The Supreme Court on Thursday delivered a judgement giving ITC a relief of Rs 803 crore (Rs 8.03 billion) on account of excise duty, but within minutes recalled its judgement citing that the unsigned order was smuggled out of the courtroom without permission.
A furious Justice Ruma Pal, who along with Justice P V Reddi had heard ITC's appeal challenging a Customs, Excise and Gold Control Appellate Tribunal order, recalled the judgement, stating that the matter will stand as "order reserved".
Though Justice Pal and Justice Reddi had heard the petition, the judgement was pronounced by Justice Pal while sitting with Justice Arun Kumar. Justice Reddi would have signed the judgement in the course of the day.
When the counsel for ITC requested the court to peruse the judgement, Justice Pal allowed the plea but made it clear that it had not been signed by the other Judge and that "certain corrections" were to be made in the last page of the judgement.
Warning that "taking the judgement out of the court will be a costly affair," she observed "we know under whose instigation it has been done."
She said further orders on the matter would be passed in consultation with Justice Reddi even though the ITC counsel apologised profusely.
ITC had challenged an order by CEGAT upholding levying of excise duty on its cigarettes running into around Rs 803 crore.
The demand was raised on the basis that ITC sold its cigarettes at a price that was higher than the price printed on the packet.
The excise department had alleged that wholesale and secondary dealer margins were so compressed by ITC that the cigarettes had to be necessarily sold at a price higher than the packet price.