Final customs assessment cannot be reopened by fresh notice without first challenging the assessed Bills of Entry.

Final assessment of Bills of Entry cannot be reopened through a fresh show-cause notice or reclassification exercise unless the assessment is first challenged and set aside in accordance with law. Where the Bills of Entry had been finally assessed and were not provisional, they attained finality, and the Revenue could not bypass that finality by initiating collateral proceedings to recover differential duty. Applying that principle, the fresh proceedings were unsustainable because the assessed Bills of Entry had not been appealed against or otherwise disturbed, and the impugned order was set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the customs authorities could issue a show-cause notice and reclassify the imported goods without first challenging the final assessment of the Bills of Entry.

Analysis: The Bills of Entry had been finally assessed by the customs officials in 2007 and the assessment was not provisional. A normal assessment attains finality unless it is challenged in appeal or otherwise set aside in accordance with law. The Revenue did not challenge the assessed Bills of Entry before the appellate authority and instead initiated fresh proceedings by issuing a show-cause notice to alter the classification and recover differential duty. The cited principle that an assessment order, so long as it stands, cannot be ignored or indirectly reopened through collateral proceedings applied to the facts.

Conclusion: The fresh proceedings initiated by the Revenue without first challenging the assessment were unsustainable, and the impugned order was liable to be set aside in favour of the assessee.

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