2017 (11) TMI 624
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....99/2017 (stay), W.P.(C) 5089/2017 & C.M.No.21800/2017 (stay), W.P.(C) 5095/2017 & C.M.No.21808/2017 (stay), W.P. (C) 7464/2017, JUDGMENT Dr. S. Muralidhar, J. Introduction 1. These petitions raise an important question of law concerning the initiation of Sunset Review ("SSR") by the Designated Authority ("DA") under Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 ("CTA") read with Rule 23 of the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-Dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 ("ADD Rules"). They also raise a question regarding the continuation of the notification issued by the Central Government of the anti-dumping duty ("ADD"), pending the conclusion of the SSR. There are ten writ petitions in all. 2. Six of the writ petitions, i.e. W.P.(C) Nos. 146 of 2017, 147 of 2017, 247 of 2017, 640 of 2017, 641 of 2017 and 7464 of 2017 question the decision of the DA not to initiate SSR and consequently, not extend the period for which the ADD would be enforced. Three of the writ petitions, i.e. W.P. (C) Nos. 5088 of 2017, 5089 of 2017, 5095/2017 question the issue of the DA not extending the imposition of ADD whilst SSR ....
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....on, the DA sought substantiation on the following aspects and required KR to attend an oral hearing on 15th December 2016: i. the imports are increasing even though ADD is in place; ii. the demand for the product was falling along with sales; and iii. the financial parameters, including profits, appear to be adverse. 9. KR maintains that by a reply dated 22nd December 2016 it addressed all the concerns raised by the DA and further explained that the likelihood of dumping and injury on account of withdrawal of the ADD is to be determined in accordance with the qua litum test in an SSR case and that, in view of the judgment of this Court, the SSR was to be mandatorily conducted. 10. On 26th December 2016, the DA issued the impugned letter declining to initiate an SSR investigation. This letter led to the filing of W.P. (C) No. 146 of 2017. 11. At the hearing of the said petition on 11th January 2017, this Court issued directions to the Respondents to initiate the SSR during the course of the day and issue notifications in that regard with the stipulation that the proceedings would be subject to the final outcome of the writ petition. 12. Thereafter, KR sought an ....
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....An updated petition was filed on 2nd December 2016. Another reply dated 30th December 2016 was addressed to the DA offering to provide further information, if so needed. 16. The case of the Petitioners before the DA was that the very fact that there were no known imports of the subject good from Israel while the ADD notification was in force indicated that there was a likelihood of dumping and injury in the event of revocation of duty. Further, it was argued that what was to be determined during the course of the SSR was the likelihood of dumping and injury recurring in the event of cessation of the ADD. It was submitted that dumping from Taiwan remained substantial and the surplus capacity of Israeli industry in the subject good suggested a strong likelihood of dumping resuming upon cessation of the ADD. The case made out by the Petitioners in this writ petition is along similar lines. 17. On 2nd January 2017, by way of the impugned letter, the DA refused to initiate SSR. The grounds for refusal to initiate SSR were as under: i. In respect of Israel: that there are no known imports during the proposed period of investigation. ii. In respect of Taiwan: that the conditio....
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....impugned letter, the DA rejected the request for initiation of SSR on the ground that as per the import data, there are no imports of the subject goods during the injury period and period of investigation and therefore, there was no justification for initiation of SSR investigation. 23. Thereafter, the present petitions were filed in which this Court, by its order dated 23rd January 2017, directed initiation of SSR and issuance of notification pursuant thereto which would state that proceedings thereunder would be subject to the final outcome of the petitions. 24. On 20th February 2017, the Petitioner in W.P.(C) 5088 of 2017 made a representation before the DA seeking issuance of extension notification under the second proviso to Section 9A (5) of the CTA. Facts regarding ADL 25. Aarti Drugs Ltd. ("ADL") has filed W.P.(C) 7464 of 2017 questioning the decision of the DA to not initiate SSR in respect of the imports of "Metronidazole" originating in or exported from China PR. 26. In the year 1999, an application for initiation of anti-dumping investigation was filed by ADL and Aarey Drugs and Pharmaceutical Ltd. on behalf of the Domestic Industry. The DA initiated such....
