Union Of INDIA vs. M/S Elora Tobacco Company LTD. Through Its Director Shri Dharmendra Singh Parmar

Held

The Court dismissed the Review Petition and the application for condonation of delay. The Court noted that the Review Petition was filed 341 days late. While the petitioner sought to file it for limited purposes of expunging remarks and waiving costs, the Court found no grounds to entertain the Review Petition for waiver of costs. The Court observed that the original order had deprecated the actions of the revenue authorities, and it was for higher officers to examine the conduct of subordinate officers. Regarding the loss suffered by the assessee and revenue due to the prolonged sealing of the manufacturing unit for over two years after the raid, the Court found that the Review Petition was not liable to be entertained for waiver of costs on this count. Therefore, both the application for condonation of delay and the Review Petition were dismissed.

Facts

The Union of India, through the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs and other CGST authorities, filed a Review Petition challenging an earlier order. The Review Petition was filed 341 days after the original order. The petitioner states that after examining the matter from July 22, 2022, to July 27, 2022, a proposal for an SLP was sent on August 11, 2022. Concurrence was received on August 12, 2022, and the proposal was sent to the Board on the same day. By letter dated May 4, 2023, the Board advised filing a Review Petition solely for expunging remarks and waiving costs, following the withdrawal of a trade notice dated January 18, 2021. The application for condonation of delay is supported by an affidavit.

Key Issues

1. Whether the Review Petition, filed 341 days after the original order, is liable to be entertained on merits, considering the delay and the limited purpose for which it is sought to be filed. Contentions: Petitioner (Union of India): Argued that the Review Petition is filed only for the limited purposes of expunging remarks made by the Court and for waiver of costs. They relied on the Board's advice to file the Review Petition for these specific objectives after withdrawing a trade notice. The delay was sought to be condoned through I.A. No. 6943/2023. Respondent (M/s Elora Tobacco Company Ltd.): No specific arguments are recorded for the respondent in the provided text regarding the delay or the merits of the review.