Parisons Foods Private Limited Vs Commissioner of Customs (Karnataka High Court)
Karnataka High Court held that request for waiver of pre-deposit amount under Section 129E(ii) of the Customs Act, 1962 is not acceptable since petitioner is an established business and there is no financial distress. Accordingly, writ dismissed.
Facts- The petitioner is said to be engaged in the business of refining edible oils. Petitioner is before this Court seeking a direction to the 2nd respondent-Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal not to insist upon pre-deposit amount under Section 129E(ii) of the Customs Act, 1962.
Conclusion- The petitioner, by no stretch of imagination, can be portrayed to be a fly-by-night operator. He is an established businessman, an importer of repute, whose commercial presence in the field did not emerge overnight. The Company having been incorporated as far back as 1997, has consistently engaged in import operations of substantial magnitude, running into several hundreds of crores on each occasion. To liken such a petitioner to a daily wage employee, in whose favour the Court may have exercised discretion to waive the pre-deposit, would be wholly incongruous and misplaced. Extending such discretion to a financially robust operator, would be holding out a premium to the petitioner. The plea that the petitioner is in financial distress, and that the pre-deposit therefore deserves to be waived, is a contention that cannot be countenanced.
