SC grants 803 cr relief to ITC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the appeal of ITC quashing a demand of Rs 803 crore made on it as excise duty by the excise department for allegedly selling cigarettes at a price higher than the maximum retail price printed on the packet.
A bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice P C Reddi, which had withdrawn the judgement on Thursday, pronounced the same judgement on Friday giving the tobacco giant a huge relief in terms of excise duty.
The ITC council had filed an application on Thursday itself apologising for "inadvertently" taking out the unsigned judgement copy outside the court without permission. The council urged the court to accept the apology and not to penalise the client for his fault.
ITC had challenged order of CEGAT upholding levying of excise duty on its cigarettes running into around Rs 803 crore.
The demand was raised on the basis that ITC sold its cigarettes at a price which was higher than the price printed on the cigarette packet.
The Excise deparment had alleeged that wholesale and secondary dealers margins were so compressed by ITC that the cigarettes had to be necessarily sold at a price higher than the packet price.