Held - Today, when the mater is called, it is brought to the notice of this Court that the issue has been set at rest and is no longer res integra, in the light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise Vs. Flemingo Travel Retail Ltd. [Civil Appeal Diary No.24336/2022, dated 10.04.2022], wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed as follows:

“15. We have considered the above orders of t.....

Held - Learned Senior Counsel appearing for the respondent also made a reference to the decision dated 31.08.2018 of the Central Government exercising revisional power in the matter of Aatish Altaf Tinwala Vs. Commissioner of Customs (Airport), Mumbai, wherein the following issue was involved in adjudication:

I. Whether a Duty Free Shop, situated after the immigration at the arrival terminal of an International Airport, can be said to be.....

Held - The Commissioner (Appeals) agreed with the appellant that the duty free shops were situated beyond the customs frontier of India and, therefore, the service tax paid by the appellant was refundable, but decided the issue of limitation and the issue of unjust enrichment against the appellant. The Commissioner (Appeals) was bound by the decision of the Tribunal rendered on 14.08.2019 wherein it had been held that the issue of the limitati.....

Held - ‘Duty free’ shops in airports are a global market competing among themselves in a ‘tax exempt’ environment and the compulsions of this business segment, wherein the consumers are not only knowledgeable but also sensitive about pricing, set it apart from a normal trading model which permits the underlying presumption of ‘cost plus’ implicit in the legislatively nuanced ‘unjust enrichment’ relied upon by lower authorities......

Held - During the pendency of the writ petition, the very same issue came up for consideration before the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the decision reported in 2019 (31) GSTL 398-Review Petition (Sandeep Patil vs. Union of India). The Hon'ble Bombay High Court vide order dated 07.10.2019 held that since the duty free shop is located outside the customs frontier of India, it would be entitled to refund of ITC on the GST first paid by them. The .....

Held - It is a matter of record that the petitioner(s) sell goods to the international passengers i.e. departing passengers or passengers arriving into India (arriving passengers) like cigarettes, alcohol, perfumes, chocolates and cosmetics etc. The expressions ‘import’ and ‘export’ defined under Customs Act, 1962 have been identically defined in IGST Act, 2017. Invoices issued by DFSs at the time of sale of goods to the outgoing passe.....