Issues: (i) Whether the exporter was entitled to refund of accumulated input tax credit where goods were delivered under the bill-to ship-to model despite toll-movement discrepancies and cancellation of registrations of indirect suppliers; (ii) Whether Revenue could raise fresh allegations and rely on additional material before the Tribunal that were not part of the show cause notices or prior proceedings.

Issue (i): Whether the exporter was entitled to refund of accumulated input tax credit where goods were delivered under the bill-to ship-to model despite toll-movement discrepancies and cancellation of registrations of indirect suppliers.

Analysis: Section 16(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 requires fulfilment of the stipulated conditions for input tax credit. Tax payment, export of goods, and the direct supplier's continuing registration were undisputed. E-way bills issued under the bill-to ship-to model, transport documents, shipping bills, export general manifest details, transporter certification, and banking records substantiated delivery at the export location and subsequent export. The GST law does not require goods to commence movement from the registered premises of the supplier, nor does it prescribe toll-plaza receipts as a mandatory condition for credit. Cancellation of registration of suppliers beyond the direct supplier did not establish any irregularity attributable to the exporter.

Conclusion: Refund of accumulated input tax credit was admissible to the assessee; toll data and alleged irregularities of indirect suppliers did not justify denial.

Issue (ii): Whether Revenue could raise fresh allegations and rely on additional material before the Tribunal that were not part of the show cause notices or prior proceedings.

Analysis: The show cause notices were confined to the alleged transport-route discrepancy and cancellation of registrations of indirect suppliers. The further allegations concerning licensing, investigations, and other concerns were introduced for the first time at the appellate stage, without a request for admission of additional evidence or supporting investigation material. Rule 45(1) of the GSTAT (Procedure) Rules, 2025 and Rule 112(1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 bar production of additional evidence before the Tribunal except in exceptional circumstances, which were not established.

Conclusion: The fresh grounds and unsupported additional material could not be considered; this issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The assessee's documented export transactions and corresponding input tax credit entitlement remain unaffected by non-statutory toll-data objections, indirect-supplier irregularities, or fresh appellate-stage allegations.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statutory conditions for input tax credit are fulfilled through undisputed transactional and export documents, credit cannot be denied merely on toll-movement discrepancies or alleged defaults of suppliers beyond the recipient's direct supplier; fresh allegations and evidence outside the show cause notice cannot be introduced in appeal without satisfying the prescribed exceptional grounds.

Issues: (i) Whether an importer using forged or manipulated transferable duty-credit scrips through an authorised customs-clearance agent can claim protection as a bona fide purchaser; (ii) Whether non-production of original scrips and allied documents, and denial of cross-examination of Customs officers, vitiate the proceedings for breach of natural justice; (iii) Whether penalties under Sections 112 and 114A of the Customs Act, 1962 are sustainable where the importer claims lack of actual knowledge of the manipulation.

Issue (i): Whether an importer using forged or manipulated transferable duty-credit scrips through an authorised customs-clearance agent can claim protection as a bona fide purchaser.

Analysis: An authorised agent's acts within the scope of authority are attributable to the importer under Sections 182, 186 and 226 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and Section 147 of the Customs Act, 1962. The importer authorised the agent to undertake customs clearance and utilise scrips, obtained the resulting duty benefit, and could not disclaim the consequences of that agency.

Analysis: The equitable principle underlying Section 41 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 requires good faith and reasonable care. The excess value reflected in manipulated EDI records was never part of the entitlement issued by the DGFT and could not be transferred under the principle of nemo dat quod non habet. The importer neither verified the scrips, their source, validity or available balance, nor questioned material irregularities in the clearance arrangements. Caveat emptor required such due diligence.

Conclusion: The importer cannot claim bona fide purchaser protection or avoid liability for duty benefits derived from manipulated scrips. This issue is decided against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether non-production of original scrips and allied documents, and denial of cross-examination of Customs officers, vitiate the proceedings for breach of natural justice.

Analysis: The evidentiary basis comprised DGFT entitlement data, customs registration records, EDI transaction trails, electronic records and statements recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. Under Section 119 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, an adverse inference from non-production is discretionary and does not arise where the relevant facts are independently established.

