Delhi High Court judge Shail Jain on Friday stepped away from IndiGo’s petition that seeks a refund of more than ₹900 crore in customs duty paid on aircraft engines and parts the airline brought back to India after repairs abroad. The matter appeared before a bench of justices Prathiba M Singh and Shail Jain, but justice Jain withdrew because her son works as a pilot with IndiGo. The court directed the registry to place the case before another bench, expected on December 19. IndiGo’s lawyer V. Lakshmikumaran told the court that the airline paid the basic customs duty without any dispute when it re-imported the repaired engines and parts.
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IndiGo’s lawyer argued that the airline had already paid GST under the reverse charge mechanism since the repair work counted as a service, yet customs officials treated the same transaction as an import of goods and demanded customs duty again. He said that even though the customs tribunal had earlier ruled that charging duty a second time on such re-imports was unconstitutional, customs authorities still forced the airline to pay more than ₹900 crore to release aircraft engines and other essential parts. He added that when IndiGo later sought a refund, officials rejected the request by insisting the airline first seek reassessment of every bill of entry, and despite repeated representations to the Principal Commissioner, the department never issued reassessment orders.
Pilot Shortage and Delays Hit IndiGo Operations
IndiGo’s petition comes as the airline battles a massive operational crisis that has caused thousands of cancellations and widespread airport chaos. Controlling over 60% of India’s domestic market, the airline blames pilot shortages, delays linked to an Airbus A320 software advisory, new FDTL fatigue rules and an aggressive winter schedule for the meltdown. The new rest norms pushed many pilots into mandatory downtime, breaking IndiGo’s high-utilisation model. In response, the government paused the norms, capped airfares, deployed extra trains and ordered IndiGo to cut its schedule by 10% to stabilise operations. Aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the reduction would curb cancellations, while the Delhi High Court criticised the Centre and DGCA for not acting sooner despite the airline’s staffing shortfall.
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