2017 (12) TMI 403

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....orters including the appellant, were importing palm acid oil, palm fatty acid distillate and palm stearin from Malaysia and other countries and had misdeclared the same as mixed acid oil or mixed fatty acid and mis-classified the same under chapter 38 of the Customs Tariff. Based on the inputs, investigation was initiated against the appellant in the process of which the consignment was subjected to chemical testing and statements of various persons including the indenters-cum-brokers from Malaysian suppliers and the proprietor of appellant were recorded. A show cause notice dated 05.01.2009 was issued to the appellant proposing enhancement of the value from Rs. 8,26.156/- to Rs. 16,21,974/-, confiscation of the goods under Section 111(d) a....

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....that the appellant did not adduce any report/ documentary evidence contrary to the report given by CRCL. His plea was that the goods ought to be re-tested instead of dropping the proceedings on the basis of incomplete report. 4. After having heard the ld. AR, we find that there are two issues which required to be answered in the present appeals. The first issue is, whether there was any misdeclaration of the description of imported goods. In this regard, we find that the samples drawn from the consignment were got tested from CRCL New Delhi. The report of CRCL is as under:- "In this regard, it is stated that the Test Reports forwarded pertaining to T. M. Nos. Cus/A-292/06 to Cus/A-297 to Cus/A-301 with the description as Mixed A....

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....hich had already been cleared in the past and perhaps disposed off. The live consignment had been declared as  mixed acid oil ; was suspected to be  stream  by the DRI; but was reported by the CRCL to be  residue, resulting from treatment of fatty substances. Though categorically ruling out the impugned goods to be acid oil, for these did not conform to the ISI standard for acid oil, the CRCL Jt. Director (Retd.) admitted during his cross-examination that there was no ISI standard for mixed acid oil. During his cross-examination, the CRCL chemical examiner went a step further   he expressed his ignorance as to whether there was any difference between mixed acid oil and residue and whether there was any ISI stan....

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....ry with respect to the past imports is no different either. The show cause notice has, as noted in Para 15 supra, regarded all consignments of 'palm fatty acid' imported in the past, in respect of which samples had been drawn/tested, and the test reports showed free fatty acid (FFA) content of 70% or above and iodine value of 50-55, as the PFAD. The logic given was that these parameters conformed to the ISI standard for PFAD. However, what the ISI standard for PFAD was and why the goods in question were not palm fatty acid as declared by the importer has been left unanswered. Notably, the CRCL had not declared the samples as PFAD. The Minimum that was required to be done was to define the parameters/standards of palm fatty acid as w....

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....f the said order are relevant to the present case, are extracted below:- "8. After going through the evidences relied upon by the Commissioner, we fully agree with the learned advocate for the appellant that the said evidences are in the nature of general evidences and not relatable to the import made by the appellant. The statements of the two indenting agents are general in nature indicating that the landed price of the fatty acids is around US$ 440. In neither of the statements the said indenting agents have admitted that the goods imported by the appellant were invoiced on the lower side. On the other hand the appellants have strongly contended that they entered into negotiation with the supplier of the goods, who agreed to sup....