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TaxTMI 
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2021 (8) TMI 36
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....uisite Court fee within a period of 72 hours from the date of resumption of regular functioning of the Court. Application is disposed of. W.P.(C) 5617/2021 1. This petition has been preferred for the following reliefs : "a) issue the writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction in the nature thereof, directing the Respondents to implement the Final Order No. 51226-51571 / 2020 dated 02.11.2020 & Final Order No.50608 - 51022 / 2021 dated 15.01.2021 passed by the Hon'ble CESTAT, New Delhi in respect of all the consignments of the repaired goods imported/to be imported by the Petitioner; b) issue the writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction in the nature thereof, directing the Respondent No. 2 to take necessary actions to enable the Petitioner to clear the repaired goods, imported/to be imported into India, without payment of IGST, extending the benefit of exemption Notification No. 45/2017-Cus. dated 30.06.2017; c) issue such further orders and other reliefs as the nature and circumstances of the case may require." 2. Petitioner is a Public Limited Company and a scheduled Airline operator engaged in the business of....
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.... 02.11.2020 and 15.01.2021 in respect of all consignments of the repaired Goods imported/to be imported by the Petitioner, to enable the Petitioner to clear the Goods without payment of IGST, thereby extending the benefit of exemption Notification dated 30.06.2017 bearing No. 45/2017-Cus. (Annexure '2' to the memo of this writ petition). 6. It is submitted by counsel for the Petitioner that as per the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 and the Rules enacted thereunder, when the goods are imported, Bills of Entry are to be filed by the Petitioner. These Bills of Entry are to be verified by the officers of the Respondents and looking to the documents which are presented by the importer / Petitioner, the provisions of the Customs Act and Rules made thereunder and also to the Notification issued thereunder, the assessment of the Bill of Entry is to be made by the Respondents. 7. The grievance of the Petitioner is that though the dispute pertaining to levy of IGST on the repaired Goods re-imported into India has been decided in favour of the Petitioner, the Petitioner is still being compelled to clear Goods on payment of IGST, resulting in financial losses. Orders of the CESTAT were ....
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....again and again with respect to each Bill of Entry. 10. In the aforesaid facts, learned counsel for the Petitioner submits that suitable directions be given to the Respondents to follow and abide by the orders of the CESTAT dated 02.11.2020 and 15.01.2021 and grant exemptions to the Petitioner for the subsequent Bills of Entry, without compelling the Petitioner to approach the Courts or other Forums repeatedly. 11. Counsel appearing for the Respondent, per contra, submits that general orders cannot be passed by this Court with respect to the assessments for different Bills of Entry filed by the Petitioner. Every Bill of Entry has to be assessed separately and in case the Petitioner is aggrieved by an assessment, it is not remediless and has the remedy of filing a statutory appeal against the assessment order. From the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), remedy of further appeal before the CESTAT, New Delhi, is also available and it is thus not open to the Petitioner to approach this Court directly and the writ petition is not maintainable. 12. We have heard learned counsels for the parties and looked into the facts of the present case. 13. Petitioner is a scheduled Airline ope....
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....n the country. Its aim is to transform Government into an Efficient and Responsible litigant. In its 126th Report on "Government and Public Sector Undertaking Litigation Policy and Strategies", the Law Commission expressed the need of having a Litigation Policy to avoid litigation or to reduce it so as to bring down the load on the judicial system resulting in reduction of expenses on judicial set up. 16. The Ministry of Law and Justice held a 'National Consultation for Strengthening the Judiciary, towards Reducing Pendency and Delays' on 24th and 25th October, 2009 and one of the agenda was the huge pendency in courts. The Resolution presented by the then Minister of Law and Justice in the said Consultation acknowledged the initiative taken by the Government of India to frame a National Litigation Policy (NLP) with a view to ensure that the Central Government acts as a responsible litigant and also urged every State Government to evolve similar policies. 17. To implement the said Resolution, Department of Legal Affairs, formulated a National Litigation Policy in the year 2010 and launched the same on 23rd June, 2010. Its aim is to transform Government into an Efficient and Respo....