Analysis: The importer had never possessed or independently verified the disputed original scrips and did not establish any actual prejudice from their absence. The denial of cross-examination likewise did not invalidate the proceedings because no material fact or resulting prejudice was identified.

Conclusion: The proceedings are not vitiated by non-production of original documents or denial of cross-examination. This issue is decided against the assessee.

Issue (iii): Whether penalties under Sections 112 and 114A of the Customs Act, 1962 are sustainable where the importer claims lack of actual knowledge of the manipulation.

Analysis: Section 114A applies where duty is short-levied through fraud, wilful misstatement or suppression intended to evade duty. The importer filed Bills of Entry relying on scrips without verifying their existence, validity or credit balance, and directly benefited from the manipulated credits. Personal execution of the electronic manipulation was not necessary for the statutory penalty.

Analysis: The proviso to Section 114A excludes a separate penalty under Section 112 where penalty is imposed under Section 114A.

Conclusion: Penalty under Section 114A is sustained, while the separate penalty under Section 112 is set aside. This issue is partly in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The findings apply equally to the connected writ matters arising from the same investigation, and the customs-duty consequences founded on the manipulated duty-credit scrips remain enforceable subject to removal of the separate Section 112 penalty.

Ratio Decidendi: An importer that authorises an agent to use transferable duty-credit scrips and obtains the resulting benefit remains responsible for manipulated or excess credits where it failed to exercise reasonable diligence; absence of original instruments does not invalidate proceedings supported by independent reliable evidence and absent demonstrable prejudice.

Issues: Whether service tax paid on a contractual advance, where no service was rendered and the entire advance was recovered upon termination of the contract, was refundable without the limitation under Section 11B.

Analysis: The contractual advance was received against a project that was terminated before commencement, and no service was provided or consideration adjusted against contractual performance. The entire advance was recovered through encashment of the bank guarantee, while the incidence of the tax payment remained with the assessee. A payment made where no taxable service was rendered does not retain the character of service tax legally payable; it is a deposit with the Revenue. Consequently, the refund limitation applicable to duty under Section 11B did not govern the claim. In any event, the entitlement to refund arose upon termination of the contract and recovery of the advance.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not time-barred under Section 11B, and the assessee was entitled to refund with consequential relief.

Issues: Whether the delay in filing the statutory appeal should be condoned.

Analysis: Section 107 of the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 provides the appellate remedy. The medical circumstances affecting the petitioner's accountant, supported by medical records, together with the peculiar facts of the case, constituted sufficient cause to permit pursuit of the appellate remedy. The merits of the input tax credit dispute were left for adjudication by the Appellate Authority.

Conclusion: The delay in filing the appeal was condoned and the limitation-based dismissal of the appeal was set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether cancellation of GST registration and dismissal of the statutory appeal on limitation warranted interference and restoration of registration.

Analysis: The statutory appellate authority could not condone delay beyond the period prescribed under Section 107 of the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. However, the limitation provisions were not to be applied so as to deprive a taxpayer of the constitutional right to carry on trade and commerce under Articles 19(1)(g) and 21 of the Constitution of India. Cancellation of registration neither conferred a corresponding right on the State nor advanced the GST regime; restoration would enable legitimate business operations and revenue collection. The earlier view permitting such relief in writ jurisdiction was followed.

Conclusion: The cancellation of registration and the appellate order rejecting the appeal as time-barred were set aside, and the registration was held valid from 29.02.2024 upon compliance with filing of pending returns and payment of outstanding dues, interest, penalty and late fees under Rule 23(1) of the Maharashtra Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017.

Issues: (i) Whether the addition for cash deposits was sustainable where the assessee established an opening cash balance and its availability through returns, cash-flow statements and statements of affairs; (ii) Whether the addition based on the excess of stamp-duty value over the purchase consideration was sustainable without referring the valuation dispute to the Departmental Valuation Officer.

Issue (i): Whether the addition for cash deposits was sustainable where the assessee established an opening cash balance and its availability through returns, cash-flow statements and statements of affairs.

Analysis: The recorded opening cash balance exceeded the cash deposited during the relevant year. The returns for earlier years, cash-flow statements and statements of affairs showed that the assessee was regularly assessed and possessed sufficient disclosed cash to explain the deposits.

