2024 (9) TMI 186
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....g the period from February 2010 to September 2010, the Appellant has filed 17 Bills-of-Entry classifying the same goods under CTH 2709 and claimed the benefit under Serial No. 487 of Notification No. 21/2002-Cus. dated 01.03.2002 wherein Basic Customs Duty (BCD) at the rate of 5% and CVD at the rate of 'nil' is payable. The said 17 Bills-of-Entry were finally assessed by the Customs authorities. 2.1. Subsequently, another 2 Bills-of-Entry viz. Bill-of-Entry No. 560525 dated 25.08.2010 and Bill-of-Entry No. 565304 dated 17.09.2010 were filed by the Appellant classifying the goods under CTH 2709 and claiming the customs duty benefit as above. An enquiry was initiated against the Appellant in respect of the classification of the imported good....
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....y, the Appellant filed this appeal. 5. The Appellant submits that 17 Bills-of-Entry were filed by them during the period from February 2010 to September 2010 which were assessed finally classifying the goods under Chapter Heading 2709. It is submitted that the Department did not raise any doubt about the classification of the goods in respect of these 17 Bills-of-Entry and the goods were assessed finally. Thus, the appellant submits that they have not suppressed any information and all the relevant facts were well within the knowledge of the Department. Accordingly, the Appellant submits that there is no suppression of facts with intention to evade payment of tax established in this case and hence, the Show Cause Notice issued on 26.12.201....
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.... by the Department from IIT, Kharagpur was based on a sample drawn from a consignment imported in the year 2013; the test report merely stated that the said goods fall under category B viz. Heading 2710; this classification was based on the leading queries raised by the Department seeking to categorize the petroleum products under three specific categories namely, CTH 2709, 2710 and 2713. It is further submitted in this regard that the test report does not serve as a proper evidentiary document and confirmation of duty based on such reliance would be violation of the principles of natural justice. In this regard, the Appellant placed their reliance on the decision in the case of Jaymco Polymers Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Cus., (Import) [2....
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....ere assessed finally. These final assessments were not challenged by the department and hence the assessment attained finality. We observe that the department cannot re-open the classification of the goods imported vide these 17 Bills of Entry later by invoking suppression clause. We observe that the appellant has not suppressed any information from the department when the goods were imported under these 17 Bills of entry and all the relevant facts were well within the knowledge of the Department. Thus, we hold that there is no suppression of facts with intention to evade payment of tax established in this case and hence, we hold that the Show Cause Notice issued on 26.12.2013 by invoking the extended period of limitation is not sustainable....
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....of the Chemical Examiner to classify the goods under the CTH 2710. In this regard, we observe that it is the settled position of law that the Chemical Examiner can only give an opinion about the nature of the goods and not the classification of the goods. Similarly, value of the goods, if any, mentioned by the Chemical Examiner should be corroborated by other evidences such as market enquiry. Reliance in this regard is placed on the decision in the case of Essar Oil Ltd. v. Commissioner of Cus. (Preventive), Jamnagar [2015 (326) E.L.T. 310 (Tri. - Ahmd.)]. We observe that the classification of the imported goods is to be done as per the Tariff Entries, Section Notes and Chapter Notes of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Classification of the go....