Writ Petition No. 2810 of 2015. Case: Garden Silk Mills Ltd. Vs Union of India. High Court of Bombay (India)
| Case Number | Writ Petition No. 2810 of 2015 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Shri Durgesh Nadkarni with C.S. Biradar i/by M/s. Legal Solutions and For Respondents: Shri Pradeep S. Jetly |
| Judges | S.C. Dharmadhikari and Dr. Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, JJ. |
| Issue | Customs Act, 1962 - Section 27A; Constitution of India - Article 226 |
| Citation | 2016 (338) ELT 670 (Bom.) |
| Judgement Date | July 18, 2016 |
| Court | High Court of Bombay (India) |
Order:
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By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for issuance of writ of mandamus, or writ in the nature of mandamus, or any other appropriate writ, order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India directing the respondents to grant interest on delayed refund amount within a time bound period.
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The petitioner has pointed out to this Court that an order was passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, West Zonal Bench at Mumbai on 652014. By that order, the Tribunal allowed the appeal of the present petitioner. It granted refund of the sum of Rs. 90,47,661/. The Tribunal directed the amount to be released. But what has transpired is, that after the Tribunal''s order to that effect dated 6-5-2014, the amount was paid by the Respondent No. 3 on 16-2-2015.
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The petitioner submits that on this delayed payment they were entitled to interest. They made a representation, copy of which is at AnnexureD (Page 28) to the writ petition. They stated that the refund was claimed as early as on 15122006. However, the amount was refunded/paid on 16-2-2015. The petitioner, therefore, claimed interest for the delayed refund by relying on Section 27A of the Customs Act, 1962. It was submitted that by that section, which was substituted with effect from 23-12-1991, any duty ordered to be refunded under sub-section (2) of Section 27, if not refunded within three months from the date of receipt of the application under subsection (1) of that section, there shall be paid to the applicant interest at such rate not below 5% and not above 30% per annum, as is for the time being fixed by the Central Government by Notification in the Official Gazette. This amount has to be paid from the date immediately after the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of such application till the date of refund of such duty. The petitioner, therefore, submitted that the interest in this case is payable from 15-3-2007 till 15-2-2015. The petitioner relied upon the judgment of the Hon''ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. v. Union of India, reported in 2011 (273) E.L.T. 3 (S.C.) = 2012 (27) S.T.R. 193 (S.C.).
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The petitioner states that there was no response to this letter and, therefore, reminders were addressed on 1852015 and 962015. Since the demand of Interest was not specific, the petitioner once again invited the attention of the Authority to the pari...
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