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....t of production has also reduced from Rs. 657/- to Rs. 596/- during the corresponding period as a result the profitability has increased." (...) "It is evident from the above analysis that the domestic industry is earning high return compared to 2013-14. Investment in fixed assets and working capital has increased manifold." (...) "Sales value has increased by 60% compared to the base year. Export by M/s Aarti has increased by more than three times to the world." 31.2 Furthermore, after undertaking a detailed profit/loss analysis, the DA states: "The above table shows that there is all round improvement of the domestic industry. DGCIS imports data also shows that there is no injury to the domestic industry even after secession of anti-dumping duty. It is evident from the above analysis that the domestic industry is in sound footing when the production, sale, export to other country, capacity utilisation, profitability, capital employes, etc. In spite of 16 years" protection given to the domestic producer and all round improvement of performance it is established that extension of Anti-dumping duty for further period is not at all required for public interest....
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....ill further orders. 4. As regards the question of continuation of the ADD, Mr. Sandeep Sethi, the learned Senior Counsel for the Petitioner, relies on the decision of the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Kumho Petrochemicals Company Limited 2017 (351) ELT 65 (SC). Learned counsel for the Respondents seeks time for instructions. 5. List on 29th August 2017. 6. Order Dasti under the signature of the Court Master." 33. Thereafter, W. P. (C) No. 7464 of 2017 was listed on 29th August 2017 when a question arose as regards to the non-extension of ADD. The relevant portion of the said order reads as under: "3. The present application was listed today to consider whether the ADD that was imposed by the Notification No. 40/2012Customs dated 30th August 2012 and which expires today, i.e. August 2017, should be continued as a consequence of this Court having directed the Respondents to initiate the SSR. 4. In the impugned order dated 22nd August 2017, the DA has, after examining the Petitioner's application under the Customs Tariff (Identification, Assessment and Collection of Anti-Dumping Duty on Dumped Articles and for Determination of Injury) Rules, 1995 ('Anti-....
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....also an importer of the product would not come in the way of the Petitioner being considered as a 'domestic industry' within the meaning of Rule 2(b) of the Anti-Dumping Rules. He refers to the fact that in the earlier SSR undertaken at the request of the Petitioner, the DA had in the Final Findings dated 5th April 2006 held that the mere fact that there were imports made by the Petitioner under a Duty Free Advance Licence which were used for export purpose only will not disqualify the domestic producers like the Petitioner for being considered as 'domestic industry' under Rule 2(b) of the Anti-Dumping Rules. 8. Mr. Sethi further points out that in the petition filed by it seeking initiation of the SSR, the Petitioner had given sufficient details to show what impact of the cessation of ADD is likely to be on the domestic industry. In particular, he refers to Table 6 which sets out dumping margin in past investigations and Table 7 regarding "capacity with Chinese importers" to demonstrate that the surviving domestic industry which is essentially the Petitioner, which is both manufacturing and exporting Metronidazole will be snuffed out if the ADD were to be withdr....
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.... for the purposes of initiating the SSR and for continuation of the ADD, there is no automatic continuation of the ADD only because the Central Government has decided that a SSR must be initiated. According to him, the factors that should weigh with the Central Government for continuation of ADD need not be the same for initiating the SSR. 12. The above submissions have been considered. At the outset, this must be noted that in all earlier instances when the domestic industry came to the court seeking relief against a decision of the Central Government declining to initiate the SSR for some reason, it was not prior to the expiry of the notification imposing the ADD. In fact, in Kumho there was a considerable gap between the expiry of the notification imposing ADD and the decision of the Central Government extending the validity of the imposition of the ADD. It was in those facts and circumstances that the Supreme Court had to observe as under in paras 30 and 32 of its decision as under: "30. From the scheme of Section 9A of the Act, it becomes clear that though the Notification for Anti-Dumping duty is valid for a maximum period of five years, the said period can be extended ....
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....eof may be prejudicial to the indigenous industry. Once such an opinion is formed and the sunset review is initiated, in all likelihood the Central Government would make use of second proviso and issue notification for continuing the said Anti-Dumping duty. At the same time, it cannot be said that without any overt act on the part of the Central Government, there is an automatic continuation. The learned counsel for respondent rightfully pointed out that the legislature has consciously used the expression 'may' and 'shall' at different places in the same Section, i.e.. Section 9A of the Act. In such a scenario, it has to be presumed that different expressions were consciously chosen by the Legislature to be used, and it clearly understood the implications thereof, therefore, when the word 'may' is used in the same Section in contradistinction to the word 'shall' at other places in that very Section, it is difficult to interpret the word 'may' as 'shall'. Therefore, it is difficult to read the word 'may' as 'shall'. Our conclusion gets strengthened when we keep in mind following additional factors." 13. In the pre....
