Commissioner Of Customs And Central Excise vs. M/S Dr.Reddys Laboratories LTD.
Held
The High Court dismissed the Central Excise Appeal No. 202 of 2010 as withdrawn. This decision was made in accordance with the letter received from the Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise & Service Tax, Medchal GST Commissionerate, Hyderabad, requesting the withdrawal of the appeal. The court granted liberty to revive the appeal in the event of any mistake in the withdrawal process by the said officer. No costs were awarded. The reasoning for the withdrawal was based on the CBIC's instructions to raise the monetary limits for filing appeals before the High Court, making it impractical to pursue cases below a certain financial threshold. The appeal was therefore withdrawn by the revenue.
Facts
The Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Hyderabad-I, filed an appeal before the High Court against an order of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT). The CESTAT order was preferred against an order-in-original passed by the Commissioner of Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax, Hyderabad-I. The appeal was filed under Section 35(G) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. Subsequently, a letter was received by the Registrar (Judicial) of the High Court from the Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise & Service Tax, Medchal GST Commissionerate, Hyderabad, dated 10.2020, requesting the withdrawal of this appeal. The letter cited instructions from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) regarding enhanced monetary limits for filing appeals.
Key Issues
1. Whether the Central Excise Appeal No. 202 of 2010 should be dismissed as withdrawn based on the letter received from the Commissioner, Central Tax, Central Excise & Service Tax, Medchal GST Commissionerate, Hyderabad, requesting its withdrawal. (Question of procedure) Petitioner's Argument (Revenue): The petitioner (Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise) sought to withdraw the appeal. This was based on instructions issued by the CBIC, which set a monetary limit of Rs. 100 Lakhs for filing appeals before the High Court in Central Excise and Service Tax cases. The letter indicated that the appeal was being withdrawn as it fell below this threshold and did not fall under any exclusion category. The petitioner relied on the CBIC instructions dated 22.08.2019, 04.04.2018, 17.12.2015, and 17.08.2011. Respondent's Argument (Assessee): No specific argument was recorded for the respondent (Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd.) in the judgment as the appeal was dismissed as withdrawn.
Sections Cited
Section 35(G)
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD IVONDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE M.S,RAMACHANDRA RAO AND THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE T.AMARNATH GOUD CE NTRAL EXCISE APPEAL NO: 202 OF 2010 Between: The Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Hyderabad-|, Commissionerate L.B.Stadium Road, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad-500 004. ...APPELLANT AND Dr.Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., (Unit -l) IDA Bollaram, Jinnaram Mandal, Hyderabad ...RESPONDENT Appeal under Section 35 (G) of Central Excise Act, 1944 as substituted by the Finance Act, 2003 against the order of customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, south Zonal Bench, at Bangalore daled 2211012009 in Appeal No.E/39/2009 in Final order No..1238/2009 preferred against the order -in -original No.1112008 (c.E.) dated 24l1Ol2OO8 on the file of the commissioner of customs, central Excise & Service Tax, Hyderabad-l Commissionerate, Hyderabad.
This appeal coming on for hearing upon perusing the order of the Appellate Tribunal as well as the order of the Commissioner and upon hearing the arguments of sri Y. N.Vivekananda, senior Standing counsel for central Excise for the
The judgment continues below.
Read the full judgment
A free account opens 10 full GST judgments a month (one account works on both bharattax.net and this site). Re-reading one you have already opened does not count again.
The summary, the parties, the sections and the citations above are open to everyone and always will be. Only the text of the order and the PDF are metered.
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.