JK (India) FABS Vs Union of India & Ors (Delhi High Court)
The Delhi High Court (Delhi High Court) considered a writ petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India seeking directions for re-assessment of certain Bills of Entry and consequential refund of excess Customs Duty paid towards Infrastructure Cess.
The petitioner had imported electrically operated golf carts and filed Bills of Entry dated 7 March 2016 and 23 September 2016. The petitioner contended that the imported goods were exempt from Infrastructure Cess under Notification No. 1/2016-Infrastructure Cess dated 1 March 2016, which grants exemption to electrically operated vehicles falling under heading 8703. According to the notification, such vehicles, including those run solely on electrical energy from batteries, attract nil rate of Infrastructure Cess.
The petitioner stated that while filing the Bills of Entry on the EDI system, a technical glitch prevented the exemption from being claimed. As a result, instead of paying customs duty amounting to ₹2,95,426.71, the petitioner paid a higher amount of ₹3,51,303. The petitioner explained through a letter dated 22 May 2017 that repeated attempts at re-assessment failed due to technical errors in the EDI system, and that the excess duty was paid under compulsion as the goods were urgently required. The petitioner subsequently sought refund of the excess amount of ₹55,876.29, which represented Infrastructure Cess wrongly collected.
