Powers of Central Government in imposing trade remedial measures: Quasi-Judicial or Legislative?

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The Hon’ble Gujarat High Court in Real Strips Ltd. v. Union of India recently held that the nature of levy and revocation of Countervailing Duty is Quasi-Judicial. The Court relied on PTC India v. CERC to hold that the appeal provision in section 9C would make the levy of duty by the Central Govt. a quasi-judicial function. This podcast discusses the contrary views that may be considered in this regard. Firstly, the applicability of the PTC case can be distinguished from the current context for having different policy considerations as compared to levy of duties. Further, Section 9C is a highly narrow appeal provision to which the PTC ruling must not be applied. Secondly, referring to the Paper submitted by India to the WTO Working Group regarding implementation of Article 13 of the Anti-Dumping Agreement states that the appeal in Section 9C is against the decisions of Designated Authority. Reliance may also be placed on the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s ruling in Haridas Exports v. All India Float Glass MFRS. Association which held that the imposition of duties is a legislative function. The debate on the issue is far from settled and we look forward to a conclusive end to the issue in future litigations.
Audio Source: An article published on the LKS website in September 2022
https://www.lakshmisri.com/insights/articles/powers-of-central-government-in-imposing-trade-remedial-measures/

Author: Utkarsh Khandelwal, Associate
Voice: Sahana Rajkumar