CESTAT allowed the appeal, set aside the impugned original...

CESTAT allowed the appeal, set aside the impugned original orders and quashed the demand for differential duty, interest, penalties and confiscation. The Tribunal held the revenue failed to rebut the declared transaction value or establish undervaluation by admissible evidence or comparable import data, reliance on insurance/proforma documents and retracted statements being inadequate; procedural and evidential lacunae in the SCN rendered the valuation exercise unsustainable. Findings of joint liability under Section 147 were not tenable in the absence of proof of agency or controversion of contemporaneous import evidence. In consequence, the adjudication and consequent recovery/penalty directions were annulled and the appellants discharged.

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