Natural justice and laboratory evidence defeated export duty demand on iron ore exemption claim.

Export duty demand on iron ore was held unsustainable where the Central Revenue Control Laboratory report showed iron content below 62%, the exemption threshold under Notification No. 62/2007-CUS. The Tribunal accepted the CRCL report as the final departmental appellate laboratory report and treated a later test from another laboratory as unreliable because it was obtained without recorded justification or prior intimation to the assessee, raising natural justice concerns. On the evidence as a whole, the Tribunal found the material predominantly supported iron content below the threshold and saw no reason to disturb that reasoned factual appreciation, so the revenue's appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the demand of export duty on iron ore was sustainable when the Central Revenue Control Laboratory report showed iron content below 62% and the later departmental test report was relied upon to deny the exemption under Notification No. 62/2007-CUS.

Analysis: The appellate authority had relied on the CRCL report as the final test report of the departmental appellate laboratory and noted that the subsequent test at another laboratory was obtained without any recorded justification and without prior intimation to the assessee, thereby offending natural justice. It further considered the multiple test reports on record and found that the greater weight of the material supported iron content below the exemption threshold. The Tribunal found no reason to interfere with that detailed and reasoned appreciation of evidence.

Conclusion: The duty demand was not sustainable and the rejection of the revenue's appeal was justified.

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