Hon’ble Arun Tandon, J.—Heard Sri Dev Nath Advocate, assisted by Sri Nishant Mishra on behalf of the petitioner and Sri Satish Chaturvedi Advocate on behalf of the Department

2. M/s Ra’nbaxy Laboratories limited is a company duly incorporated under the Companies Act. The Company is engaged in export of bulk drugs falling under Chapter 29 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985. This writ petition has been filed against an order dated 9th November, 2005 passed by the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, whereby the rebate claimed by the petitioner to the tune of Rs. 23,25,800/- has been rejected.

3. The fact leading to the filing of the present writ petition are that in respect of the exports made during 28.3.1999 to 9.7.1999, the petitioner filed 7 refund claims with the Maritime Commissioner of Central Excise at Mumbai on 21.9.1999 with reference to Section 11-B (1) of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The application so filed by the petitioner was returned under letter dated 9th December, 1999 with the information that the Maritime Commissioner, Mumbai has no jurisdiction in the matter, as the goods were exported from New Delhi. The petitioner was,