Supreme Court
The Supreme Court made an important decision on Thursday, November 7. The court held that officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) are empowered to issue show-cause notices and levy customs duties in exercise of powers under the Customs Act, 1962. The court said DRI officials can issue show-cause notices under the Customs Act.
The Supreme Court said the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence is a “proper officer” under the Customs Act and therefore they have full powers to exercise powers under the Act, issue show-cause notices and levy duties. The decision was taken by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. These included Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra.
2021 decision overturned
During this period, the Supreme Court made it clear that it was only considering the issues arising out of the Canon India judgment. The judgment overturned the court’s 2021 judgment in the case of Canon India Pvt Ltd v. Commissioner of Customs and confirmed that the DRI officer is deemed to be a proper officer under Section 28 of the Act and is empowered to issue show cause notice that the area can be used.
read this too
The General Administration of Customs has submitted a review application
Earlier in 2021, the Supreme Court in Canon India Private Limited v. Commissioner of Customs said that DRI officials have no power to issue notifications under the Customs Act, 1962. The court held that only the customs officer originally responsible for clearing the goods could issue such a notification and therefore the notification issued by the DRI officer was invalid. After the court verdict, many notices issued by DRI were rejected by courts and tribunals across the country. The customs department has filed a review application for this decision.
DRI obtains relief from court decision
This judgment of the Supreme Court has come as a relief to the central government and DRI. The judgment overturned the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in the Canon India Pvt Ltd case, in which the DRI’s powers to issue notifications under the Customs Act, 1962 were restricted. Solicitor General N Venkatraman, representing the central government, argued in his review petition that Canon’s decision was flawed and ignored important statutory interpretations.
