A Constitution Bench (Bench of Five Judges) of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India (“SC”) in one of the landmark case of Commissioner of Customs (Import) Mumbai Vs. M/s Dilip Kumar and Company and Ors [2018-TIOL-302-SC-CUS-CB] has overruled the Three-Judge judgment in the case of Sun Export Corporation, Bombay Vs. Collector of Customs, Bombay [2002-TIOL-118-SC-CX-LB] (“Sun Export case”) to firmly hold that:
• In case of ambiguity in a charging provision, benefit must necessarily go in favour of assessee but the same is not true for an exemption notification. When there is ambiguity in exemption notification which is subject to strict interpretation, the benefit of such ambiguity cannot be claimed by the subject/assessee and it must be interpreted in favour of the revenue.
We are discussing herewith gist of this landmark judgment of the Hon’ble SC for your easy digests along with analysing the wide ramifications this judgment will entail – not just in the times to come but also on previous disputed litigations and settled jurisprudence.
Read More at: http://www.a2ztaxcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Exemption-Notifications-must-be-interpreted-strictly_SC.pdf