From the Supreme Court
ON Saturday, we have carried two important orders of the Supreme Court wherein the Supreme Court
Held that:
1. To determine whether transportation costs are to be included in the Transaction Value, what is to be determined is 'place of removal' and that depends on facts of each case. -
2. Even if DGFT holds that export obligation is fulfilled, it is not binding on Customs and the importer was bound to fulfill the conditions of the Customs notification. -
The Government's strong will to levy excise duty on transport charges is consistently ridiculous. For more than half a century we are not able to decide what this elusive place of removal is. If in addition to selling my goods, I arrange transport for my customer, why should I pay excise duty on transport charges? And strangely, if the customer pays the transporter, that cost is not included, but if manufacturer pays it is included. Does excise duty depend upon who pays the transporter? This kind of laws are made only to confuse and generate litigation. This simple phrase “place of removal” created a mountain of litigation not only in valuation, but also in CENVAT credit and Service Tax. The mighty Government's capacity to make life miserable for the taxpayers whose hard work and risk ensure fat salaries for the babu, is immense.
We bring you three more recent Supreme Court judgements today.