TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (12) TMI 544
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....along with Ms. Priya Singh, Mr. Nishant Sharma & Mr. Nipun Jain, Advocates. Mr. Ripudaman Bhardwaj (CGSC) with Mr. Kushagra Kumar, Mr. Abhinav Bhardwaj, Advocates & Mr. Rudra Paliwal, Mr. Vedansh Anand, GPs in item no. 108 Ms. Shiva Lakshmi, CGSC with Mr. Rishabh Verma, Advocate for GDFT in Items 91 to 102, 104 to 108. Mr. Rohan Jaitley, CGSC with Mr. Hussain Taqvi, GP, Mr. Dev Pratap Shahi, Mr. Yogya Bhatia and Ms. Ranjana Jetly, Advocates for R-1 to 3 in Item 104. Ms. Nidhi Raman, CGSC with Ms. Archana Surve, GP, Mr. Zubin Singh and Mr. Aakash Mishra, Advocates for UOI in Item 102. ORDER PER 1. All the Petitioners are engaged in the business of importing gold bullion, which is used for the manufacturing of gold ornaments. Pursuant to a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ["CEPA"], between India and UAE, the Petitioners have been allotted certain Tariff Rate Quota ["TRQ"] by the Respondents for the import of bullion. The said TRQs have now been reviewed and revised as per the Minutes of Meeting held on 08th November, 2024, which is the subject of challenge in the present petition. Since all the Petitioners impugn the same Minutes of Meeting, raising similar grounds of....
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....onditionalities (i) and (ii), Qualified Jewellers as notified by IFSCA till March'2024 shall be allocated a minimum of 200 Kgs. v. Applicants who are not QJs and have no prior imports shall be allocated 80 kgs. 7. Details of allocation made are submitted at Annexure. Further, the Committee decided to review the utilisations of given TRQs in the October'2024. The Committee may thereafter choose to revise the extant TRQ allocations based on the TRQ imports made till September'2024." 2.5 On the basis of the aforenoted decision, the Petitioners were issued certificates/licenses with validity up to 31st March, 2025. 2.6 Subsequently, in terms of Paragraph No. 7 of the Minutes of the aforesaid Meeting, the Committee held a mid-year review of allocation of bullion TRQ under CEPA for FY 2024-25. In the said Minutes, the following decision has been taken: "In Chair: Shri Santosh Kumar Sarangi, DG (DGFT) 2. The following officers attended the meeting: * Ms. Shubhra, Additional DGFT * Smt. Priya Nair, Economic Advisor, FT(WANA), Dept. of Commerce * Shri Gaurav Pundir, Director, FT(WANA), Dept. of Commerce * Shri Satya Rajasekhar G, Dy. DGFT, DGFT(HQ) * Shri Deepak J....
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....he revised reduced quantity and shall be required to ensure that revised reduced allocations are suitably registered at Customs Ports after amendment." 2.7 In terms of the above decision, the originally allocated TRQ has been revised based on the extent of the utilisation of the previously allocated TRQs. In so far as the Petitioners are concerned, some had utilised ≤ 25% of the allocated TRQ quantities up to 30th September, 2024, while others had utilised 25%-75% of their TRQs. Pursuant to Paragraph No. 6 of the Minutes of Meeting dated 8th November, 2024, the allocated quantity for the former set of Petitioners was reduced to half, whereas for the latter group, no upward/ downward revision was made. The impugned revision in all the petitions is delineated as follows: W.P.(C) No. Originally allotted Revision 16809/2024 80 Allocation reduced by half 16810/2024 525 Allocation reduced by half 16814/2024 800 No revision 16816/2024 777.5 No revision 16819/2024 1070 No revision 16822/2024 662.5 No revision 16824/2024 500 No revision 16825/2024 803.75 No revision 16826/2024 675 No revision 16827/2024 812.5 Allocation reduced by half 16828/....
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....7. As per the Minutes of Meeting dated 8th November, 2024, certain importers have made requests to surrender as much as 630 KG of bullion and accordingly, the Petitioners can be benefited pursuant to such surrender. 3.8. There is still a four-month period remaining before the licenses of the Petitioners expire. Therefore, if the Respondents were to reconsider their decision, they could impose strict terms, which could be accepted by the agreeable Petitioners, in order to ensure that the prescribed TRQ allocation for the CEPA is achieved. 4. Ms. Shiva Lakshmi and Mr. Ripudaman Bhardwaj, CGSCs for Respondents, on the other hand, oppose the petitions on following grounds: 4.1 The Petitioners were all throughout aware of the conditions, which form the basis of the impugned decision. In this regard, reliance is placed on Public Notice No. 12/2023 dated 28th April, 2024 pertaining to the CEPA for FY 2023-24. The public notice specifically provided that TRQ allocation shall be subject to a 6-monthly review. The notice stipulates that in cases where TRQ utilization is found to be ≤ 25%, 50% of the balance TRQ quantities shall be deemed to be considered as surrendered, and shall be co....