TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (10) TMI 824
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....ccordingly, directed for recovery of CVD with interest and penalty. 2. The appellant is inter-alia engaged in import of Platinum Powder/Sponge and Platinum-Rhodium Alloy Powder/Sponge for manufacturing of ingots, catalyst gauzes and wire mesh. 3. The appellant imported the goods by classifying the same under Customs Tariff Item [CTI] 7110 19 00 and claimed exemption from payment of CVD under Serial No. 25 of the Notification dated 01.03.2006 or Serial No. 193 of Notification dated 17.03.2012. 4. An investigation was initiated by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Mumbai [DRI] on such imports. This resulted into issuance of the two show cause notices by the Additional Director General of DRI, Mumbai proposing a demand of differential CVD with interest and penalties. The show cause notices proposed to deny the exemption from payment of CVD availed by the appellant under the aforesaid two Notifications on the ground that the impugned goods were not in their primary form, but appeared to be finished goods. 5. The details of the two show cause notices are as follows: S. No. Date of SCN Goods in the SCN Amount involved (Rs.) SCN No.1 19.03.2014 Plat....
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....ssioner of Customs [Customs Appeal No. 86318 of 2016 decided on 20.12.2023]; (iv) The extended period of limitation could not have been invoked in the facts and circumstances of the case; and (v) Neither interest could have been demanded from the appellant nor penalty could have been imposed. 10. Shri Shiv Shankar, learned authorized representative appearing for the department, however, supported the impugned order and submitted that it does not call for any interference in this appeal. 11. The submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant and the learned authorized representative appearing for the department have been considered. 12. It is not in dispute that the appellant imported Platinum Powder/Sponge and Platinum-Rhodium Alloy Powder/Sponge for manufacture of the final products and claimed exemption from payment of CVD under the two Notifications dated 01.03.2006 and 17.03.2012, which are identically worded. 13. The relevant portion of the Notification is reproduced below: S. No. Chapter Or heading or sub-heading or tariff item of the First Schedule Description of the excisable goods Rate Condition (1) (2) (....
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..... First of all, the description clearly states that Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, etc. In their primary form, that is to say, any unfinished or semi-finished form including, ingots, foils and wires it is very clear that Platinum/Rhodium wires are eligible for such concession. The notification borrows the language of Heading 71.10 itself and, as such, we find no reason for denial of the exemption. Here we note that in terms of Chapter Note 4(B) of Chapter 71, the expression Platinum means Platinum, Iridium, Platinum and Rhodium and Ruthenium. The presence of Rhodium in the imported wire does not change the classification of the product as anything other than Platinum." (emphasis supplied) 16. Such being the position, the exemption would clearly be available to the appellant under the two Notifications. 17. The second show cause notice dated 11.06.2014 is in respect of Platinum Powder. 18. The Notifications require that the precious metal should be 'in their primary forms'. The Notifications also give meaning to the term 'primary forms', to be in any unfinished or semi-finished form including ingots, bars, blocks, slabs, billets, shots, pellets, rods, sheets, foils and wi....
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....artment denied the benefit of the Exemption Notification holding that the product was not in the primary form. After a careful analysis of the provisions of the two Notifications and the earlier Notifications issued in this context from 1988 onwards the Tribunal held that Platinum Sponge is a form in which Platinum metal first emerges during the process of manufacture and hence it is one of the primary forms of platinum. The relevant portions of the decision are reproduced below: "4.6 The same entry continued till the supersession of Notification No. 12/2012 dated 17.03.2012, at the time of introduction of GST. The above clearly explains that from 1994 onwards the notification has been issued exempting the impugned goods and the wording 'used' in the notification then till the notification under consideration remains the same. The Ministry itself was always of the view that exemption needs to be granted to the metal in the form it emerges during a refining process, whether from ore concentrate or recycled material, the same could not have been denied. From perusal of the entry, it is evident that exemption has been granted to all the forms in which these goods are imported....