Conclusion: The cash-deposit addition under Section 69A was unsustainable and was directed to be deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the addition based on the excess of stamp-duty value over the purchase consideration was sustainable without referring the valuation dispute to the Departmental Valuation Officer.

Analysis: The assessee disputed the stamp-duty valuation, supported the declared consideration, and sought valuation by the Departmental Valuation Officer. Where the valuation is specifically disputed, the correct value must be ascertained through such reference before an addition is made.

Conclusion: The addition under Section 56(2)(x) based on the valuation difference was unsustainable and was directed to be deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Both additions were deleted, recognising the disclosed availability of cash and requiring proper valuation determination where stamp-duty valuation is disputed.

Issues: Whether the assessment was valid where the initial scrutiny notice was issued by a non-jurisdictional Assessing Officer, the case was transferred without a formal transfer order, and the jurisdictional Assessing Officer issued a fresh scrutiny notice beyond the prescribed limitation period.

Analysis: The initial notice was issued by an officer lacking jurisdiction. The subsequent handover of the case to the officer having pecuniary jurisdiction was only an internal administrative arrangement and was not supported by a formal transfer order. Further, the fresh notice issued by the latter officer was beyond the statutory period prescribed for issuance of a scrutiny notice. The assessment was therefore founded on invalid jurisdictional proceedings and a time-barred notice.

Conclusion: The assessment order was invalid in law and was quashed in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether cash deposits representing pre-school fee collections, recorded in the assessee's accounts and reflected through the income returned, could be assessed as unexplained money.

Analysis: Section 69A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 applies where money is not satisfactorily explained. The cash deposits were explained as fee collections from the pre-school, supported by details of collections and related expenses, and the resulting surplus had been disclosed in the return. The allegation that the receipts belonged to an educational society lacked basis because the society was registered after the relevant financial year. Once the deposits formed part of the accounted fee receipts and returned income, their treatment as unexplained money was unsustainable.

Conclusion: The addition of Rs. 28,47,400 under Section 69A was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Issues: Whether the entire alleged bogus-purchase expenditure could be added as unexplained expenditure when the construction activity and consumption of materials were accepted, but purchases from the named supplier were not conclusively established.

Analysis: The invoices, ledger entries and banking-channel payments did not conclusively prove that the named invoicing concern was the actual supplier, particularly in the absence of contemporaneous evidence of movement, delivery and receipt of goods. However, the accepted construction project, sales, work-in-progress and use of basic construction materials established that goods had been procured and consumed. The books were not rejected, no evidence showed that the banking payments had returned to the assessee in cash, and no transaction-specific independent inquiry established that no goods were supplied. In the absence of unequivocal proof that the purchases were wholly fictitious, only the profit element attributable to procurement from unverified sources was taxable.

Conclusion: The addition is restricted to 12.5% of the disputed purchases, amounting to Rs. 7,16,217, and the balance addition is deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Whether disallowance for non-deduction of tax at source on Market Cess/Market Fee, Supervision Charges and Sub-Agent Commission was sustainable under section 40(a)(ia); (ii) Whether outstanding sundry creditors could be treated as income under section 41(1).

Issue (i): Whether disallowance for non-deduction of tax at source on Market Cess/Market Fee, Supervision Charges and Sub-Agent Commission was sustainable under section 40(a)(ia).

Analysis: Section 194C applies only where payment is made for carrying out work pursuant to a contract. Market Fee originated in a statutory levy under section 31 of the Maharashtra Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development and Regulation) Act, 1963, and was not consideration for work contracted by the assessee. The Government-sanctioned procurement scheme prescribed the relevant rates and expenditure components, while the assessee verified claims and routed sanctioned funds to procuring societies and market committees. The control accounts, predetermined rates and separate identification of the assessee's remuneration established that the impugned payments were pass-through disbursements rather than expenditure independently incurred under a contractor or subcontractor arrangement. The Revenue did not establish that the payments satisfied the ingredients of section 194C.

Conclusion: The disallowances under section 40(a)(ia) for Market Cess/Market Fee, Supervision Charges and Sub-Agent Commission were unsustainable and were deleted in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether outstanding sundry creditors could be treated as income under section 41(1).

