Jurisprudentiol – Thursday's cases

By Vijay Kumar

Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.Customs

Nigerian Passenger trying to export huge quantities of medicine purchased with unaccounted foreign currency - retention of passport not illegal; confiscation upheld - High Court

IT would be relevant to note that the Respondents were not dealing with any Indian National but a National of a foreign country who was illegally trying to take goods out of India as and by way of personal baggage in commercial quantities; It is also pertinent to note that the Petitioner had brought in foreign currency to the extent of US $ 52,250 on his previous visit which ended on 4/4/2008. The said amount has not been accounted for except stating that he had made the purchases of medicines and other items out of the said currency. The learned counsel for the Petitioner was not in a position to account for such a huge amount of foreign currency. This court cannot lose sight of the fact that such amounts are usually diverted for illegal purposes i.e. towards the purchase of banned items like drugs, and therefore, the said fact would also be one of the relevant considerations whilst adjudicating the above Petition.

Income Tax

Sec 32 - Can assessee-society claim depreciation on capital assets on which it has claimed deduction for costs as application of money? - Does it amount to double deductions? - YES, it is not allowable, says ITAT

THE issue before the Tribunal is -Whether the AO is right in denying depreciation on capital assets whose costs were allowed as application of income by the assessee-society in the previous year - Whether allowance of depreciation would amount to double benefits. YES, says the Tribunal.

Central Excise

Valuation – LPG (domestic) Cleared in Bulk from refinery - Matter referred to Larger Bench - CESTAT

THE dispute in the present case relates to the valuation of LPG (domestic) SH 2711.19 cleared in bulk from the appellant's factory (refinery) to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), namely, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) during the period from June 2002 to December 2004.

See our columns Tomorrow for the judgements