The Bombay High Court has asked the Central Government to lay down a uniform national judicial litigation policy to avoid multiple litigation across all High Courts referring to same issue.
The division bench comprising Justice GS Kulkarni and Justice Aarti Sathe asked for “rational litigation strategy” and to prevent the waste of judicial resources. The Court held that once a High Court decides an issue against a department and the Union accepts that decision, it should not be re-litigated in other states.
The court further observed that re-litigation of matters contested in other High Courts lead to different interpretation of statues leading to judicial chaos and confusion. Such issues involving the Central legislation needs a proper litigation polity to deal with its judiciously without any encumbrances especially in the matters of tax.
This stand was taken up by the Court in the matter of Rika Global Impex Limited relied upon whether sugar exports, reclassified as “restricted”, still qualified for tax remissions.
A writ was filed before this court by sugar exporters claiming the benefit of eligibility for RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products) for exports of white refined sugar.
This friction made its way in May 2022 when a notification moved sugar to the “restricted” category, which the Revenue argued barred it from tax credits.
Since exports continued under specific quotas from the Directorate of Sugar, they weren’t truly “prohibited.”
The court’s view Withholding benefits was arbitrary, especially since Gujrat High Court had already ruled in favour of exporters and granted benefits under the RoDTEP to the sugar exporters. The Supreme Court also upheld the decision of the Gujrat High Court.
This ruling marks a significant victory for sugar exporters and serves as a stern reminder to the Central government regarding “litigation discipline.” By citing the principle of finality, the Bombay High Court has made it clear that the Revenue department cannot continue to contest settled matters simply by moving to a different jurisdiction.
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