The Delhi High Court has directed the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ) to decide customs appeals on their merits, setting aside the previous remand orders.
The appeals involved questions that had been the subject of several petitions, with similar cases being remitted to the CESTAT. Notably, in three other appeals heard on the same day, delays in filing the appeals were condoned under similar circumstances. The appeals listed were Commissioner of Customs vs. Balaji Exports ( CUSAA 15/2019 ), Commissioner of Customs vs. Shri Vinod Popli ( CUSAA 45/2019 ), and Commissioner of Customs vs. Wonder Trade Links ( CUSAA 55/2019 ).
The respondents were directed to be served through publication but did not appear in court. Consequently, they proceeded ex parte.
The counsel for the appellant, Harpreet Singh, along with Suhani Mathur and Jatin Kumar Gaur, argued that the question of law involved in these cases had been resolved by a Coordinate Bench in previous rulings. These included Vipul Overseas Pvt. Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Customs & Ors., Forech India Pvt. Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Customs, and Commissioner of Customs vs. Arif Khichi.
The orders under appeal were initially passed by the CESTAT, which had remanded the matters to the Adjudicating Authority to decide on jurisdiction after the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Mangali Impex Ltd. vs. Union of India and Ors.
However, the division bench, comprising Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Ravinder Dudeja, found that such remand orders were not justified and directed CESTAT to decide the appeals on merit, including the question of jurisdiction, without being influenced by the pending decision in the Mangali Impex case, whose operation had been stayed by the Supreme Court.
The court clarified that it did not express any opinion on the merits of the cases and that CESTAT was free to take any view it deemed appropriate. The appeals were disposed of with instructions for CESTAT to reassess the matters based on their merits.
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