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....be useful to refer to passages from the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in CIT v. S.R.M.B. Dairy Farming (P) Ltd., (2018) 13 SCC 239 wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court gave its imprimatur to the judgement of the Karnataka High Court in CIT vs. Ranka & Ranka, 2011 SCC OnLine Kar 3982 [para 27] as under: "9. The Bench considered the issuance of the Circular in the conspectus of the National Litigation Policy Document released. The said Policy Document which has been extracted in the judgment for its reliance has been reproduced hereinunder: (CIT vs. Ranka & Ranka, 2011 SCC OnLine Kar 3982 para 27) "Introduction Whereas at the National Consultation for Strengthening the Judiciary Toward Reducing Pendency and Delays held on 24-10- 2009/25-10-2009, the Union Minister for Law and Justice, presented resolutions which were adopted by the entire conference unanimously. And wherein the said resolution acknowledged the initiative undertaken by the Government of India to frame the National Litigation Policy with a view to ensure conduct of responsible litigation by the Central Government and urges every State Government to evolve similar policies. The National Litigation Po....
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.... emphasis on welfare legislation, social reform, weaker sections and senior citizens and other categories requiring assistance must be given utmost priority. In respect of filing of appeals in revenue matters it is stated as under: (G) Appeals in revenue matters will not be filed: (a) if the stakes are not high and are less than that amount to be fixed by the Revenue Authorities; (b) if the matter is covered by a series of judgments of the Tribunal or of the High Court which have held the field and which have not been challenged in the Supreme Court; (c) where the assessee has acted in accordance with longstanding industry practice; (d) merely because of change of opinion on the part of the jurisdictional officers. Review of pending cases (A) All pending cases involving the Government will be reviewed. This due diligence process shall involve drawing upon statistics of all pending matters which shall be provided for by all Government departments (including public sector undertakings). The Office of the Attorney General and the Solicitor General shall also be responsible for reviewing all pending cases and filtering frivolous and vexatious matters from the me....
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....f India v. Pirthwi Singh, albeit between the Government and the private parties, where the question of law had been settled and yet the appeal was filed only to invite a dismissal. The object appears to be that a certificate for dismissal is obtained from the highest court so that a quietus could be put to the matter in the Government Departments. Undoubtedly, this is complete wastage of judicial time and in various orders of this Court it has been categorized as "certificate cases", i.e., the purpose of which is only to obtain this certificate of dismissal. 5. The 126th Law Commission of India Report titled 'Government and Public Sector Undertaking Litigation Policy and Strategies' debated the Government versus Government matters which weighed heavily on the time of the Courts as well as the public exchequer. This was as far back as in 1988. It was only in the year 2010 that the National Litigation Policy (for short 'NLP') was formulated with the aim of reducing litigation and making the Government an efficient and responsible litigant. Five (5) years later it reportedly saw a revision to increase its efficacy, but it has hardly made an impact. In the year 2018, the Central Gov....
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....ation of National Litigation Policy, which reads as under: "The Government has formulated the National Litigation Policy 2010, for conduct of litigation on its behalf. The policy declares: "Government must cease to be a compulsive litigant. The philosophy that matters should be left to the courts for ultimate decision has to be discarded. The easy approach, 'let the court decide', must be eschewed and condemned."" 26. In view of the judgements of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Government's own Policies to reduce litigation, it is imperative that the Respondents keep in mind that if on similar facts or legal issues, decisions have already been rendered by the competent Courts or Tribunals, they must be followed by the Respondents in subsequent matters. It is unfair on the part of the respondents to relegate the citizens unnecessarily into litigation once the matter is covered by a judicial/quasi-judicial order. Relegating a party to approach Courts or Tribunals, again and again, for interpretation of provisions of any Act or Rules or Notifications, which stand interpreted in earlier judgements is not only victimisation to the litigant but also wastage of judicial t....