M/S.Skylark Office Machines vs. Union Of INDIA
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Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
The Court made the frrllowing: ORDER
E=Eg IN THE HIGII COURT FORTHE STATE OF TELANGANA AT IIYDERABAD THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHY AND THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE NARSING RAO NANDIKONDA W.P.No.202 72 of 2026 02.07.2026 Between: M/s. Skylark Offi ce Machines, Rep.by its Proprietor' Mr.Rohit Jhunjhunwala, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. ...Petitioner AND Union of India, Rep. by its Secretary, Department of Revenue, Govemment of India' Ministry of Finance, New Delhi and others . . . Respondents B, @er Hon'bte Sri Justice P Sam Koslry) Heard Mr.K'Rama Sreenivas, leamed counsel representing Mr.Akkapeddi Srinivas, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Dominic Femandes, leamed Senior Standing Counsel for the CBIC for respondent No s.2 to 4 ' Perused the record'
The instant writ petition has been filed assailing the selzure memo dated 20.06.2026, issued by the 4'h respondent
- 2 with the furt.her request to forthwith release the imported consignment of the multifunctional devices (76 units) under Bill of Entry No.9729 434, dated 06.06.2026
Similar writ petitions of identical nature have already been considered by this Bench wherein by way of a conditional interim order this Berch had permitted the release of seized goods subject to the petition,:r/importer fulfilling certain conditions.
One sur:h writ petition is W.P.No.12489 of 2025; where the goods imported were seized by the Customs authorities and by virtue of the interim order of this High Court, the Customs authorities we ,re ordered to release on the following conditions. For convenience. we reproduce paragraph Nos.26 & 27 of the order passed in the aforesaid writ petition hereinunder:
Thus;, for all the aforesaid reasons, it is ordered that iet the respond,-.nt authorities pass an order on the application filed by the petit oners for provisional release of the goods subject to the conditions that. a) 'fhe petitioner shall payldeposit the enhanced duty amount. On receipt of such enhanced duty amount paid by the petitione rs, the goods in question shall be released within a period of four (04) weeks thereafter.
GEP- 3 b) For payment of such duty, quantification shall be made by the Customs forthwith within one (Ol ) week from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. On receipt of such quantification' the payment shall be immediately made by the petitioners and on receipt of the payment in entirety, the goods shall be released as indicated above at the outer limit of four (04) weeks' c) lt is made clear that this order will not stand in the way for Customs Department to go ahead with the further proceedings including the adiudication in the manner known to law d) lt is further made clear that so far as the condition of the petitioner that demmurage charges till date, for the goods be considered for waiver, in this regard, if any application is filed by the petitioners seeking such a waiver of demmurage charges' the same shall be considered and decided by the respondents objectivelY. 27. ln addition, the petitioners are also directed to provide a bank guarantee worth 1O percent of the total price of the goods imported by them. Further, it is also ordered that in the event if the petitioners upon release of the goods provisionally make and sell the supply to their customers' details of the customers that of relevant price and details of the respective transactions shall be maintained and made available to the respondent authorities from time to time 5.Pursuanttothesaidinterimdirectionanduponthepetitioner therein fulfilling the conditions stipulated by the High Court' the seized goods were released to the petitioner' The said order of releasing of the goods was subjected to challenge before the Hon'ble Supreme Court; where the Hon'ble Supreme Court in - 4 SLP.No.42808 124, dated,l5.0\.2025, has refused to interfere with the order passr:d by this Bench.
Howeve,r, as regards the proceedings before the adjudicating authority is concemed, the Hon'ble Supreme Court permitted the adjudicating a,uthority to proceed and decide the same strictly in accordance v,ith law. The petitioner is also held entitted for participation in the adjudicating proceedings.
Pursuant to the disposal of the SLP, this Court has disposed of all such rnlit petitions whereby the goods were released and the proceedings r,rere pending before the adjudicating authority.
Similar nature of facts are also there in the instant case also where the sta3e at this juncture is only the seizure memo and prayer is also only f<rr an interim release of the seized goods.
In the lactual matrix narrated in the preceding paragraphs, we are of the considered opinion that the instant writ petition also therefore can be disposed of at the admission stage itself. Reserving the right of the adjudicating authority to take appropriate decision
w 5 in the proceedings after permitting the petitioner to represent before the adjudicating authoritY:
Thus, for all the aforesaid reasons, it is ordered that let the respondent authorities pass an order on the application filed by the petitioners for provisional release of the goods subject to the conditions that: a) The petitioner shall payldeposit the enhanced duty amount. On receipt of such enhanced duty amount paid by the petitioners, the goods in question shall be released within a period of four (04) weeks thereafter' b) For payment of such duty, quantification shall be made by the Customs forthwith within one (01) week from the date of receipt of a copy of this order' On receipt of such quantification, the payment shall be immediately made by the petitioners and on receipt of the payment in entirety, the goods shall be released as indicated above at the outer limit of four (04) weeks' c) It is made clear that this order will not stand in the way for Customs Department to go ahead with the further proceedings including the adjudication in the manner known to law'
- 6 d) It is further made clear that so far as the condition of the petitioner that demurrage charges till date, for the goods be considered for waiver, in this regard, il any application is filed by the petitioners seeking s;uch a waiver of demurrage charges, the same shall be considered and decided by the respondents objectively.
In addition, the petitioner is also directed to provide a bank guarantee woa.h i 0 percent of the total price of the goods imported by them. Further, it is also ordered that in the event if the petitioners upon release of the goods provisionally makes and sell the supply to their customers, details of the customers that of relevant price and details of the respective transactions shall be maintained and made available to the respondent authorities from time to tlme.
Needle:;s to mention that the adjudicating authority in the process of rleciding the same would not be in any manner influenced by the order of conditional release ordered by this Court. The authority shall decide the same considering the objections and contentions that would be raised on either side.
q--@w 7
Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed' There shall be no order as to costs. Miscellaneous applications pending' if any' shall stand closed. //// . M.NAGAMANI ASSISTANT REGISTRAR s TION OFFICER To 7I PSK. TKS I 2 3 4 5 o The Secretary, Union of lndia, Department of Revenue, Govt. of lndia' Ministry of Finance, New Delhi. Joint Commissioner of Customs (lmports), GST Bhavan, Basheebagh, Hyderabad - 500004 fhe Deputy Commissioner of Customs, lCD, Sanathnagar - 500018, Telangana The Superintendent of Customs, lnland Container Depot, Sanathnagar Hyderabad Customs Commissionerate, Hyderabad - 500018' Telangana One CC to SRI AKKAPEDDI SRINIVAS, Advocate IOPUC] One CC to SRI N BHUJANGA RAO, DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL OF rNDrA [OPUC] One CC to SRI DOMINIC FERNANDES, SENIOR SC FOR CBIC IOPUC] Two CD Copies &
HIGH COURT DATED: 02107112026 ORDER WP.No.20272 of 2026 ALLOWING TI.IIE WRIT PETITTON WITHOUT CO$TS IA Z c.t:1 c (.. 026 .L xI t9.tr r*lt\ao 1 ( v o a U t ftr
Reproduced from the public record of the Telangana High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.