The Madhya Pradesh High Court has declined admission of writ petitions challenging rejection of application of private warehouse licenses.
The bench of Justice Vivek Rusia And Justice Gajendra Singh has declined to interfere in the show cause notice wherein licenses already granted are proposed to be cancelled and are placed in abeyance.
The petitioner/assessee is engaged in the business of mining and production of coal across various locations in the country.
The petitioner filed an application under Section 65 r/w Section 58 of the Customs Act before the competent authority for grant of licence. Authority after due consideration found that the licence to such a large open mining area cannot be granted treating it to be a godown. Before passing the order, the due opportunity of hearing was given to the petitioner and clarifications were sought from the petitioner on various points, therefore, the competent authority after following due process of law has rejected the application for grant of licence.
The petitioner argued that the petitioner is assailing the impugned order on the ground of fraught with perversity and patent illegality committed by the respondents on irrelevant factors the application has been rejected without understanding the provisions of Section 65 of the Customs Act and provisions of “MOORW Scheme”.
The customs department contended that the writ petition is not maintainable as the petitioner has remedy to file an appeal against the impugned order of Assistant Commissioner before the Commissioner (Appeals) under Section 128 of the Customs Act, 1962, thereafter, appeal under Section 129 to the Appellate Tribunal and appeal to the Supreme Court under Section 130-E.
The court noted that order is appealable and the petitioner has a remedy of appeal against the order of the Assistant Commissioner under Sections 128, 129 and Section 130-E of the Customs Act.
The court held that in a tax matter when a statutory remedy of appeal is available, the High Court ought not to have entertained the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India against the Assessment Order by passing the statutory remedy of appeal. The Customs Act, 1962 is an Act where adequate, efficacious remedy is provided. Therefore, we do not find any ground to interfere with the impugned order under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
Case Details
Case Title: M/S JMS Mining Pvt Ltd. Versus The State Of Madhya Pradesh And Others
Case No.: Writ Petition No. 14776 Of 2025
Date: 20.05.2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Senior Advocate Sujit Ghosh
Counsel For Respondent: Senior CGSC Prasanna Prasad
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