Ace Healthcare (Pvt) Ltd vs Major General (Retired) Vijitha Ravipriya – CA WRIT/171/2022-2022

Brief
In the case between Ace Healthcare (Pvt) Ltd. (petitioner) and Major General (Retired) Vijitha Ravipriya (Director General of Customs), D. A. S. Chandrasiri (Director of Customs), W. T. Krishantha (Appraiser), Udara Kulasuriya (Appraiser), and others (respondents), the court addressed the issue of whether Sri Lanka Customs is empowered to revisit the classification of goods imported by a BOI-registered company and impose a CESS notwithstanding the petitioner’s agreement with the BOI. The holding established that Customs retains the statutory authority, under the Customs Ordinance and the SLED Act, to classify goods and levy CESS, and exemptions arising from BOI agreements or regulations do not override these statutory provisions. The principle reaffirmed is that statutory tax and lev