Gujarat High Court
Auracare Pharma P. Ltd vs Assistant Commissioner Of Customs Air ... on 27 March, 2025
Author: Bhargav D. Karia
Bench: Bhargav D. Karia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 9508 of 2024
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AURACARE PHARMA P. LTD.
Versus
ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS AIR CARGO COMPLEX &
ORS.
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Appearance:
DARSHAN R PATEL(8486) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MS HARDIKA VYAS(11450) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE D.N.RAY
Date : 27/03/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA)
1. Heard learned advocate Mr.Darshan R. Patel for the petitioner, learned advocate Ms.Hardika Vyas for the respondent Nos.1 and 2 and learned advocate Mr.Utkarsh Sharma for the respondent No.3.
2. Issue Notice to the respondent No.3, who is newly joined party respondent pursuant to the amendment carried out by the petitioner as Page 1 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined per the order dated 20th March, 2025. Learned advocate Mr.Utkarsh Sharma waives service of notice for and on behalf of the respondent No.3.
3. By this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs :
"(A) Issue a writ of certiorari and/or a writ of mandamus and/or any other writ direction or order, directing the Respondent to grant the Refund of Rs.12,26,862/- to the Petitioner as claimed along with interest, as per the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017.
(B) Issue a writ of certiorari and/or a writ of mandamus and/or any other writ direction or order, directing the Respondent to grant the Refund of Rs.12,26,862/- manually to the Page 2 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined Petitioner as claimed along with interest, as per the provisions of the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017."
4. The brief facts of the case are as under:
4.1. The petitioner-Company which is engaged in the business of export of pharmaceutical raw materials was registered under the Central Goods & Service Tax Act, 2017 (for short the "CGST Act") on 27.09.2017 and Certificate bearing Registration No.24AAPCA8813K1ZB was issued. As the petitioner is engaged in the business of export, the petitioner obtained an Importer Exporter Code (IEC) Certificate w.e.f.
03.10.2017.
4.2. It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner's name is Aura Care Pharma Private Limited and is having a sister Page 3 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined concern operating with the name of Aura Care Pharma and Biotech, which is managed and run by the wife of the petitioner.
4.3. On 28.12.2018, the petitioner purchased the raw materials from Morepen Laboratories Limited worth Rs.64,90,000/-
(including Rs.9,90,000/- IGST) and a Tax Invoice was issued on the same date in favour of the petitioner.
4.4. It is the case of the petitioner that after purchasing the raw materials from Morepen Laboratories, the petitioner made an export to Global Pharma & Logistic on 09.01.2019, however, due to inadvertence, the petitioner wrote the GST Number of its sister concern i.e. Aura Care Pharma and Biotech and hence, the Shipping Bill No.1208102 dated Page 4 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined 09.01.2019 was reflected in the name of Aura Care Pharma and Biotech.
4.5. As the petitioner inadvertently entered the GST Number of Aura Care Pharma and Biotech, the Shipping Bill was reflected in Aura Care Pharma and Biotech's name however, as the Aura Care Pharma and Biotech had not made the export, the same was not claimed by Aura Care Pharma and Biotech. 4.6. Thereafter, the petitioner made a claim for refund of integrated tax amounting to Rs.12,26,862/- by filing GSTR-1, however as the petitioner had inadvertently entered GST Number of its sister concern, there was an error SB003 on the ICEGATE Website due to mismatch of Shipping Bill.
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NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined 4.7. It is the case of the petitioner that the export was actually made by the petitioner but the same was only reflected in the sister concern's name as the petitioner had inadvertently entered the GST Number of the sister concern and due to such incorrect details being inadvertently entered, the Shipping Bill No.1208102 was reflected in the sister concern's name i.e. Aura care Pharma and Biotech.
4.8. The petitioner could not make a claim for refund in the name of it's sister concern as the export was not made by the sister concern and any claim made by the sister concern without any actual export being done would have amounted to a false claim being made.
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NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined 4.9. Since there was an error due to mismatch in the Shipping Bill, the petitioner wrote a letter to the respondent on 02.11.2022 to amend the Shipping Bill details in the order for the petitioner to claim the refund of Rs.12,26,862/-. In response to the above letter, the respondent issued a Certificate dated 08.12.2022 wherein, the respondent stated that the petitioner had erroneously entered the details of the sister concern and the details of the Exporter were verified by verifying GSTR-1 and GST 3B. The respondent also stated that the Certificate was issued after scrutiny of the documentary evidence for export and further acknowledged that the correction as requested by the petitioner could not be carried out in the EDI Shipping Bill in the EDI system after completion of export and hence, the Certificate was issued Page 7 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined at the request of the petitioner. 4.10. It is the case of the petitioner that on 13.12.2022, the petitioner made a payment of Rs.1,000/- to amend the Shipping Bill and after that, the petitioner made several personal follow ups with the respondent inquiring about the status of the refund of the petitioner, however, there was no response from the respondent. On 03.04.2024, the petitioner once again wrote a reminder letter to the respondent to issue the refund of Rs.12,26,862/- by amending the Shipping Bill details.
5. Learned advocate Mr.Darshan R. Patel for the petitioner submitted that as the respondent No.2 has already issued the Certificate dated 7th March, 2025 stating therein, that the Office has no objection for Page 8 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined amendment in the Shipping Bill by changing the name of the Exporter from M/s Aura care Pharma and Biotech to M/s. Aura Care Pharma Private Limited, necessary directions may be issued to the respondents to carry out the amendment in the ICEGATE Portal in EDI System as well as to the respondent No.3 in the GST portal, after such amendment is carried out in the ICEGATE Portal in EDI System.
6. Learned advocate Ms.Hardika Vyas for the respondent No.2 has submitted the affidavit- in-reply filed on behalf of the respondent which reads as under :
"In pursuant to letter dated
10.03.2025, Additional Commissioner,
Customs Ahmedabad vide letter dated
11.03.2025 requested Additional
Directorate General, DG System and Data Page 9 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined Management, CBIC New Delhi that as it is not possible from our end to amend the Shipping Bill in EDI system on later dates. Therefore, appropriate direction are required to be issue to the DG system with regards to ensuring amendment in Shipping Bill no. 1208102 in EDI System so as to enable the office to generate the scroll of the IGST Refund."
7. In view of the above averments made in the affidavit-in-reply, the respondent No.2 is directed to amend the Shipping Bill in EDI System and the respondent No.3 thereafter shall make necessary amendments in the GST Portal so as to grant refund to the petitioner for Shipping Bill No.1208102. Such exercise shall be completed within a period of twelve weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this Page 10 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9508/2024 ORDER DATED: 27/03/2025 undefined order.
8. With the aforesaid directions, the petition is disposed of. Notice is discharged.
(BHARGAV D. KARIA, J) (D.N.RAY,J) PALAK Page 11 of 11 Uploaded by PALAK BRAHMBHATT(HC01391) on Fri Apr 04 2025 Downloaded on : Fri Apr 11 23:49:15 IST 2025