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....he SSR and for continuation of ADD cannot be said to be unconnected. The Court is satisfied that a prima facie case does exist in favour of the Petitioner for continuation of the ADD. 19. Also of some significance is the question of balance of convenience. Mr. Sethi is right in his submission that the loss that the domestic industry might suffer on account of the cessation of the ADD cannot possibly be compensated if later it is held that the SSR ought to have been initiated by the Central Government and the ADD ought to have been continued. In this context, it must be understood that the continuation of the ADD is not for an indefinite period. Even in terms of the 2nd proviso to Section 9A (5) of the CTA, the ADD can continue only for a period extending one year pending the outcome of the SSR. The hiatus that might be caused as a result of the SSR not coming to a conclusion and there being no possibility of further continuation of the ADD has been touched upon by the Supreme Court in its decision in Kumho. 20. Further, as far is the present case is concerned, the Court is satisfied that the balance of convenience in directing continuation of the ADD pending the conclusion of....
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....uard investigations regarding the import of "saturated fatty alcohols" with carbon chain length of C8, C10, C12, C14 C16 or C18 (not including branched isomers) including single blends and unblended which includes the combination of carbon chain length C12-14, C12-16, C12-18, C16-18 and C14-16 excluding pure C8. The investigations were commenced by the Directorate General of Safeguards ("DGS") (Respondent No.1) on 13th February 2013. 38. The Director General ("DG") rendered the preliminary findings on 26th May 2014. A provisional SGD was imposed by Notification No. 3/2014-Cus (SG) dated 28th August 2014. Thereafter, the Final Findings recommending imposition of SGD on the import of the subject goods was issued on 9th October 2014. Pursuant thereto, the Central Government (Respondent No. 2) issued a Notification on 13th March 2015 imposing SGD. 39. Towards the expiry of the period of two years on 21st November 2016, VVF filed an application before the DGS for initiation of the review investigation under Section 8B of the CTA, to examine the need for continued imposition of SGD and to extend the period of levy. 40. The DGS, by its letter dated 24th January 2017, called for f....
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....n relation to an article, means the price of the article exported from the exporting country or territory and in cases where there is no export price or where the export price is unreliable because of association or a compensatory arrangement between the exporter and the importer or a third party, the export price may be constructed on the basis of the price at which the imported articles are first resold to an independent buyer or if the article is not resold to an independent buyer, or not resold in the condition as imported, on such reasonable basis as may be determined in accordance with the rules made under sub-section (6); (c) "normal value", in relation to an article, means - (i) the comparable price, in the ordinary course of trade, for the like article when [destined for consumption] in the exporting country or territory as determined in accordance with the rules made under sub-section (6); or (ii) when there are no sales of the like article in the ordinary course of trade in the domestic market of the exporting country or territory, or when because of the particular market situation or low volume of the sales in the domestic market of the export....
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....nd sub-section (2) a notification issued under sub-section (1) or any anti-dumping duty imposed under sub-section (2), shall not apply to articles imported by a hundred per cent, export-oriented undertaking unless, - (i) specifically made applicable in such notifications or such impositions, as the case may be; or (ii) the article imported is either cleared as such into the domestic tariff area or used in the manufacture of any goods that are cleared into the domestic tariff area, and in such cases anti-dumping duty shall be levied on that portion of the article so cleared or so used as was leviable when it was imported into India. Explanation -For the purposes of this sub-section, the expression "hundred per cent export-oriented undertaking" shall have the meaning assigned to it in Explanation 2 to sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) (3) If the Central Government, in respect of the dumped article under inquiry, is of the opinion that - (i) there is a history of dumping which caused injury or that the importer was, or should have been, aware that the exporter practices dumping and that such dumping would cause in....
