SC asks HC to decide SEZ Customs duty issue

The Supreme Court today asked the Gujarat High Court to decide on the government’s plea that goods sent from a unit in a domestic tariff area to one in a special economic zone (SEZ) should attract Customs duty.

The Ministry of Commerce had moved the apex court against the Essar group with its position being that iron ore pellets and calibrated iron ore supplied by an Essar unit to the Essar SEZ, Hazira, were goods exported from India for the purpose of such levy.

The petition filed by the ministry had challenged the Gujarat High Court’s interim order that allowed Essar Steel to continue its arrangement without paying Customs duty on goods supplied from its domestic tariff area (DTA) unit at Vizag to the Hazira SEZ unit.

An apex court bench headed by Justice S H Kapadia observed that it was not inclined to intervene in the high court’s interim order. However, it directed the high court to decide the issue on April 21. Besides, it said that the views expressed by the High Court on this should stand deleted.

The high court had said that Essar was not liable to pay Customs duty in the absence of any specific provisions under the SEZ Act, 2005, or the Customs Act, 1962.