Analysis: Section 41(1) requires that a trading liability previously allowed as a deduction must have yielded a benefit to the assessee through remission or cessation during the relevant previous year. Mere age of unpaid balances or insufficiency of creditor-wise particulars does not establish such an event. The creditor ledgers, continued recognition of liabilities, ongoing transactions and subsequent payments demonstrated that the liabilities subsisted. There was no evidence of waiver, write-back, remission or legal extinguishment of any liability during the relevant year.

Conclusion: The prerequisites for applying section 41(1) were not fulfilled, and the addition relating to sundry creditors was deleted in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: Statutory levies and Government-sanctioned pass-through procurement payments falling outside the contractual withholding framework cannot be disallowed, and continuing creditor liabilities cannot be brought to tax without proof of remission or cessation.

Issues: (i) Whether the final assessment order was invalid for failure to conform to the binding directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel; (ii) Whether the arm's length price of intra-group technical and shared services could be determined at nil under the Other Method without comparable uncontrolled transactions.

Issue (i): Whether the final assessment order was invalid for failure to conform to the binding directions of the Dispute Resolution Panel.

Analysis: Section 144C(10) and Section 144C(13) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 require the Assessing Officer to pass the final assessment order in conformity with the Dispute Resolution Panel's directions. The directions restricted the relevant adjustment to Rs. 1,01,00,41,778, whereas the final assessment order retained an adjustment of Rs. 1,11,00,41,778. The subsequent rectification could not cure the defect, since the inconsistent figure had consciously been adopted while giving effect to the directions and was not a rectifiable apparent mistake.

Conclusion: The final assessment order, being contrary to the binding Dispute Resolution Panel directions, was bad in law, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the arm's length price of intra-group technical and shared services could be determined at nil under the Other Method without comparable uncontrolled transactions.

Analysis: The assessee furnished extensive documentation, service agreements, cost-allocation material, evidence of service receipt and an independent assurance report. The transfer pricing jurisdiction is confined to determining the arm's length price in accordance with the prescribed methods, rather than deciding commercial expediency or expenditure allowability. Rule 10AB of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 requires the Other Method to take account of the price charged or paid in same or similar uncontrolled transactions between non-associated enterprises. No comparable uncontrolled transaction or methodology supporting a nil price was identified; the nil determination was therefore ad hoc and unsustainable.

Conclusion: The nil arm's length price determination and the resulting transfer-pricing addition were unsustainable and were directed to be deleted, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The assessment failed for non-compliance with binding Dispute Resolution Panel directions, and the impugned transfer-pricing adjustment for intra-group services lacked a lawful benchmarking basis.

Issues: Whether the final assessment order was barred by limitation under Section 144C(13) after the Dispute Resolution Panel's directions were uploaded on the ITBA portal.

Analysis: Section 144C(13) requires completion of assessment within one month from the end of the month in which the Dispute Resolution Panel's directions are received. Uploading the directions on the ITBA portal constituted valid service for computing the limitation period. Since the directions were uploaded on 28.10.2025, the assessment had to be completed by 30.11.2025; the order dated 24.12.2025 was passed beyond that period.

Conclusion: The assessment order was barred by limitation and without jurisdiction, in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Whether the final comparables for TNMM benchmarking were functionally comparable to the assessee's routine rice-trading profile, and whether Kothari Products Ltd. required reconsideration on segmental data; (ii) Whether cash discount and export incentive from sale of licence form operating revenue for computing operating margin under TNMM.

Issue (i): Whether the final comparables for TNMM benchmarking were functionally comparable to the assessee's routine rice-trading profile, and whether Kothari Products Ltd. required reconsideration on segmental data.

Analysis: The assessee was a trader procuring Basmati rice for export to its associated enterprise and did not undertake manufacturing or processing functions. Athena Tradewinds Pvt. Ltd. traded in diversified commodities including edible oils, while Shiv Shakti Inter Globe Exports Pvt. Ltd., Tanna Agro Impex Pvt. Ltd., GRM Overseas Ltd., Chaman Lal Setia Exports Ltd. and Sri Lalitha Enterprises Industries Pvt. Ltd. carried on milling, processing or manufacturing activities, reflected in raw-material consumption, manufacturing assets and distinct risk profiles. Their results therefore included margins not earned by a routine trader. Kothari Products Ltd. disclosed segmental data showing that trading generated 98.87% of its revenue; that data required consideration for a proper benchmarking exercise.

