Exxon Mobile Lubricants Pvt. Ltd. vs the Joint Commissioner, Cgst and Central Excise — Bombay HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

Exxon Mobile Lubricants Pvt. Ltd. vs the Joint Commissioner, Cgst and Central Excise — Bombay HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Rule made absolute; impugned order of the 1st Appellate Authority set aside; Petitioner's Appeal restored to the file of the Appellate Authority with a direction to decide it on merits and in accordance with law; all contentions of all parties on merits left open.

Issue for consideration

Whether the 1st Appellate Authority's order dismissing the Petitioner's Appeal — for want of a proper resolution authorising the Managing Director and proof of pre-deposit, and passed without hearing the Petitioner — should be set aside and the Appeal restored for decision on merits.

Court's answer

The Appellate Authority passed the dismissal order without even hearing the Petitioner, and there is now evidence of compliance with both the lacunae (authorisation resolution and pre-deposit proof) pointed out by the Appellate Authority.

Ratio / Principle

Adopting the reasoning in earlier decisions of this Court (Delphi World Money Ltd, D N Polymers, Y M Motors), the Court set aside the impugned order, restored the Appeal to the file of the Appellate Authority, and directed the Appellate Authority to decide the Appeal on merits and in accordance with law.

Key takeaways

All contentions of all parties on the merits of the Appeal are left open for the decision of the 1st Appellate Authority.ratio¶¶21

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bombay High Court (Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction), Writ Petition No. 1636 of 2025 — Exxon Mobile Lubricants Pvt Ltd v. The Joint Commissioner CGST & Central Excise (coram M.S. Sonak & Jitendra Jain, JJ.; oral order per M.S. Sonak, J.; dated 05 August 2025). The 1st Appellate Authority had dismissed the Petitioner's Appeal on the ground that no proper resolution authorising the Managing Director to file the Appeal was enclosed with the Appeal memo and no proof of pre-deposit was furnished, and it passed that order without even hearing the Petitioner. Noting that there was now evidence of compliance with both lacunae, and that almost identical orders of the very same Appellate Authority had been quashed and set aside by this Court in Delphi World Money Ltd v. Union of India & Ors (2024 (11) TMI 781), D N Polymers v. Union of India & Ors (2024 (12) TMI 1286 BOM) and Y M Motors Pvt Ltd v. Union of India (2024 (12) TMI 56), the Court adopted that reasoning, set aside the impugned order, restored the Appeal to the file of the Appellate Authority with directions to decide it on merits and in accordance with law, left all contentions of all parties on merits open, and made the Rule absolute.

7-WP-1636-2025.DOCX

Amol

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION NO. 1636 OF 2025

Exxon Mobile Lubricants Pvt Ltd …Petitioner

Versus

The Joint Commissioner CGST & Central Excise …Respondent

Mr Kamal Sawhney , (through VC), with Mr Chetan C Agrawal, for the Petitioner.

Mr Shruti Vyas , with Mr Suman Kumar Das, for the Respondent.

CORAM M.S. Sonak & Jitendra Jain, JJ. DATED: 05 August 2025

ORAL ORDER:- (Per M S Sonak, J)

Heard learned Counsel for the parties.

AMOL PREMNATH JADHAV

Digitally signed by AMOL PREMNATH JADHAV Date: 2025.08.06 12:30:00 +0530

Rule. The Rule is made returnable immediately at the request of and with the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties.

The 1^st Appellate Authority has dismissed the Petitioner’s Appeal on the ground that no proper resolution authorising the Managing Director to file the Appeal was enclosed along with the Appeal memo and secondly, no proof of pre-deposit was furnished.

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7-WP-1636-2025.DOCX

The Appellate Authority passed this order without even hearing the Petitioner. There is now evidence of compliance with both the lacunae pointed out by the Appellate Authority.

Almost identical orders made by this very Appellate Authority have been quashed and set aside by this Court. We refer to the decision of Coordinate Bench in Delphi World Money Ltd Vs Union of India & Ors¹ in which the Coordinate Bench noted how similar orders were made in almost 100 cases. All such orders were set aside by the Coordinate Bench.

In the cases of D N Polymers Vs Union of India & Ors² and Y M Motors Pvt Ltd Vs Union of India³ , this Court, also set aside almost identical orders. Therefore, by adopting the reasoning in the above decisions, we set aside the impugned order and restore the Appeal to the file of the Appellate Authority and direct the Appellate Authority to decide the Appeal on merits and in accordance with law. All contentions of all parties on merits of the Appeal are however left open for the decision of the 1^st Appellate Authority.

The Rule is made absolute in the above terms.

All concerned to act on an authenticated copy of this order.

(Jitendra Jain, J)

(M.S. Sonak, J)

1 2024 (11) TMI 781

2 2024 (12) TMI 1286 BOM

3 2024 (12) TMI 56

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