(Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Navin Sinha, JJ.)
Hero Motocorp Limited (Formerly Known As Hero Honda Motors Limited) _______________________________________ Appellant;
v.
Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Dehradun ______________________________________________ Respondent.
Civil Appeal Nos. 1600-1605 of 2018, decided on April 30, 2019
The Order of the court was delivered by
Order
1. All the appeals pertain to the liability of the assessee to pay National Calamity Contingent Duty (for short ‘NCCD’). This issue was pending consideration before this Court when these appeals were filed and subsequently the legal position stands settled by the decision of this Court in Civil Appeal No. 3239 of 2019 titled as Bajaj Auto Limited v. Union of India decided on 27.03.2019 opining that the NCCD is in the nature of excise duty and is, thus, entitled to the benefit of the exemption notification.
2. Learned counsel for the respondent-Department did seek to contend that the appellant has given up this plea before the High Court but on reading of the order we cannot come to such a conclusion as all that has been stated is that at the relevant stage of time view of the High Court was against the assessee which has been specifically reversed in Bajaj Auto Limited case (supra).
3. In view of the aforesaid, all the appeals are liable to be allowed in terms of the Judgment in Bajaj Auto Limited’s case (supra). We order accordingly.
4. As per the interim order dated 19.03.2018 interim stay had been granted in respect of the penalty amount but the other amounts had to be deposited and are stated to have been so deposited.
5. That being the position, the amount paid to the Department would be refunded back within a maximum period of two months from the receipt of copy of this order.
6. The appeals are accordingly allowed.
Civil Appeal Nos. 1600-1605 of 2018
M/s. Hero Motocorp Limited (Formerly Known as Hero Honda Motors Limited) ________________________________________ Appellant(s)
v.
Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Dehradun _________________________________________________ Respondent
Date : 30-04-2019 These appeals were called on for hearing today.
(Before Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Navin Sinha, JJ.)
For Appellant(s) Mr. S. Ganesh, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Shrinivas Kotni, Adv.
Mr. Mahesh Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv.
Mr. Anshuman Srivastava, Adv.
Mr. Sumit Wadhva, Adv.
Ms. Urvashi Kalra, Adv.
Mr. E. C. Agrawala, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. Sanjay Jain, ASG
Mr. Rupesh Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Rukmini Bobde, Adv.
Mrs. Chiranjeev Chauhan, Adv.
Mr. B. Krishna Prasad, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
ORDER
7. The appeals are allowed in terms of the signed order.
8. Pending application(s), if any, shall also stand disposed of.
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