M/s. Tiger Steel Engineer (India) Private Limited vs. Union of India & Ors. and M/s. Tiger Steel Engineer (India) Private Limited vs. Commissioner of Central Excise (Bombay High Court)
The Bombay High Court disposed of two writ petitions and one Central Excise Appeal involving the common issue of whether supplies of goods from the Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) to a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which are treated as “export” under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (SEZ Act), can also be treated as “export” for the purposes of refund of accumulated CENVAT credit under Rule 5 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 and the Central Excise Rules, 2002.
The writ petitions challenged orders-in-appeal and orders-in-original passed by the departmental authorities, while the Central Excise Appeal challenged the order of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal. The appeal had been admitted on questions of law relating to whether supplies to SEZ developers or units constitute exports under Rule 5 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, whether the definition of “export” in Section 2(m) of the SEZ Act applies to the CENVAT Credit Rules, and whether, in the absence of a definition in the CENVAT Credit Rules or Central Excise Act, the term “export” includes supplies from DTA to SEZ, which is deemed to be outside the customs territory of India under Section 53 of the SEZ Act.
