the exporter M/s. Abhishek EXIM India, is stated to have exported goods and claimed duty drawback in respect thereof. The Petitioner is the proprietor of M/s Abhishek EXIM, India. He was issued the impugned SCNs with regard to the duty drawbacks claimed by him. A perusal of the impugned SCNs reveal that the primary allegation against the Petitioner and his company is that he created parallel invoices with different valuations for the same exports. One set of invoices was submitted to the Delhi Chamber of Commerce and the other set, with the overvalued price, was submitted to the Department only with the intention to claim a higher duty drawback. The entire process is alleged to have been executed by the Petitioner in connivance with two staff members including a Chartered Accountant. Thereafter, the impugned OIO was passed on 14thJanuary, 2025.
