All India Buffalo & Sheep Meat Exporters Association & Anr. Vs Union of India & Ors. (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court has disposed of petitions filed by the All India Buffalo & Sheep Meat Exporters Association and another, which sought to quash specific paragraphs of Circular No. 80/54/2018-GST issued by the Tax Research Unit.
The petitioners had argued that clarifications on product classification could not be issued via circulars, and that exemption notifications required proper issuance within a year. However, the High Court found it unnecessary to delve into these contentions. The court noted that the impugned circular had already been set aside by a coordinate Bench in the case of Association of Technical Textiles Manufacturers and Processors v. Union of India (Neutral Citation 2023:DHC:8216-DB).
Consequently, the petitioners’ grievance regarding the circular no longer survived. The court clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on the grounds of challenge raised by the petitioners, and concerned authorities are free to adjudicate classification questions uninfluenced by the defunct circular.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF DELHI HIGH COURT
1. The petitioners have filed the present petitions, inter alia, praying that Paragraphs 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of the Circular No. 80/54/2018-GST dated 31.12.2018, issued by the Tax Research Unit (hereafter ‘TRU’) of the Respondent No. 1, be set aside.
