Publishing of DGFT Circular Granting 4% of SAD Refund on Official Website Amounts to Public Notice: Kerala HC [Read Order]

In a recent decision the Kerala High Court observed that the publishing of the Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Circular granting 4% of special additional duty (SAD) refund on an official website amount to public notice.

The present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to sanction the refund claim of 4% of Special Additional Duty (‘SAD’) against the goods imported under several Bills of Entries in the year 2014 and 2015 as mentioned in the writ petition.

The petitioner, Elite Green Pvt Ltd, claims to be a leading food processing unit in India and exports processed food. The petitioner procures raw materials locally to process the food items for export. Some raw materials are also imported to meet export obligations.

The Director General of Foreign Trade (‘DGFT’) of the Government of India has issued notification No.102/2007-Cus dated 14.09.2007, whereby 4% duty collected as an additional duty while importing goods and such amount collected from the importers were to be returned to the importer subject to production of evidence regarding payment of sales tax to customs authorities.

The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that despite issuing the said notification, the petitioner paid the 4% SAD in scrips as the petitioner was unaware of the said notification and further submitted that public notice should have been given regarding this notification/Circular No.18/2013-Cus dated 29.04.2013 by the Cochin Port.

It was, therefore, submitted that as per the mandate of the said Circular, public notice and Standing Order were required to be issued for the guidelines of the trade and the staff, which was not done, and that resulted in the petitioner not paying the SAD in cash but in scrips and which was accepted by the Customs Authorities.

A Single Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh observed that “I do not find substance in the submission of the Counsel for the petitioner that the public notice was not issued regarding Circular No.18/2013-Cus. dated 29.04.2013. If the said Circular was published on the official website of the DGFT, it amounts that the public notice was given about the Circular.”

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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