Non-supply of the relied-upon laboratory material and failure to...

Non-supply of the relied-upon laboratory material and failure to follow the prescribed procedure before rejecting the declared moisture content breached natural justice, so the assessment could not be sustained and was remanded for fresh adjudication. For ad valorem export duty, transaction value remained the proper basis under section 14 where the invoiced sale proceeds were fully realised and there was no valid reason to doubt the genuineness of the sale price; moisture variation alone did not justify discarding that value. The impugned order was set aside and the matter sent back to the adjudicating authority.

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