High Court Rulings


Rules on fake DEPB scrips/TRA fraud; Upholds duty, restores penalties, rejects co-noticee Settlement immunity 

Madras HC delivers a common judgment in a massive batch of 78 connected appeals filed by importers, licence brokers, traders, and the Revenue, arising out of fraudulent use of forged Duty Entitlement ...View More

Export duty inapplicable on goods supplied from DTA to SEZ; Declares Rule-27 proviso ultra vires 

Andhra Pradesh HC strikes down 5th proviso to Rule 27(1) of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Rules, 2006 as ultra-vires the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, finding that the SEZ Act does not authorize...View More

Parallel appeal and rectification remedy impermissible; Slaps costs for wasting judicial time with delay-condonation-plea 

Bombay HC (Nagpur Bench) imposes costs of Rs 5000 on Assessee for wasting court’s time going into the question of condoning delay (184 days) in filing appeal before the HC u/s 35-G of the Centra...View More

Quashes proceedings absent mandatory pre-consultation notice; Allows Revenue to re-initiate after holding consultation 

Bombay HC allows writ petition challenging SCN demanding Rs. 3.26 crores service tax, on the ground that it was issued without mandatory pre-consultation as required by CBEC Circular No. 1053/2/2017-C...View More

Only writ courts may waive pre-deposit in rare circumstances; CESTAT lacks such power 

Delhi HC dismisses Assessee’s customs appeal against CESTAT rejection of appeal on ground of failure to comply with pre-deposit condition; Observing that “..CESTAT does not have the power ...View More

SFIS benefits exclusively for Indian-developed brands, not for well-established foreign ones 

Madhya Pradesh HC dismisses Cummins Technologies India’s writ petition challenging DGFT’s decision denying the benefits of ‘Served From India Scheme (SFIS) and subsequent direction t...View More

Quashes demand absent valuation exercise by Revenue on equipment supplied by Medall to Franchisee 

Madras HC sets aside Order-in-Original confirming demand of service tax of Rs 11.61 Cr. (approx) against Medall Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.(Assessee) for the period Jan 2016–Jun 2017 in respect of serv...View More

Vehicles suitable for use on public roads, taxable, irrespective of use within restricted area; Reverses refund 

Andhra Pradesh HC sets aside Single Judge judgment that allowed the owner of vehicle (Respondent) refund of tax paid u/s 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1963, on the premise that ...View More

Grants interest on refund despite pendency of appeal before CESTAT 

Bombay HC (Goa) allows statutory interest of 6% on sanctioned refund with a direction “the revenue to refund interest as computed….sum of amount of Rs.6,65,11,851/- by computing it from d...View More

Dismissing Revenue’s appeal, sustains CENVAT refund to Wipro despite non-taxability of exported IT services 

Karnataka HC dismisses Revenue’s appeals against CESTAT ruling granting refund of CENVAT credit to Wipro Technologies in respect of input services used for export of Information Technology servi...View More