Case Details: Commissioner of Central Excise, Bangalore Versus Lanyard Foods Ltd. (2025) 33 Centax 392 (S.C.)
Judiciary and Counsel Details
- Manoj Misra & Sandeep Mehta, JJ.
- S/Shri Rupesh Kumar, Sr Adv., S. Dwarakanath, A.S.G., Prashant Singh-II, Nachiketa Joshi, Raman Yadav, Rajat Vaishnaw, Mudit Bansal, S. Vijay Adithya, S.Jaikumar, Kartik Jindal, Anant Gautam, Rishi Chauhan, Advs., Gurmeet Singh Makker & Rajesh Kumar Gautam, AOR’s for the Appellant
Facts of the Case
The appellant-Revenue filed appeals against orders of CESTAT involving a dispute as to violation of post-import conditions of exemption Notification No. 30/97-Customs, Dated 01-04-1997 by the respondent-assessee, who had not utilized imported materials for manufacture of the declared final product. The Karnataka High Court had dismissed the Revenue’s appeals as not maintainable under Section 130 of Customs Act. The appellant then approached the Supreme Court, submitting that the issue solely involved breach of post-import conditions for exemption from duty and, therefore, the appeals were maintainable before the High Court. The legal issue was whether appeals against CESTAT orders concerning violation of post-import conditions for exemption could be entertained by the High Court.
Supreme Court Held
The Hon’ble Supreme Court held that since the appeals involved only breach of conditions imposed by the exemption notification and not determination of duty rates or coverage under the notification, they were maintainable before the High Court. The Court relied on its decision in Motorola India Ltd. [2019 (368) E.L.T. 3 (S.C.) to confirm that such disputes fall within the appellate jurisdiction of High Courts. By invoking extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, the SC quashed the High Court order dismissing the appeals as not maintainable and directed restoration of the appeals to their original numbers for adjudication as per law.
List of Cases Cited
- Commissioner v. Motorola India Ltd. — 2019 (368) E.L.T. 3 (S.C.) — Followed [Paras 4, 6]
