Delhi High Court Gives Customs One Last Chance Over ₹5,000 Costs In Touch Screen Tariff Case

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (January 6) gave the Customs Department one last chance to clear objections to its plea seeking recall of Rs 5 thousand in costs imposed for not filing replies in a batch of petitions challenging a customs duty hike on Interactive Flat Panel Displays.

The court warned that if the objections are not removed within a week, the recall application will stand rejected automatically.

A division bench of Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Justice Ajay Digpaul noted that the department's application, filed in November 2025 to recall the cost order passed on September 15, was still lying under office objections.

Recording an assurance that the objections would be removed within a week, the court accepted it as an undertaking but issued a clear warning. “The office objections, if not removed as undertaken hereinabove, the application shall stand rejected without further reference to this Court,” the bench said.

The court clarified that the matter would be posted for consideration on January 30 only if the objections were cleared. The order requires the department's counsel to ensure the physical presence of the concerned officer on the next date of hearing, stating that the officer must attend along with the readiness and willingness to pay costs in case this Court is of the view that no sufficient cause is made out for recalling of the order for the payment of costs.

The batch of petitions has been filed by several importers, including Online Instruments India, Acer India, Plumage Solution, and Superton Electronics, challenging a February 1, 2025, notification that revised the basic customs duty on finished Interactive Flat Panel Displays to 20 percent. The notification followed the Union Budget proposal aimed at correcting what the government described as an inverted duty structure and promoting domestic manufacturing. Until then, many importers had been clearing these products under a different tariff heading at a nil rate of duty.

The importers have argued that interactive flat panel displays do not fall under the tariff item specified in the notification and that the increase in duty has made fully imported units significantly more expensive. They have also pointed to the notification's reference to a “previous existing rate” of 10 percent while indicating willingness to pay the higher duty for imports made after February 2, 2025.

Earlier, another division bench of the High Court had issued notice and repeatedly sought an explanation from the authorities on the rationale behind the notification. When no response was filed despite several opportunities, the court imposed costs on the Customs Department.

Case Title: Online Instruments India Private Limited & Ors

Citation: 2026 LLBiz HC (DEL) 25

Case Number: W.P.(C) 2140/2025

For Petitioners: Senior Advocate G. Shivadass; Advocates Devashish Marwah, Rishabh J., Gayatri, Yogendra Aldak, Agrim Arora and Shashank Maheshwari.

For Respondents: Senior Panel Counsel Subhash Tanwar; Senior Standing Counsel Anurag Ojha; Advocates Sandeep Mishra, Harshit Deshwal, Priyanka Kumari, Dipak Raj, Deep Raj, Sahil Munjal, Rhea Gandhi, and Uma Prasuna Bachu.