Customs Act, 1962

The appellants imported oil from the UAE and declared it as Base Oil SN 50, but the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence re‑classified it as High Speed Diesel (HSD) and seized it. The Adjudicating Authority, CESTAT and the High Court each held the oil to be HSD, relying on three laboratory reports that tested only a por…

The petitioners challenged the constitutional validity of the amendments to the Customs Act, 1962 and the arrest provisions in the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, arguing that offences under these statutes remain non‑cognizable and that authorized officers must obtain a magistrate's warrant, relying on the Om…

The Supreme Court examined whether mobile service providers (MSPs) could claim CENVAT credit on excise duties paid for mobile towers and prefabricated buildings (PFBs) used in their networks. The dispute arose from conflicting decisions of the Bombay High Court, which held the towers and PFBs to be immovable property a…

The petitioner, a police SHO, was alleged to have misbehaved with a process server who was serving court summons, leading the process server to lodge a private complaint under s.195 CrPC. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) ordered registration of an FIR under s.186 and s.341 IPC and directed police investigation u…

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence alleged that Suresh Kumar & Co. Impex Pvt. Ltd. and its directors under‑declared the retail selling price of imported branded food items, thereby evading customs duty. A show‑cause notice was issued, and the Adjudicating Authority confirmed the demand, interest and penalty. The C…

The appellant, M/s Shah Nanji Nagsi Exports Pvt. Ltd., exported corn starch and filed 54 shipping bills between July and October 2017 under the Foreign Trade Policy. Due to a clerical omission by its customs broker, the declaration of intent to claim the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) was entered as “No” …

Nabha Power Ltd (NPL) and Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL) entered into Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) with Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) for a 700 MW coal‑fired project. They claimed that deemed export benefits under Paragraph 8.3 of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2009‑2014 were available at the bid cut‑of…

M/s Patanjali Foods Ltd. (formerly Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd.) challenged the customs department’s encashment of bank guarantees that were furnished as security under interim High Court orders. The company argued that such encashment could not be treated as "payment of duty" for purposes of a refund under Section 27 of…

The appellant, Kesari Nandan Mobile, challenged two provisional attachment orders dated 13 November 2024 and 18 December 2024 issued by the Assistant Commissioner of State Tax under section 83 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act. The orders were issued after earlier attachment orders of October 2023 had au…

Noble Resources and Trading India Private Ltd, a two‑star export house, imported crude degummed soybean oil under a duty‑free credit entitlement certificate issued pursuant to the EXIM Policy 2002‑2007. The Customs authorities denied the exemption, holding that the oil was an agricultural product excluded by Notificati…

Former civil servants, scholars and activists filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking a court order directing the Union Government to cancel existing licences and stop granting new licences for the export of arms and military equipment to Israel amid the Gaza conflict. The petitioners alleged violations of inter…

Baccarose Perfumes and Beauty Products Pvt. Ltd (the appellant) challenged the Special Judge's order taking cognizance of alleged offences relating to the payment of Countervailing Duty (CVD) on invoice value instead of Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The company claimed that it had been granted immunity from prosecution u…

The wife of a man detained under the COFEPOSA Act challenged his preventive detention, arguing that the detaining authority had not applied its mind and had ignored the stringent bail conditions imposed by the magistrate. The Supreme Court examined the factual matrix, which showed the detainee’s involvement in a large‑…

The respondent, a class‑I civil contractor, completed work on the Koyna Hydro Electric Project funded by the World Bank and claimed duty drawback as a "deemed export" under the Exim Policy 1992‑1997. After multiple rejections by the DGFT, a Policy Interpretation Committee in 2002 allowed the drawback, which was paid in…

The State of Gujarat appealed against the Gujarat Value Added Tax Tribunal and the High Court, which had allowed M/s Ambuja Cement Ltd. to exclude Value Added Tax (VAT) and the value of purchases on which no tax credit was claimed from its taxable turnover of purchases under Section 11(3)(b) of the Gujarat Value Added …

Coal India Ltd., through its subsidiary Central Coalfields Ltd., imported spare parts for P&H shovels and was required to pay an additional 8% of the FOB value to the Indian agent Voltas Ltd. as engineering and technical service fees. The customs authorities held that these fees were part of the assessable value under …