UNION OF INDIA Vs. APAR PRIVATE LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The judgment of the Full Bench of the Bombay High Court reported in (1985) 22 ELT 644 is called in question in these appeals by special leave before us. The question which arose for consideration before the Bombay High Court related to the levy of customs duty under the provisions of the Customs Act.

(2.) The brief facts on which the Bombay High Court proceeded were that when the goods of the respondents entered the territorial waters of India from the foreign country as also on the day they were stored in the bonded warehouse, they were wholly exempt from payment of basic customs duty under a notification issued by the Central Government in exercise of its powers under Section 25(1) of the Customs Act, 1962. When these goods were sought to be removed from the bonded warehouse, the exemption notification had been rescinded and the exemption granted thereunder was withdrawn.

(3.) The case of the respondents was that on the day when the goods entered the territorial waters, that is the point of time when the taxable event under Section 12 occurred; and as the duty was nil on that day, therefore the question of paying any duty with reference to a subsequent point of time, namely, when the goods were removed from the warehouse did not arise.