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the charging section, which provides for levy of duty on removal of goods from
SEZ to DTA. It was submitted that the measure of levy under Section 30 of the
SEZ Act is by reference to Customs duty levied on such or like goods when im-
ported into India under the Customs Act read with Customs Tariff Act, 1975. It
was submitted that the SEZ Act is not covered under Entry 83 of List-1 of Sched-
ule VII of the Constitution of India, as it does not provide for levy of Customs
duty on goods imported into India. It is only the Customs Act which is covered
by Entry 83 of List-1 of Schedule VII of the Constitution of India and has a sepa-
rate provision in relation to levy of duty on goods which are imported from a
place outside India to SEZ and such imports are defined in Section 2(o) of the
SEZ Act, which are exempt by virtue of provisions of Section 26 of the SEZ Act. It
was submitted that a combined reading of these provisions bring to surface the
fact that Parliament cannot provide for levy of duty on goods from SEZ to DTA
under the Customs Act since taxable event of imports as defined in Section 2(25)
of the Customs Act is bringing into India from a place outside India and not re-
moving goods from SEZ to DTA. The legislative mandate under Entry 83 of List-
1 of Schedule VII of the Constitution of India is to provide for levy of customs
duty on goods which are imported into India, that is, goods which are brought
from a place outside India into India, which excludes SEZ inasmuch as by virtue
of Section 53 of the SEZ Act read with Section 26 thereof and Section 2(o) thereof,
SEZ being outside the customs territory is deemed not to be a part of India for
the purpose of import of goods into SEZ. It was submitted that any other inter-
pretation in this regard would result in direct conflict between the provisions of
Section 53 and Section 26 of the SEZ Act and Section 12 of the Customs Act as it
would mean that the Parliament by a special Act enacted subsequently has not
provided for levy of duty on goods imported from a place outside India to SEZ.
It was submitted that power to levy Customs duty on goods imported into SEZ
or removed from SEZ to DTA cannot be read into Section 12 of the Customs Act.
It was, accordingly, urged that the petition deserves to be allowed by granting
the reliefs prayed for by the petitioners.
6. Opposing the petition, Mr. Devang Vyas, Learned Assistant Solicitor
General has submitted that the chargeability under the Customs Act is not rele-
vant. It is only for computation that recourse has to be made to the Customs Act.
It was submitted that the words used in Section 30 are “as leviable” not “as pay-
able” and that Section 30 provides a yardstick for computation of the amount
chargeable.
6.1 Referring to the earlier decision rendered by this Court in the peti-
tioners’ own case, it was pointed out that though the petitioners had sought a
wider relief, the relief granted by the Court was limited to the period from June,
2009 to 15-9-2010. Reference was made to paragraphs 61, 63 and 63 (wrongly
numbered) of the judgment to submit that the decision was confined to the peri-
od from June, 2009 to 15-9-2010. It was submitted that, therefore, the decision of
the High Court does not restrict the levy of Customs duty for the further period.
It was pointed out that the parent notification was amended from time to time
whereby the Customs duty was reduced from 16% to 10 paisa per unit and was
further reduced to 3 paisa per unit till 15-2-2016, whereafter the exemption was
made conditional subject to certain conditions.
6.2 Next, it was submitted that if the petitioners’ contention were to be
accepted, viz., that no duties of customs are leviable on the removal of electricity
from the SEZ to DTA, it would result into granting double benefit to the petition-
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