Supreme Court Declines to Intervene in Pre-Deposit Dispute Under Customs Act

The petitioner, Ankit Mehta, challenged a judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court (Indore Bench) which had dismissed his writ petition regarding the mandatory pre-deposit requirement under Section 129E of the Customs Act, 1962. The petitioner had sought a waiver or reduction of the pre-deposit required to file an appeal before the Tribunal or Commissioner (Appeals).

The High Court had originally ruled that Section 129E is a mandatory provision that does not empower authorities, or the Court in its writ jurisdiction, to waive or reduce the prescribed amount. Following this dismissal, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court through multiple Special Leave Petitions (SLPs).

Main Issue: Whether the Supreme Court should exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution to interfere with the High Court’s decision upholding the mandatory nature of pre-deposit for tax appeals.

Supreme Court Held: The Supreme Court dismissed the batch of Special Leave Petitions. The Court permitted the petitioner to withdraw the petitions with liberty to file a review before the High Court, as it was argued that certain prayers in the original writ had not been addressed.

The Court condoned the delay in filing but explicitly stated that it found no “good ground” to interfere with the impugned judgment under Article 136 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court effectively affirmed the High Court’s stance that statutory pre-deposit requirements are strict and non-waivable.

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