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.... determined and for the assessment and collection of such anti-dumping duty. (6A) The margin of dumping in relation to an article, exported by an exporter or producer, under inquiry under sub-section (6) shall be determined on the basis of records concerning normal value and export price maintained, and information provided, by such exporter or producer: Provided that where an exporter or producer fails to provide such records or information, the margin of dumping for such exporter or producer shall be determined on the basis of facts available. (7) Every notification issued under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament. (8) The provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962) and the rules and regulations made thereunder. Including those relating to the date for determination of rate of duty, assessment, non-levy, short levy, refunds, interest, appeals, offences and penalties shall, as far as may be, apply to the duty chargeable under this section as they apply in relation to duties leviable under that Act. Section 9AA. Refund of anti-dumping duty in certain cases. (1) Whereupon determination by an officer....
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....on 9A of the Act, shall remain in force, so long as and to the extent necessary, to counteract dumping, which is causing injury. (1A) The designated authority shall review the need for the continued imposition of any anti-dumping duty, where warranted, on its own initiative or upon request by any interested party who submits positive information substantiating the need for such review, and a reasonable period of time has elapsed since the imposition of the definitive antidumping duty and upon such review, the designated authority shall recommend to the Central Government for its withdrawal, where it comes to a conclusion that the injury to the domestic industry is not likely to continue or recur, if the said antidumping duty is removed or varied and is therefore no longer warranted. (1B) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1) or (1A), any definitive antidumping duty levied under the Act, shall be effective for a period not exceeding five years from the date of its imposition, unless the designated authority comes to a conclusion, on a review initiated before that period on its own initiative or upon a duly substantiated request made by or on behalf of the domestic....
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....ts that such a procedure would account for the fact that much of the information relevant for likelihood analysis is in the exclusive possession and knowledge of the foreign exporters. Such information is not available with the DA unless called for in terms of Rule 6 of the ADD Rules. It is pointed out that if the Rules had provided for a petition conclusively establishing the likelihood of recurrence of dumping and injury, there would have been no need for an investigation or to undertake the elaborate process laid down in Rule 6. It is pointed out that the DA has completely misconstrued the expression "duly substantiated application". 52. The relevant parameters for continuation of duties in an SSR include the following: i. Sufficient freely disposable, or an imminent, substantial increase in, capacity of the exporter indicating the likelihood of substantially increased dumped exports to Indian markets, taking into account the availability of other export markets to absorb any additional exports; ii. Whether imports are entering at prices that will have a significant depressing or suppressing effect on domestic prices, and would likely increase demand for further imports....
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....whether an SSR should be initiated given the facts and circumstances outlined hereinbefore. If the DA is satisfied from the materials placed before it that there is no threat or likely injury to the domestic industry as a result of the non-continuation of the ADD, the DA is not under a compulsion to nevertheless initiate the SSR. Both sides have placed considerable reliance on the decision in Union of India v. Kumho Petrochemicals Co. Ltd. (2017) 8 SCC 307 (hereafter "Kumho") in support of their respective contentions on this aspect. The Court, therefore, proceeds to examine the said decision. The decision in Kumho 57. In Kumho, the Supreme Court was called upon to interpret Section 9A of the CTA read with Rule 23 of the ADD Rules. On the facts of said case, after an SSR, a second notification dated 2nd January 2009 was issued imposing ADD on import of "Acrylic Nitro Butadiene Rubber" originating from Korea RP. The said ADD was to come to an end on 1st January 2014. The notification proposing the SSR was issued only on 6th January 2014. Since the above notification was issued after the expiry of the original notification, a question arose as to whether the exercise of underta....
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....wn as 'sunset review'. There may be situations where the sunset review is undertaken but the review exercise is not complete before the expiry of the period of original notification. It is because of the reason that the exercise of sunset review also demands complete procedure to be followed, in consonance with the principles of natural justice that was followed while imposing the anti-dumping duty in the first instance. To put it otherwise, this exercise contemplates hearing the views of all stakeholders by giving them adequate opportunity in this behalf and thereafter arriving at a conclusion that the continuation of the anti-dumping duty is justified, otherwise injury to the domestic industry is likely to continue or reoccur, if the said anti-dumping duty is removed or varied Since this /exercise is likely to take some time and may go beyond the period stipulated in the original notification imposing anti-dumping duty in to vacuum in the interregnum, second proviso to sub-section (5) of Section 9A of the Act empowers the Central Government to continue the antidumping duty for a further period not exceeding one year, pending the outcome of such a review. The question, how....
