TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (5) TMI 1143
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....of Commissioner of Customs (Import), Mumbai are disposed off by this common order. 2. One consignment of branded electronic goods had been imported by M/s Japonica International against bill of entry no. 299570/07.10. 2002 declaring value to be Rs. 8,18,472 that was enhanced to Rs. 14,73,734 on which duty liability was discharged and, while pending for examination, was taken up for investigation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence. The goods were assessed provisionally and was followed by show cause notice dated 8^th January 2004 of the Additional Director General for rejection of value of KENWOOD products declared as Rs. 12,18,069 and of SONY PCBs/components declared as Rs. 2,55,664, for finalization of the assessment at Rs. 41,2....
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....nt including re-assessment, under section 17 and 18 of Customs Act, 1962 is within the exclusive competence of the 'proper officer'; in the impugned order, the Commissioner of Customs (Import) has attended to that responsibility and, in doing so, adjudicated a notice issued by Additional Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence for, inter alia, finalization of assessment under section 18 of Customs Act, 1962. The lack of competence of officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to exercise powers statutorily conferred on 'proper officer', as defined in section 2(34) of Customs Act, 1962, was decided upon by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Commissioner of Customs v. Sayed Ali [(2011) 3 SCC 537] following whi....
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....decision of the Hon'ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Vuppalamritha Magnetic Components Ltd v. DRI Zonal Unit, Chennai [2017 (345) ELT 161 (AP)] which held that '10. At the outset, we are of the considered view that the writ petition is not maintainable. The show cause notice dated 30-7-2009, which is under challenge in the present writ petition, is no longer in force. The show cause notice has already culminated in a order of adjudication and the order of adjudication has also been confirmed by the Tribunal, the High Court and the Supreme Court. The doctrine of merger has come into play and the show cause notice is not available any more for the petitioner to challenge. 11. Heavily reliance is placed by Mr. P. Vikram, learned c....
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.... 13. The issue can be looked at from another aspect also. Today, the effect of our allowing the writ petition and setting aside the show cause notice would be to set at naught, the order of adjudication, the judgment of CESTAT, the judgment of this Court and the order of Supreme Court. What cannot be achieved by the petitioner directly cannot be achieved by them indirectly. 14. The contention that all proceedings founded upon a show cause notice that was inherently lacking in jurisdiction, would be non est, null and void, is perhaps right as a simple statement of a proposition of law. But it is not without exceptions. If this theory of nullity and voidity is accepted, all proceedings initiated before 8-4-2011, which have already culmina....