2019 (11) TMI 1731 - HC - Customs

Effect of the order of stay in a pending appeal before the Apex Court - amount to 'any declaration of law' or not - binding effect of the judgment of the High Court as a precedent - HELD THAT - Issue Notice, returnable on 4th December 2019. By way of ad-interim relief, further proceedings pursuant to the impugned show cause notice dated 25.7.2019 (Annexure-F to the petition) are hereby stayed. The respondents shall not take any coercive recovery against the petitioner for recovery of any amount under the impugned show-cause notice.

Summary

Issues: Challenge to High Court decision in Supreme Court, Effect of stay order, Precedential value of High Court judgment, Ad-interim relief

In the judgment delivered by the Gujarat High Court, the advocate for the petitioner highlighted that the decision of the court in a previous case had been challenged in the Supreme Court through Special Leave Petitions. The Supreme Court had issued a stay order on the operation and implementation of the said judgment. Reference was made to the Calcutta High Court decision emphasizing that a stay order does not constitute a declaration of law but is binding only on the parties involved. The interim order does not diminish the binding effect of the High Court judgment as a precedent. Additionally, the Delhi High Court's decision was cited, which held that an order staying a lower court's judgment does not affect the underlying reasoning of the judgment itself. Therefore, the principles established in the earlier Gujarat High Court decision were deemed unaffected by the stay order issued by the Supreme Court.

The Gujarat High Court, considering the submissions made by the petitioner's advocate, issued a notice returnable on a specified date. As an ad-interim relief, all further proceedings following the impugned show cause notice were stayed, and the respondents were restrained from coercive recovery against the petitioner for any amount under the said notice. The court also permitted direct service in the matter. The judgment thus addressed the challenge to the High Court decision in the Supreme Court, the effect of the stay order, the precedential value of the High Court judgment, and granted ad-interim relief to the petitioner.