The Commissioner Of Customs And Central Excise vs. M/S.Om Shanti Satins Limited [100% Eou]

Held

The High Court, having regard to the letter received from the Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise & Service Tax, Medchal GST Commissionerate, Hyderabad, dated 04-10-2020, withdrawing the appeal, dismissed the appeal as withdrawn. The Court granted liberty to the appellant to revive the appeal in the event there was any mistake committed by the said Officer in withdrawing it. No costs were imposed. As a sequel, any pending miscellaneous petitions in this appeal were also closed. The reasoning for withdrawal was based on the enhanced monetary limits for filing appeals as per CBIC instructions, where the amount involved in the appeal was below the revised threshold of Rs. 1 Crore.

Facts

The Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Hyderabad-1 Commissionerate (Appellant) filed an appeal before the High Court against an order of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT). The appeal was preferred against an Order in Original passed by the Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise. Subsequently, the Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise & Service Tax, Medchal GST Commissionerate, Hyderabad, addressed a letter to the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court on 04-10-2020, requesting to withdraw the appeal. This request was based on instructions from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to enhance monetary limits for filing appeals. The appeal was listed for hearing, and the appellant's counsel and respondent's counsel appeared.

Key Issues

1. Whether the appeal filed by the Appellant should be dismissed as withdrawn, as per the request made by the Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise & Service Tax, Medchal GST Commissionerate, Hyderabad. The Appellant (Revenue) argued for withdrawal of the appeal. This argument was based on instructions issued by the CBIC vide F. No 390/Misc./116/2017-JC dated 22.08.2019, which revised the monetary limits for filing appeals before the High Courts to Rs. 1 Crore. The Appellant contended that the present appeal, along with 16 other listed cases, involved amounts below this threshold and did not fall under any exclusion categories. Therefore, the Appellant desired to withdraw these appeals. The Respondent (M/s. Om Shanti Satins Limited) did not present any arguments for opposing the withdrawal, as the judgment records no such contention. The primary issue was whether to allow the withdrawal of the appeal based on the Revenue's request and the prevailing CBIC instructions.