Conclusion: The six functionally dissimilar companies were directed to be excluded from the comparable set, and Kothari Products Ltd. was directed to be reconsidered on its segmental data while recomputing the benchmark after granting hearing to the assessee. This issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether cash discount and export incentive from sale of licence form operating revenue for computing operating margin under TNMM.

Analysis: Cash discount received on rice purchases was intrinsically connected with purchase cost and could alternatively have reduced that cost; it was therefore operational in character. Sale-of-licence proceeds represented an export incentive arising from export activity. Rule 10TA excludes specified non-operational receipts, but neither receipt was shown to fall outside normal business operations. Exclusion of export incentive from operating revenue would distort the like-to-like TNMM comparison.

Conclusion: Cash discount and export incentive from sale of licence must be included as operating income for determining the operating margin under TNMM. This issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The transfer-pricing benchmark must be recomputed using an appropriately comparable set and by including the business-linked cash discount and export incentive in operating income.

Ratio Decidendi: TNMM benchmarking requires a like-to-like comparison based on the tested party's functional and risk profile, and receipts intrinsically arising from normal business operations cannot be excluded where doing so distorts the operating margin.

Issues: Whether bulk drugs or active pharmaceutical ingredients, including those imported for manufacture, testing, clinical trials, bioavailability studies or bioequivalence studies, qualify as "All Drugs and medicines" under Sl. No. 226 of Schedule I to Notification No. 9/2025-Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 17.09.2025 and attract IGST at 5%.

Analysis: IGST on imports is determined by the rate applicable to like domestic supplies. The expression "drug" is undefined in the rate notification; therefore, its meaning was derived from the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, under which substances intended for use as components of a drug are included. The definition of active pharmaceutical ingredient or bulk drug in the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013 confirms that APIs are pharmaceutical or chemical substances used as such or as ingredients in formulations. The licensing framework under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 and the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 also treats the subject goods as drugs irrespective of whether they are imported for manufacture, testing, clinical trials, bioavailability or bioequivalence studies.

Analysis: Sl. No. 226 is a description-based entry covering all drugs and medicines under Chapter 30 or any Chapter. Its semicolon separates the independent coverage of drugs and medicines from formulations manufactured from bulk drugs. The expression "or any Chapter" extends the entry to APIs classifiable under Chapters 28 and 29. As the drugs entry is specific, it prevails over the general Chapter-based entries for inorganic and organic chemicals in Schedule II.

Conclusion: Bulk drugs/APIs qualify as drugs under Sl. No. 226 of Schedule I to Notification No. 9/2025-Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 17.09.2025 and are chargeable to IGST at 5%, provided the goods are not covered by the nil-rated entry under Sl. No. 113 of Notification No. 10/2025-Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 17.09.2025.

Issues: Whether a public interest litigant who suppressed a prior pending writ petition seeking substantially overlapping reliefs, and made a contrary averment on oath, was entitled to invoke writ jurisdiction.

Analysis: Rule 9(i)(h) of the Delhi High Court (Public Interest Litigation) Rules, 2010 requires disclosure of previously instituted PILs or letter petitions. The undisclosed Bombay writ was instituted before the present PIL, concerned the same NSE shareholding and beneficial-ownership disclosures, and substantially overlapped with the reliefs sought. The incorrect assertion that no prior similar proceeding existed demonstrated absence of candour, unclean hands, forum shopping and abuse of the PIL jurisdiction. Such suppression disentitles a litigant from equitable relief irrespective of the merits of the underlying allegations.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to pursue the PIL because of suppression of material facts and forum shopping, and exemplary costs were warranted.

Issues: Whether payment by a closely held company to its substantial shareholder, made against the shareholder's continuing credit balance in a running account, constitutes deemed dividend as a loan or advance.

