After Supreme Court Dismisses SLP, Delhi High Court Expresses Dissatisfaction Over Duty Drawbacks Withheld By Customs
Kapil Dhyani
27 Jan 2026 7:29 PM IST
The Delhi High Court has expressed dissatisfaction over the Customs Department's failure to implement its earlier judgment directing the release of duty drawback amounts to the petitioners, despite the Supreme Court having dismissed the Department's special leave petition (SLP).
A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Shail Jain was hearing a batch of writ petitions seeking implementation of the Court's judgment dated February 13, 2025.
The earlier judgment had quashed CBIC clarifications that treated the unlocking or activation of mobile phones as “taken into use” and had directed Customs authorities to process duty drawback claims in accordance with law.
The Court noted that although the Supreme Court had dismissed the Customs Department's SLP on July 18, 2025, the drawback amounts were still not released to the petitioners. Even the three-month period granted under the original judgment for processing the claims had long expired.
During the proceedings, Customs authorities informed the Court that a review petition against the Supreme Court's order was being filed and later that it had been filed but was yet to be listed. Rejecting this justification, the Bench observed that mere filing of a review petition does not operate as a stay on the judgment, particularly when the SLP itself has already been dismissed.
“In the opinion of this Court, the main judgment passed by this Court in the writ petition is dated 13th February, 2025. SLP 30758/2025 filed against the said judgment, has been dismissed on 18th July, 2025. 15. No review has been listed by the Department before the Supreme Court till date in respect of the order of the Supreme Court dated 18th July, 2025. Under these circumstances, this Court does not find it justified that the Department is not paying the amount in terms of the judgment dated 13th February, 2025 to the Petitioners,” the High Court said.
Accordingly, it directed the petitioners to appear before the Customs Department on February 9, 2026, for finalisation of the amounts payable.
The court ordered that the determined amounts be released by February 28, 2026, failure to do so would invite stringent action.
However, it also clarified that the payments would remain subject to the outcome of the review petition, if any, before the Supreme Court.
For Petitioner: Advocates D. Abhinav Rao, Rohit Gupta and Abhisek Das
For Respondent: Advocates Vivek Sharma, SPC for UOI, Vishal Chadha, SSC. Shekhar Anand, Adv.