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TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 141
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....uchirappalli. 2. By this Appeal, the Assessee-Appellant is questioning the rejection of Transaction value declared by it upon import of Copper Scrap-druid vide Bill of Entry dated 29.10.2014; the Appellant had admittedly declared the unit price @ 1.25 U.S. Dollars per kg. A perusal of Order-in-Original No.945/2015 dated 25.05.2015 reveals that samples were drawn under a test memo on the same day and sent for testing at Customs House Laboratory, Tuticorin to ascertain the classification and the said Authority has accordingly reported the composition of the goods in question vide Report dated 07.11.2014 as under : Report:- The sample is in the form of a cut length of cable. It consists of insulation plastic material compo....
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....ed the declared value and re-determined the same as indicated by him. Aggrieved by the above, it appears that the Appellant challenged the same before the First Appellate Authority and the First Appellate Authority after affording an opportunity of being heard, however, rejected the Appeal thereby upholding the demands in the OIO vide OIA No.49/2016 dated 19.04.2016; the said OIA has been assailed by the Appellant in this Appeal. 6. Heard Shri Hari Radhakrishnan, Ld. Advocate for the Appellant and Shri N. Satyanarayana, Ld. Assistant Commissioner for the Respondent who defended the impugned order. 7. We have to observe, at the outset, the strange functionality of the Adjudicating Authority here, in this case; the Appellant files an ap....
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....tions and we have carefully perused the orders of both the Lower Authorities. 10. Section 14 of the Customs Act provides for determination of transaction value, which shall be the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to India for delivery at the time and place of importation or as the case may be, for export from India for delivery at the time and place of export, where are the buyer and seller of the goods are not related and price is the sole consideration. Further, Rule 3 of the Customs Valuation [Determination of Value of Imported Goods] Rules, 2007 prescribes the determination of method of valuation and Rule 12 ibid prescribes rejection of declared value. Cumulative reading of the above provisions implie....
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....racy of declared value; certain reasons would include conditions specified in clauses (a) to (f). Grounds mentioned in (a) to (f), however are not exhaustive of certain reasons to raise doubt about the truth or accuracy of the declared value. Further, Rule 12(2) prescribes that on request of an importer, the proper officer shall intimate to the importer in writing grounds, i.e., the reason for doubting the truth or accuracy of the value declared in relation to the imported goods. 11. In essence, the Proper Officer could reject the declared transactional value based on certain reasons to doubt the truth or accuracy of the declared value in which event, he is entitled to make assessment in terms of Rules 4 to 9 of the 2007 Rules; grounds f....
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....oubt as to the truth or accuracy of the valuation and communication of the said grounds to the importer is mandatory, subterfuge to by-pass and circumvent the statutory mandate is unacceptable. Formation of belief and recording of reasons as to reasonable doubt and communication of the reasons when required is the only way and manner in which the proper officer in terms of Rule 12 can proceed to make assessment under Rules 4 to 9 after rejecting the transaction value as declared. 21. The mandate to record reasons at the second stage of enquiry is not expressly stipulated, albeit it has been read by us by implication in Rule 12. Being conscious that this mandate it applied to past cases would possibly lead to complications and diffi....
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.... that the aforesaid reasoning for rejection of the transactional value, would not meet the mandate of Section 14 and the Rules as elucidated in M/s Sanjivini Non-Ferrous Trading Pvt. Ltd. (supra) wherein it was held that the transaction value mentioned in the bill of entry should not be discarded unless there are contrary details of contemporaneous imports or other material indicating and serving as corroborative evidence of import at or near the time of import which would justify rejection of the declared value and enhancement of the price declared in the bill of entry. We have also elaborated and explained the legal position with reference to Rule 12 of the 2007 Rules. 24. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the present ....