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....denied, which was not even disputed before us, that issuance of a notification is necessary for extending the period of anti-dumping duty. Reason is simple. There no duty or tax can be imposed without the authority of 'law'. Here, such a law has to be in the form of an appropriate notification and in the absence thereof the duty, which is in the form of a tax, cannot be extracted as, otherwise, it would violate the provisions of Article 265 of the Constitution of India. As a fortiori, it becomes apparent that the Government is to exercise its power to issue a requisite notification. In this hue, the expression 'may' in the second proviso to sub-section (5) has to be read as enabling power which gives discretion to the Central Government to determine as to whether to exercise such a power or not. It, thus, becomes an enabling provision. 32. We are conscious of the fact that once sunset review is initiated, such initiation takes place only after a substantiated application/request is filed by the indigenous industry which is examined and a prima facie view is formed by the Central Government to the effect that such a review is necessitated as withdrawal of Anti-Dum....
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....at situation, vacuum shall still be created in the interregnum beyond the period of one year and till the review exercise is complete and fresh notification is issued. This situation belies the argument that extension under second proviso is to be treated as automatic to avoid the hiatus or vacuum in between." (emphasis supplied) 60. In the circumstances, where there was a gap between the expiry of the earlier ADD notification and issue of the new notification not prior to the expiry date but only on 23rd January 2014, the Supreme Court held as under: "40. Two things which follow from the reading of the Section 9A(5) of the Act are that not only the continuation of duty is not automatic, such a duty during the period of review has to be imposed before the expiry of the period of five years, which is the life of the Notification imposing anti-dumping duty. Even otherwise Notification dated January 23, 2014 amends the earlier Notification dated January 02, 2009, which is clear from its language, and has been reproduced above. However, when Notification dated January 02, 2009 itself had lapsed on the expiry of five years, i.e. on January 01, 2014, and was not in existence on Jan....
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....o understand the scope of judicial review in the specific context of challenge to the decisions of the DA under the CTA, the decisions of the Courts earlier to the one in Kumho require to be examined. Decisions earlier to Kumho 66.1 In Rishiroop Polymers v. Designated Authority (2006) 4 SCC 303, the Supreme Court was concerned with a case where the domestic industry (represented by the Respondent No. 3 therein) filed an anti-dumping petition before the DA under Section 9A of the CTA stating that the import of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Rubber ("ABR") from specified countries was causing injury to its production. After it was satisfied that such was indeed the case, the DA recommended the levy of ADD. Consequent thereto, the Central Government imposed the ADD under Rule 18 of the ADD Rules. After the importer, who was the sole agent of the ABR manufactured by the foreign exporters failed before the CESTAT, it approached the Supreme Court. It was contended by the Appellant that while assessing injury, the DA had not followed the principles contained in para (iv) of Annexure-2 of the Rules. It was pointed out on behalf of the Respondents that such a contention was not raised before....
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.... it would be subject to Sunset Review, the possible consequence of which would be the extension of time operation of the period of anti-dumping duty for another period of five years. This is subject to the provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 23 of the Anti-Dumping Rules under which the Designated Authority is empowered to review the anti-dumping duty imposed from time to time. Having regard to the scheme of the abovementioned provisions of the statute, once antidumping duty has been initially imposed, it would be ordinarily continued for five years unless on a review it is found by the Designated Authority that there has been such a significant change in the facts and circumstances, that it is considered necessary either to withdraw or modify, appropriately the antidumping duty which has been imposed. It is, therefore, clear that unless the Designated Authority suo motu or the applicant for review is in a position to establish clearly that there has been, a significant change in the facts and circumstances relating to each of the basic requirements or conditions precedent for imposing duty, the finding given by the Designated Authority at the time of initial imposition of anti-dumpi....
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....mports from those countries and the injury to the domestic industry. In arriving at this conclusion, the DA compared the landed value of the imports and the NIP. 67.3 The Central Government, on the basis of the above final findings, imposed ADD on PTA originating from or exported from Spain at a certain rate. It declined to impose ADD on the imports from other countries. RIL filed an appeal before the CESTAT seeking enhancement of the ADD in the case of exports from Spain and imposition of ADD on exports from other countries. However, the CESTAT declined the plea and, therefore, RIL approached the Supreme Court. 67.4 Before the Supreme Court, the two main issues for determination were: (i) whether the NIP of PTA was correctly determined; and (ii) the scope of Rule 7 of the ADD Rules. 67.5 The Supreme Court noted that the NIP was determined by the DA on the basis of cost of production (less interest), general and administrative Expenses (SGA) and a fixed rate of return on the capital employed by the domestic industry. However, it was observed that the DA had erred in law because it was required to carry out the determination of injury and computation of NIP for "the d....
