12,000 crore duty demand from Skoda VW not arbitrary: Customs department tells court

MUMBAI: The customs department stuck to its stand on its demand of Rs 12,000 crore duty from Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, saying it wants to bring the company in line with the law and with other auto importers, who are paying the same 30% duty on such imports. Additional Solicitor General N Venkatraman said the notice demanding Rs 12,000 crore as duties was neither arbitrary nor malafide and Škoda cannot play the "victim card" when it's the company that misclassified its imported items for the Aurangabad plant all these years and never revealed to any Indian official so far. It has come to light for first time that parts for Aurangabad plant, which only assembles and doesn't manufacture 62,000 cars a year, are coming from CKD centres abroad, prompting the issuance of a show cause notice.

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