Debit of MEIS duty credit scrips was treated as valid discharge...

Debit of MEIS duty credit scrips was treated as valid discharge of past customs duty liability for Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess on imported goods. The Tribunal read clause 11 of CBIC Circular No. 02/2020-Cus as reflecting a broader principle that past payments made through duty credit scrips should not be disturbed and must be accepted as duty already collected. Relying on prior decisions, it held that such cess components formed part of customs duty and could not be recovered again in cash for past imports. In the absence of suppression, fraud, or misdeclaration, any further cash demand would amount to impermissible double recovery.