The omission of a rule, in the absence of an explicit saving clause, renders the provision as if it never existed. Consequently, all pending administrative proceedings, show-cause notices, or appeals based on that rule must terminate as they cannot be considered 'transactions past and closed'.

Present :

The Hon’ble Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury

Raja Basu Chowdhury, J:

1. Challenging, inter alia, the order in original dated 4th February, 2025 issued under Section 74 (9) of the CGST Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred as the “said Act”) and the demands raised by the respondents in form GST DRC-07 all dated 5th February, 2025 along with the summary of the orders for the tax periods April 2018 to March 2019, April 2019 to March 2020, April 2020 to March 2021 and April 2021 to March 2022, the above writ petition has been filed.

2. The petitioner claims to be a private limited company registered under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and is also a registered tax payer under the said Act.

3. The petitioner claims to be primarily engaged in the business of manufacturing and exporting of various chemical products predominantly used in the rubber industry. In order to carry out the manufacturing process, the petitioner procures a wide range of inputs, including but not limited to Resorcinol, Stearic Acid, Formaldehyde, Phenol (PTBP), Hexamine, Palm Oil Fatty Acids, Zinc Oxide, Styrene, etc. The above inputs are procured both through domestic purchases as also by way of import from international suppliers, depending upon the availability and cost efficiency.

4. According to the petitioner, among the various inputs, Resorcinol is a critical input utilized in the manufacturing process. The procurement whereof is made through import under Advance Authorisation Scheme, which allows duty free import of inputs that are used in the manufacturing of export goods. According to the petitioner, Resorcinol is procured from two major sources, namely, Japan and China. It is while importing from China that the petitioner uses the Advance Authorisation license. According to the petitioner, the inputs procured both domestically and through imports from international markets, as mentioned above, are utilized in the manufacturing process to produce the following final products:

5. The petitioner contends that in the manufacturing of final products listed under serial no. 3 to 5 of the table above, multiple inputs are utilized apart from Resorcinol, including but not limited to Stearic Acid, Formaldehyde, Phenol (PTBP), Hexamine etc.

6. With effect from 1st July, 2017, Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime was introduced and had been implemented by making necessary amendment in the Customs Act, 1962 and the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 as well. Consequentially, with effect from 1st July, 2017 instead of levying and collecting additional duty of customs equal to the duty of excise chargeable on similar goods produced or manufactured in India, Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) came to be levied on imported goods, whereas the goods cleared for export were deemed to be transactions in the nature of inter-state supply of goods under the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (in short the “IGST Act”), and therefore, IGST was levied and collected on the goods exported to the foreign countries. Originally, the rebate i.e. r