Analysis: Section 2(22)(e) applies only where a payment by the company possesses the character of an advance or loan to the shareholder; the words "any payment" cannot be severed from that qualifying requirement. The audited accounts and ledger established that the company was indebted to the assessee from the beginning of the year, the account never became debit, and it closed with a credit balance in the assessee's favour. The payment consequently reduced the company's pre-existing liability and did not create any indebtedness of the assessee to the company. Absence of a formal loan agreement, interest stipulation or board approval could not alter the established character of the transaction.

Conclusion: The payment was repayment of funds already due to the assessee and was not a loan or advance taxable as deemed dividend under Section 2(22)(e) of the Income-tax Act, 1961; the issue is decided in favour of the assessee.

Issues: (i) Whether an addition for unexplained investment based on alleged cash on-money payments could be sustained under Section 69B without independent corroborative evidence; (ii) Whether the presumption under Section 132(4A) could be invoked against an assessee who was not searched and in regular assessment proceedings.

Issue (i): Whether an addition for unexplained investment based on alleged cash on-money payments could be sustained under Section 69B without independent corroborative evidence.

Analysis: The addition was founded solely on a file received from the DRI. No independent inquiry was conducted into prevailing land values, and no substantive material establishing payment of on-money by the assessee was produced, including during remand proceedings. The concurrent factual findings of the appellate authorities were not controverted.

Conclusion: The addition under Section 69B was unsustainable for want of evidence and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the presumption under Section 132(4A) could be invoked against an assessee who was not searched and in regular assessment proceedings.

Analysis: The statutory presumption applies to the person searched and operates in search-and-seizure proceedings; it is not available for framing a regular assessment. Since the assessee was not the searched person, the presumption could not support the proposed addition.

Conclusion: Section 132(4A) was inapplicable to the assessee and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The deletion of the unexplained-investment addition remained undisturbed, as neither proposed question warranted further consideration.

Ratio Decidendi: An addition for unexplained investment requires material evidence beyond an uncorroborated third-party document, and the search presumption cannot be applied in regular assessment against a person who was not searched.

Issues: Whether the extended limitation provision could be invoked on the allegation of suppression, and whether the imported monitors were correctly classified under the claimed customs tariff entry.

Analysis: The questions concerning identity and classification of the imported goods, alleged suppression or mis-declaration, and limitation require examination by the adjudicating authority upon the petitioner's explanation. No final adjudication on these questions has taken place in the writ proceedings.

Outcome: The petitioner was directed to submit its explanation to the show cause notice within four weeks, following which the respondent must decide the matter in accordance with law after considering the relevant prior judgment and the reply to the audit consultative letter.

Issues: (i) Whether recovery of drawback allegedly erroneously availed could be initiated more than ten years after the last drawback payment where no fraud or suppression was alleged; (ii) Whether the writ petition should be declined on the grounds of an alternative statutory appeal or delay in approaching the Court.

Issue (i): Whether recovery of drawback allegedly erroneously availed could be initiated more than ten years after the last drawback payment where no fraud or suppression was alleged.

Analysis: Although Rule 16 does not prescribe a limitation period, recovery action must be commenced within a reasonable time. The drawback was availed between 2004 and 2007, while the notice was issued only in 2018 and the recovery order followed in 2022, without any explanation for either delay. The principle permitting delayed action in cases involving fraudulent availment was inapplicable because there was no allegation of fraud or suppression; the allegation was confined to non-production of proof of export-proceeds realisation.

Conclusion: The belated drawback-recovery proceedings were unsustainable and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the writ petition should be declined on the grounds of an alternative statutory appeal or delay in approaching the Court.

Analysis: The availability of an appeal did not require relegation to that remedy because the recovery proceedings were initiated beyond a reasonable period and lacked statutory authority. The asserted delay in filing the writ petition did not preclude relief, as the assessee stated that it learnt of the recovery order upon freezing of its bank account and the foundational recovery action was itself invalid.

Conclusion: The writ petition was maintainable despite the alternative remedy and the asserted delay, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The belated recovery demand and consequential bank-account attachment were deprived of legal effect.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes no limitation period for recovery, the power must nevertheless be exercised within a reasonable time; exceptional tolerance of delay based on fraud cannot apply without an allegation of fraudulent availment or suppression.