The Supreme Court has vacated the stay order of Orissa High Court for the imposition of safeguard duty on imported solar panels and modules. Earlier, the Orissa High Court had stayed the imposition of the duty till August 20, 2018. Following the High Court stay, Ministry of Finance (MoF) had to suspend the implementation of a safeguard duty on imported solar cells.
MoF had imposed safeguard duty on solar panels import in July 2018 with 25 per cent duty on solar panels and modules imported from China and Malaysia for a year, followed by 20 per cent duty for the next six months, and 15 per cent duty for another six months.