Court Orders Refund of Special Additional Duty; Petitioners to Apply Within Two Weeks, Respondents to Process Refunds Promptly.

The HC allowed the Writ Petitions, directing the petitioners to file applications for a refund of the special additional duty within two weeks. The respondent must issue necessary orders for the refund upon receiving the applications. The Writ Petitions were closed with consequential relief to the petitioner, without costs, and all connected Miscellaneous Petitions were also closed.

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Issues:
Refund of special additional duty paid by the importer.

Analysis:
The judgment pertains to a batch of Writ Petitions challenging notices/orders proposing to reject the request for refund of special additional duty. Both counsels agreed that the issue is settled based on a previous decision by the court in a similar case. The Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal had already considered the issue of refund of special additional duty in favor of the importer in a previous order dated 02.06.2017, which was accepted by the Department. Consequently, the court allowed the Writ Petitions, directing the petitioners to seek a refund of the special additional duty paid by filing applications within two weeks. The respondent was instructed to pass necessary orders for refund upon receiving the applications. The judgment concluded by closing the Writ Petitions with consequential relief to the petitioner, without any costs. The connected Miscellaneous Petitions were also closed accordingly.

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