VEDANTA LIMITED vs CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS & ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

$~81 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of decision: 26th March, 2025 + W.P.(C) 3675/2025 & CM APPL. 17199/2025 VEDANTA LIMITED .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Aarohi Bhalla, Mr. Alok Agarwal, Mr. Prachit Mahajan, Mr. Shubham Singh and Mr. Mohit Kalra, Advs. versus CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS & ORS. .....Respondents Through: Mr. Aditya Singla, SSC, CBIC with Ms. Arya Suresh Nair, Adv. CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral) 1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode. 2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner- Vedanta Limited inter alia challenging the non-grant of relief in terms of drawback under Instruction No. 4/2019 issued by Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (hereinafter, ‘CBIC’) dated 11th October, 2019. 3. The case of the Petitioner is that it had sought duty drawback in respect of the amount it had deposited as clean energy cess, on utilisation of coal as a raw material, during the course of manufacturing of aluminium products. While calculating the brand rate for the purpose of duty drawbacks, the clean energy cess ought to be permitted to be added so that whenever the products are exported, exporters can get drawbacks inclusive of the amount of clean energy cess. 4. Between 2010-2017, various exports are stated to have been made by Signature Not Verified Signed By:DHIRENDER W.P.(C) 3675/2025 Page 1 of 5 KUMAR Signing Date:27.03.2025 18:39:58 the Petitioner, however, at the relevant point in time there was no clarity as to whether clean energy cess which was charged on consumption of coal would be liable to be included in the calculation of the brand rate or not. 5. This position became clear after the clarification in Instruction No. 4/2019 dated 11th Oc