CESTAT set aside the impugned adjudication and allowed the...

CESTAT set aside the impugned adjudication and allowed the appeal by way of remand, holding that the adjudicating authority erred in classifying the imported goods without respecting the tariff hierarchy and General Rules for Interpretation. The Tribunal found the CBEC circular relied upon to distinguish "ortho" from other phthalates to be non-authoritative and unsupported by rationale, and that the authority failed to discharge the onus of proving the goods were unambiguously classifiable under the sub-heading alleged. The matter is remitted for fresh adjudication, with directions to reassess classification issues, address the challenge to the CRCL test report and furnish it for further scrutiny before concluding liability.