Prathiba M. Singh ORDER
Prathiba M. Singh, J.
Question involved
1. The short issue arising in the present case is : Whether the petitioner is entitled to rebate of duty under Rule 18 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 ("CER"), having availed of the benefit of Notification No. 93/2004-Cus : MANU/CUST/0150/2004 dated 10th September, 2004 issued under Section 25(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 ('CA') ("Notification No. 93")
Background facts
2. The background facts are that the petitioner is a manufacturer of various models of tractors. The tractors which are so manufactured, are sold both in the domestic market and are also exported. The present petition involves models of tractors exported by the petitioner during the period 2006 to 2008.
3. The petitioner claimed rebate of duty by invoking Rule 18 of the CER, vide its letter dated 26th July, 2004. The Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise Division, Phagwara vide letter dated 28th October, 2004 approved the input/output norms declared by the petitioner, upon verification, for the purpose of claiming of rebate of duties.
4. Petitioner filed 39 rebate claims claiming rebate of duties for its exports during the relevant period. The said claims were not allowed. However, show cause notices were issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Central Excise and Service Tax, Large Taxpayer Unit, New Delhi. Vide order dated 30th September, 2010 the said show-cause notices were adjudicated and the claims of the Petitioner were rejected.
5. The petitioner preferred 39 appeals before the Commissioner, Central Excise (Appeals) ['CCE (A)'], which were dismissed vide order dated 29th February, 2012. Petitioner thereafter approached the Revisional Authority ('RA'), i.e., Joint Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, New Delhi, who vide order dated 24th February, 2014 dismissed the revision application.
The present petition
6. The petitioner has filed the present writ petition seeking quashing of the said order passed by the RA and prays for its rebate claims to be allowed.
Relevant Provisions/Notifications
7. Rule 18 of the CER, 2002 reads as under:-
"Where any goods are exported, the Central Government may, by notification, grant rebate of duty paid on such excisable goods or duty paid on materials used in the manufacture or processing of such goods and the rebate shall be subject to such conditions or limitations, if any, and fulfilment of such procedure, as may be specified in the notification.
Explanation.-For the purposes of this rule, "Export", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means taking goods out of India to a place outside India and includes shipment of goods as provision or stores for use on board a ship proceeding to a foreign port or supplied to a foreign going aircraft."
8. The relevant portion of the Notification No. 93 reads as under:-
"In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (1) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do, hereby exempts materials imported into India against an Advance Licence issued in terms of paragraph 4.1.3 of the Foreign Trade Policy (hereinafter referred to as the said licence) from the whole of the duty of customs leviable thereon which is specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975) and form the whole of the additional duty, safeguard duty and anti-dumping duty leviable thereon, respectively, under sections