UNITECH INTERNATIONAL LTD Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS writ petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is preferred by the petitionerM/s. Unitech International Limited, which is a 100% EOU situated at Silvassa. The petitioner Company is engaged in the business of importing unserviceable Ferrous and nonferrous scrap, mix scrap, electrical motors, transformers, etc. It is averred that the petitionercompany applied for the purpose of manufacturing by way of segregation of ferrous and nonferrous scrap. Such Letter of Permission "LoP" for short was granted on 18th September 2001 for manufacturing by way of segregation with certain conditions incorporated in the said permission. The validity period for permission was five years from the date of commencement of the commercial production.

(2.) IT is the say of the petitioner that for setting up a factory, the plant and machineries worth Rs. 10 Crores have been purchased. The petitioner commenced manufacturing process on 10th February 2003. Requisite Licence under section 58 and 65 of the Customs Act, 1962 {"Customs Act" for short} for setting up 100% Export oriented Undertaking "EOU" for short was also obtained. Petitioner also executed Form B17 Bond and renewed the licence upto 31st March 2008. After commencing the production, annual progress reports, audited by the Chartered Accountant, have been regularly furnished.

(3.) IT is the case of the petitioner that the respondent no. 4 searched the premises of the petitioner on 30th September/1st October 2003 and various documents were seized. Statement of the manager and other staff members have been recorded during the course of investigation which resulted into issuance of the show cause notice calling upon the petitioner as to why it may not be asked to pay the duty amount for clearance of goods from EOU to domestic tariff unit in violation of notification dated 1st March 2002 and as provided under the proviso of Exim Policy 20022007. Two separate show cause notices consisting of period from April to September 2003 and October to March 200304 were issued.