AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (8) TMI 733
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.... (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 (FTDR Act). The petitioner has further prayed that the respondent no.1 be directed to take up the matter of the export obligations of the petitioner afresh. 2. The relevant facts are summarized as follows: 2.1 That the petitioner obtained an EPCG License (No.2133843) dated 25.01.1995 for import of capital goods of a total CIF value of Rs. 1,45,24,593/- with a condition to export "Video Software" worth US$ 18,41,470/- within a period of five years/export obligation period and submit the prescribed documents towards fulfillment of their export obligation to the Regional Authority on expiry of the export obligation period. The petitioner failed to meet these obligations, hence a Show Cause Notice dated 27.02.2004 was issued to the petitioner. Thereafter, the Adjudicating Authority on 14.03.2006 proceeded to impose a fiscal penalty of Rs. 66,93,238/-, in addition to the payment of customs duty along with interest, for non- fulfillment of export obligation against the EPCG License no. 2133843 dated 25.01.1994. 2.2 Aggrieved by the above mentioned order, the petitioner preferred an appeal. The said appeal was disposed of by the Addl. Director Ge....
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....al finance market. The petitioner, on receiving Doordarshan's in-principle consent to air its content on their forthcoming channel titled "DD3" as well as the microwave link permission from the Ministry of Communication, Government of India, decided to import the capital goods worth US $4,73,916/- required to telecast stock and financial market information. The capsules made for airing were also planned to be exported to other countries. The petitioner thereafter made heavy investments for hiring staff, building infrastructure and entering into agreements with various intermediaries on the basis of Doordarshan's assurance. However the project was abruptly abandoned due to Doordarshan deciding against the introduction of the DD3 channel. The petitioner states that in the given circumstances the petitioner was unable to create and export video software on its own and thus, could not fulfill its export obligations. It is contended that the failure to do so, was beyond the control of the petitioner and the abandoning of the DD3 channel by Doodarshan and the consequent loss suffered made it impossible for the petitioner to make and export any "Video Software". Apparently, the petitioner....
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....egulation) Act, 1992, its orders, rules and the Customs Act, 1962". Since the original export obligation period expired on 24.01.2000 and as the petitioner had not exported any goods, the bank guarantee was invoked to realize the duty amount and interest by a demand notice issued on 28.08.2002. It is, thus, submitted by the respondents that the invocation of the bank guarantee was not bad in law. 8. The petitioner had imported cameras and other equipment under the EPCG licence and was obliged to export "Video Software" equal to the CIF value of the capital goods imported by the petitioner. The export obligations were not conditional upon any project or any venture that was planned by the petitioner at the material time. Thus, in my view, failure of the venture, that the petitioner intended to pursue in conjunction with Doordarshan would not in any manner absolve the petitioner from complying with its export obligation. According to the petitioner, it invested in equipment and infrastructure in anticipation of producing content for a business channel - DD3 proposed to be aired by Doordarshan at the material time. And, Doordarshan abandoning the said channel severely affected the fi....
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....petitioner of the benefits of the exemption/concession. Even assuming that the failure on the part of the petitioner to meet its export obligations were for reasons beyond its control, the same would not entitle the petitioner for any remission in customs duty. The statutory levy is not conditional on business success or failure of the importer. The maxims lex neminem cogit ad vana seu impossibilia (the law compels no one to do vain or impossible things) or impossibilium nulla obligatio est (there can be no obligation to perform the impossible) have no application in the present case and in relation to a valid statutory levy. 10. It was further contended by the petitioner that although the Appellate Authority had granted an extension to the petitioner to perform its obligations, the Regional Authority had failed to endorse the licence. Therefore, the extension of 18 months granted by the Appellate Authority should be computed from the date of endorsement. This contention has been stoutly disputed as being baseless. The Appeallate Authority's order of 08.06.2006 is quoted below: "ORDER No.11/23/2006-07/ECA.I June 8, 2006 (i) The Order-in-Original No.F-3/53/AM04/ECA.I dated 14.03....
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....nal and the substitute product(s) /service (s) even in cases where the average is exempt for the substitute product (s)/ service (s) as given in para 5.7.6 of the Handbook (Vol 1). The incremental exports to be fulfilled by the licence holder for fulfilling the remaining export obligation can include any combination of exports of the original product/ service and the substitute product (s)/ service (s). The exporter of goods can opt to get the export obligation refixed for the export of services and vice versa. The licencee can also opt for the refixation of the balance export obligation based on 8 times of the duty saved amount for the CIF value in proportion to the balance Export obligation under the scheme. The guidelines for the re-fixation of export obligation is given in para 5.19 of the Handbook (Vol 1). The aforesaid facilities shall only be available to manufacturer exporters/ service provider on all the licences where export obligation period including extended export obligation period is valid on the date of application. In this regard, exports made only on or after submission of application for alternate item and/ or re-fixation of the export obligation based on duty ....