Commissioner Of CGST And Central Excise Jammu vs. Ambika International Sidco Industrial Complex Bari Brahmna Jammu
Facts
The Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise, Jammu, filed an appeal before the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh against an order passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT). This order, similar to others in a batch of appeals, directed the refund of Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess to the assessee, Ambika International. The CESTAT's decision was based on the Supreme Court's ruling in M/s SRD Nutrients Pvt. Ltd. V. Commissioner of Central Excise, Guwahati. A previous batch of similar appeals, including the lead case CEA No. 10/2022, had been dismissed by a Coordinate Bench of the High Court on May 23, 2022. The present appeal was also based on identical grounds.
Held
The Court held that the instant appeal was based on identical grounds to a previous batch of appeals that had been dismissed by a Coordinate Bench of the High Court on May 23, 2022. The previous appeals also challenged CESTAT orders directing the refund of Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess, relying on the Supreme Court's decision in M/s SRD Nutrients Pvt. Ltd. V. Commissioner of Central Excise, Guwahati. To maintain parity and consistency in its pronouncements, the Court decided to dismiss the present appeal on the same terms and conditions as laid down in the previous judgment. Any interim directions that were in effect were also vacated. The ratio decidendi is that appeals with identical facts and grounds, which have already been decided by a coordinate bench, should be disposed of consistently to uphold judicial discipline and avoid conflicting judgments.
Key Issues
1. Whether the present appeal, challenging a CESTAT order directing refund of Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess to the assessee, is to be dismissed on the same grounds as a previous batch of similar appeals decided by a Coordinate Bench of this Court on May 23, 2022. The Appellant (Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise, Jammu) argued that the instant appeal challenges a similar order to those previously dismissed by the Court, based on almost identical grounds. Therefore, to maintain parity, this appeal should also be dismissed on the same terms. The Respondent (Ambika International) did not present any arguments, as indicated by 'None' appearing for them.
Sections Cited
Section 35G
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
ORDER
2022 Ali Mohammad Magrey-CJ (Oral):
At the very outset, what requires to be stated is that a batch of appeals were filed before this Court by the Commissioner, Central, GST and Central Excise (Jammu and Kashmir), Jammu under Section 35 G of the Central Excise Act, 1994 (fort short „the Act‟) against the orders of different dates passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Chandigarh (for short „the CESTAT‟), thereby setting aside the orders passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) and the Adjudicating Authority and directing for the refund of the Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess to the assessee in view of the decision rendered by the Apex Court in case titled ‘M/s SRD Nu
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 High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.