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.... as this Court is concerned, the question whether the SSR was mandatory was considered by it in Indian Metal and Ferro Alloys Ltd. v. Designated Authority (supra). The Court answered the question with reference to Articles 11.1, 11.2 and 11.3 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1994 and concluded that there was a statutory requirement of an SSR recognized both by the CTA and the ADD Rules and that such SSR may be conducted by the DA suo motu or on an application made by the Domestic Industry. 69. The same approach was adopted in Kalyani Steels Ltd. v. Revenue Secretary 2008 (224) ELT 47 (Del). The correctness of the decision of this Court in Indian Metal and Ferro Alloys Ltd. v. Designated Authority (supra) was questioned by the DA by filing a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. In an order passed in Designated Authority v. Indian Metal Alloys and Ferro Ltd. (2009) 2 SCC 510, the Supreme Court was of the view that the decision in Reliance Industries v. Designated Authority (supra) requires a re-look. However, the scope of the reference to the larger Bench was limited to the following two questions: "(1) Whether the interpretation that anti-dumping duty is ....
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....t continued after the expiry of five years simply because a review exercise is initiated before the expiry of the aforesaid period. iii. No duty or tax can be imposed without the authority of law. It has to be in the form of an appropriate notification and in the absence thereof, ADD cannot be imposed. The expression "may" in the second proviso to Section 9A (5) gives a discretion to the Central Government to determine "as to whether to exercise such a power or not. It, thus, becomes an enabling provision." 73. The Court notes that in para 32 of the decision in Kumho, the Supreme Court did say that once the Central Government is of the view that an SSR should be initiated, "in all likelihood the Central Government would make use of second proviso and issue notification for continuing the said ADD." At the same time, the Supreme Court clarified that, "it cannot be said that without any overt act on the part of the Central Government, there is an automatic continuation." A collective reading of paras 31 and 32 indicates that the Supreme Court declined to interpret the word "may" occurring in Rule 23 (6) as "shall". The two issues in the present cases 74. It is time to ret....
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....stantiated request made by or on behalf of the domestic industry". The conclusion that has to be reached by the DA is upon a review initiated before the expiry of the initial notification. 79. The initiation of the SSR is in terms of Rule 23 (1). It states that ADD imposed under the provision of Section 9A of the Act would remain in force "so long as and to the extent necessary, to counteract dumping, which is causing injury". The question that arises is whether, under Rule 23 (1B), the conclusion can be reached by the DA only upon a review, i.e. a review undertaken in terms of Rules 6 to 11 and 16 to 20 of the ADD Rules, which in terms of Rule 23 (3), applies "mutatis mutandis" to the SSR. In other words, is it a two-stage process whereby, first the DA must be satisfied that, prima facie, some case is to be made out for the purpose of initiating the SSR by undertaking the entire process of the SSR or can it, at the threshold itself, without going through the process of the SSR, come to such conclusion? 80. The difference in the two is that as far as forming a view not to initiate an SSR merely upon consideration of the applications made to it is concerned, the DA does not ac....
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....t granted to the Petitioners to place their respective cases before the DA. 82. In a sealed cover, the detailed report prepared by the DA was presented to the Court. From it, the Court could make out what was in fact considered by the DA. The detailed working of the NIP in each of the cases in relation to the net fixed assets, the working capital, the capital employed, the return on investments has been considered. Likewise, the selling price, the costs of sales, the profit and loss during the period of enquiry has been considered. A very detailed analysis has been undertaken by the DA in arriving at its conclusions. There is a complete substantiation for the conclusions reached by the DA. 83. Merely because it is possible to take another view based on the same material which was placed before the DA does not mean that the Court will interfere with the ultimate decision reached by the DA. It is trite that while the scope of a judicial review will extend to examining the process of the decision-making in order to ensure that it is in conformity with the ADD Rules and the general principles of natural justice, the Court will not, in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 22....
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