Pending re-testing applications barred finalisation of provisional assessment until the authority first decided the sampling dispute.

Where applications for re-testing of imported goods remained undecided, notices seeking finalisation of provisional assessment and differential duty could not be sustained because those applications went to the basis of the assessment. The HC held that fairness required the competent authority to first decide whether re-testing was necessary before proceeding with finalisation. The notices were set aside, and the matter was left to the authority to pass an appropriate order after deciding the pending applications.

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Issues: Whether the notices requiring finalization of provisional assessment could be sustained before the competent authority decided the petitioners' applications seeking re-testing of the imported goods.

Analysis: The petitioners had earlier been directed to have their applications for re-testing of samples considered and decided in accordance with law. Those applications had not yet been adjudicated, yet the authorities proceeded to issue notices for finalization of the provisional assessment and demanded differential duty. Since the pending applications were relevant to the very basis on which the assessment was to be finalized, fairness required that the authority first decide whether re-testing was necessary. In those circumstances, the notices could not be allowed to stand.

Conclusion: The notices dated 10 September 2014 and 12 September 2014 were set aside, and the matter was left to the authority to pass an appropriate order after deciding the pending applications.

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