Premature reclassification notices were invalid where the classification list remained under provisional assessment.

Show cause notices seeking reclassification of goods and demand of differential duty were held premature where the classification list had only been provisionally assessed and had not yet been finally finalised. In that position, the department could not validly proceed to alter classification through notices before completion of the provisional assessment process. The notices were therefore without legal basis at that stage, and the impugned proceedings were set aside.

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Issues: Whether show cause notices seeking reclassification of goods and demand of differential duty were sustainable when the classification list had only been provisionally assessed and had not yet been finally finalised.

Analysis: The dispute concerned goods whose classification list had been filed and assessed provisionally. The decisive question was whether, in such a , the department could proceed by issuing show cause notices to alter the classification before the provisional classification list was finally determined. Since the classification list had not been finalised, the notices were held to be premature and without legal basis at that stage.

Conclusion: The show cause notices were bad in law and the impugned proceedings were set aside.

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